Tim Montgomerie
I learnt yesterday that Ruth Lea had decided to join the growing number of people who have decided not to renew their membership of the Conservative Party. As far as I'm aware she hasn't joined another party. She certainly hasn't made any attack on David Cameron. She just doesn't feel part of the Conservative family anymore.
Ruth was one of the party's most reliable allies during our leanest years. When other people - who should have known better - were flocking to join Blair's big tent she stayed with conservatism. Whether it was on BBC Question Time, Radio 4 or in the daily newspapers she was an advocate for staying out of the €uro, keeping taxes low, upholding the family and solidarity with the people who did the right thing - the savers, the people working long hours, the good neighbours. She even lost a lucrative job at the IoD, in part, because she refused to sign up to the developing Blairite consensus there (since, I should say, now completely gone). She moved on to the Centre for Policy Studies where, as Director, on Europe and climate change, she again stood against establishment opinion. It's a CV that should have put her in the Lords.
The remoteness she feels from the Conservative Party today may partly be ideological but it's also more basic, more relational. I asked her yesterday if she had much contact from the Tory leadership. She hesitated but admitted no. She's not alone. Amazing numbers of people who have been influential in conservative circles over recent years hardly hear from Cameron and his team. Even when they might intellectually agree with what the Coalition is doing, they don't feel part of it. Slowly but surely, one by one, the party is losing some of its best friends. Some ideological issues are so big that no amount of sustained contact and courtesy will keep people together but it can make a difference. If it's not going to happen naturally the sooner Downing Street builds the kind of capacity that the White House has to manage its most important relationships, the better.
In the meantime I just want to thank Ruth for everything she has done for big and small c conservatism. Including for this site and articles such as "Gordon Brown was never fit for Number 10".
Ruth, please come back soon.
