With those words George Osborne appeared to distance himself from those un-named individuals who
believed that the leadership of the party did not need to acknowledge any traditionalist element within the Conservative Party but should pursue relentless, unflinching decontamination of the party brand.
There certainly were über-modernisers within the party hierarchy.
Some believed in imposition of candidates, for example, and wanted to suspend party democracy in order to secure implementation of the A-list of gender-balanced candidates. A sniffy attitude to the grassroots is a key feature of some übers (eg Bruce Anderson and John Bercow).
One shadow cabinet minister became an über-moderniser because they did not believe that public perceptions could be easily shifted over the course of a parliament. This frontbencher's conclusion was that it wasn't necessary to talk about core vote issues at all as voters would not stop believing that the Tories were the party of Euroscepticism and a tough approach to crime. Not one press release should be issued on immigration was this über-moderniser's conclusion. Every ounce of energy should be dedicated to modernising messages.
For an alternative definition see this related link: Six reasons why I am an über-moderniser by Daniel Finkelstein
Recent Comments