Please Miss, vote for us

When I was growing up the 'star' of Grange Hill was Mrs McClusky.  It seems that the new target voters for CCHQ are Mrs McClusky's teachers.  The London Evening Standard (not online) reports that "the people in a staff room of an ordinary primary school" are David Cameron's key targets at the next election.  Political Editor Joe Murphy writes:

"The disclosure is a fresh sign that Mr Cameron will focus his campaign hard on public services and the people who use them rather than more traditional Tory themes of tax cuts or immigration.  School staff rooms are, moreover, traditionally highly trade unionised and tend to be seen as Left-leaning, implying that the Conservative leader sees his most important task as to reach out to new voters rather than bolster the core Tory vote."

I don't know how true Mr Murphy's story is but it fits with Andrew Lansley's reassuring approach to the NHS - which has already started to pay electoral dividends.  CCHQ is acutely conscious of the growth in the number of people who are dependent upon the state for their income, this being partly why it believes Tory activists are out of touch with the public:

"Conservative activists are such a minority in some areas where they need to win seats that officials at headquarters feel they need to "campaign past them". The problem is that the actual members who knock on the doors at elections are much more Right Wing than the target voters and likely to be considerd as oddballs locally."

Expect Michael Crick with camera crew to be soon asking classroom teachers what they think of David Cameron...

ConservativeHome still believes that if the world is looking for the Essex Man/ Mondeo Man/ Worcester Woman of the Cameron era then the search should begin and end with the BBC's Robinson Man.

Comments

[Curly]

Cor blimey!

Let's all get in on the act - mondeo man, Essex man, Worcester woman, Robinson man - I think it's time he targeted my Curly's Corner Shop customers, more commonly known as Bag Ladies.

[Felicity Mountjoy]

This is very welcome. Without teachers and nurses and local government workers voting Conservative there'll be little chance that we can win in 2009. Labour has created too many public sector jobs for us to win without their support. I wish it were otherwise but it isn't.

[Robert McIlveen]

If this pays off it could be really devastating for Labour - ripping Labour's middle-class vote out would restrict it to the declining industrial cities.

To win over teachers, doctors etc we should concentrate on Labour's shambles of constant reorganisation and micro-management while focusing on improving delivery for those most dependent on and let down by the state.

[Editor]

To confirm what you write, Robert, this is how Fraser Nelson begins his piece for this week's Spectator:

"When locals give chase in a deprived Glasgow housing estate, it is normally a signal to run. The woman who started coming towards the Scottish National Party campaigners I was with on Tuesday certainly seemed angry: perhaps we’d blocked her driveway, or sullied her carpet with separatist literature. But her gripe was with Labour. ‘I’m a nurse, and I’ve seen the Health Service really suffer under them,’ she said, demanding various SNP pamphlets. ‘I’m never voting for them again.’

There could be no more striking dramatisation of the collapse in Labour support ahead of the 3 May elections. This nurse embodied the Labour core vote. She was right in saying the NHS has grown worse: average waiting times for an operation are a fortnight longer than they were under Margaret Thatcher. But this is because the Labour administration has given so much of the extra money to staff, and shielded them from Tony Blair’s reforms. And instead of gratitude, it is facing insurrection."

[Chris]

On Monday I was helping teach citizenship classes at a local school, after our Conservative Future branch was contacted asking for volunteers.

Talking to the teachers was absolutely fascinating, and if the school I was at (A regular state comprehensive) is representative , then Labour are in serious, serious trouble. Only a couple of the teachers were outright Tory supporters, but the rest were all adamant that they would not be voting Labour, and would be watching Cameron to see what policies he unveils.

[George Hinton]

I'm waiting for the approach to Reliant Robin man!!

[Umbrella man]

Trotter Man, surely George?

[Matthew Dear]

I can confirm that the key target is, in fact, NGO woman: mid 30s, probably married/with partner and children, works for a charity or for social services. Previously Leftie but now left cold. Trust me.

[Sean Fear]

Matthew, is the targetting being done on the basis of trying to win them to the Conservative cause, or on the basis that we are now sufficiently to the left to represent their interests better than Labour can?

[Margaret on the Guillotine]

Quite possibly Cameron's focus on public services and its users is more a realisation that most people, rightly, value the public services, rather than having tax cuts & living in a crummy run-down counctry as a result - than it is a cynical attempt to win teachers', doctors', & nurses' votes.

CH wouldn't realise that because in its eyes only the Maggie Way is "real conservatism" & everything else from a Tory politician is obviously just a vote-winning ploy.

[Sean Fear]

Do you think that Ireland is a "crummy run down" country, because it has lower taxes than ourselves, Margaret?

[Scotty]

"Matthew, is the targetting being done on the basis of trying to win them to the Conservative cause, or on the basis that we are now sufficiently to the left to represent their interests better than Labour can?"

Sometimes you have to turn left, especially if you are trying to escape a cul de sac having got stuck there after continually trying to take a sharp right turn every time you got lost.

[Alan S]

I think you can appeal to Miss Staff Room without being very left-wing. School discipline, action against crime and freedom from centralised bureaucracy will all appeal to her.

[Matthew Dear]

Interesting question Sean. I genuinely think that they can be won to the Conservative cause, once they realise that we're serious about public services (whether to the "left" on them or not.)

That's my journey at least - I fit all the criteria, apart from not being a woman, of course!

The buzz from people around me is that they're warming not only to Cameron's Conservatives, but to Conservative ideas - having seen the dismal failure of New Labour. There seems to be a growing realisation that Leftist ideas do not deliver the ends that they seek to, in terms of better care and prospects for the vulnerable, and other themes they prioritise.

I'd expect many to vote Conservative for the first time at the next election. As they usually turn out, but for other party, their influence could have a 'leveraged' effect in marginal seats, especially in city suburbs where most of them live.

[Gospel of Enoch]

If Dave's after the "Highly unionised, left-leaning" types, he might care to note that Arthur Scargill's (remember him?) Socialist Labour are rabidly eurosceptic, so his target audience are likely to give him a bad stomach ache...

[Jennifer Wells]

Greg Dyke would have been a perfect amabassador to Miss Staff Room!!

[David Belchamber]

"But her gripe was with Labour. ‘I’m a nurse, and I’ve seen the Health Service really suffer under them,’ she said, demanding various SNP pamphlets. ‘I’m never voting for them again.’"

In the Telegraph on Wednesday there was an article by Johnno Hills, a policeman who resigned recently because: "I wanted to serve the public but how was I to do that sitting behind a desk?" (Maybe ConHome will ask for his views).

I have two neighbours who are both teachers and one told me that a third of primary schools in Wiltshire is without a head because of all the red tape. He is a head teacher and is getting out early.

What all these people have in common, I believe, is a feeling of absolute frustration at being prevented, directly or indirectly, by government from doing their - vital - work.

Government - of whatever hue - cannot manage things and the Blair/Brown dictatorship tries to micromanage just about everything. Government should merely aim to create a benign environment where people who know what they are doing can get on with it.

For goodness sake, please can we get these Nulab no-hopers off our backs!

Ed, you will probably by now be thoroughly fed up with my repeated statements that political life is mainly about process; actually making things happen efficiently on a day-to-day basis (like paying farmers their due on time, about letting nurses nurse, about letting policemen get on with the job of preventing crime and apprehending criminals etc).

This is all about competence; we have seen various Home secretaries, Patricia Hewitt, Des Browne, Gordon Brown and Margaret Becket (when in charge, sorry, when the minister responsible for Defra etc)all floundering out of their depth.

The question I will again ask is: can the tories demonstrate that they will perform any more effectively?

That is ultimately what they will be judged by.

[David Sergeant]

"Ed, you will probably by now be thoroughly fed up with my repeated statements that political life is mainly about process; actually making things happen efficiently on a day-to-day basis."

Can I offer the thought that political life is not about process. Government life is about process. Political life is about becomeing more popular than the other guys and, as NuLab has demonstrated for most of 10 years, you can be awful at process but still more popular than the other guys.

Labour and Lib/Dems demonstrate regularly that they know that being elected requires "political life" first and "process" maybe sometime afterwards. Vast tracts of the Tory party still think governmental process is the important thing to voters which is not much use when you are the oposition.

[Bill]

David Sergeant is right to note that Labour's appalling failures of process in many areas have not stopped their remaining in power. That of course is of little succour to those who have suffered at their hands. And of course the area where Labour have not ignored process (despite things now getting critical) is the economy. So Mr Sergeant is only partially correct. Once the economy goes wrong (as it increasingly looks like it will) process will become
very important as it was for the Tories. And we do not then want a bunch of Labour look alike and too often think alike Tories taking over with nothing of substance to offer but Labour Lite.

[kingbongo]

Speaking as a teacher I am pleased Cameron is recognising that professionals in the public sector can be won over to Conservatism. Staff rooms are not as left wing as you might think. Most people I know are in a union for the professional indemnity cover. We have to put up with endless interference and initiatives and after 10 years many people have seen ineptitude become embedded at all levels.

Real terms pay cuts for teachers won't help Labour. The supposed gravy train for public sector workers has passed the FE sector by.

[hotspur]

I can only echo what Chris and others have said here. Canvassing in the Portslade area of Hove last week - historically neglected by the Tories in terms of active engagement as considered an unwinnable part of the borough - it was amazing how many lifetime Labour supporters said they would not vote for them again. It doesn't mean they are going to jump into bed with Dave, but it does mean a significant shift in the tide. It was also interesting to see The Argus pick up on this yesterday and acknolwedge that Conservative efforts in Portslade are making a difference.
For these people it has nothing to do with process - it is that Labour has fallen between two stools. The hard core sees tham as losing the socialist ideal - a stand for Respect in one High St was doing a roaring trade on Saturday - while at the other end they have failed to deliver on the aspirations of those who thought all that money might actually improve things.
It is very interesting to see that many at both ends of that spectrum are now actually considering that a more common sense Conservative party might be able to make a difference. There might be light at the end of the tunnel.

[Richard]

I think teachers get a reputation for being left-wing due to the antics of a minority of morons who crop up at the NUT conference and vote for the SWP.

Incidently, we must distinguish between public sector workers we support (teachers, nurses, doctors etc) and those that we want to get rid of because they are of no use (non-job types).

"Quite possibly Cameron's focus on public services and its users is more a realisation that most people, rightly, value the public services, rather than having tax cuts & living in a crummy run-down counctry as a result"

You mean people value having their healthcare and education paid for by other people. I value tax cuts because it allows me to decide what I want to do with my own money. I have no desire to tell you or anybody else what to do with yours, I just want to be left alone to get on with my life.

[Michael McGowan]

Margaret on the Guillotine conveniently forgets that under Cameron, people are likely to get poor-quality public services, a crummy run-down country and high, even rising taxes, especially if he gets into bed, as he is longing to do, with the Lib Dems. Lansley, the abject Shadow Health Secretary, has effectively said that the Tory Party will throw unlimited money at an unreformed NHS and let the doctors' and nurses' unions decide how to spend it. Labour's performance is abject but it is possible that the Tories will be even worse, not least because they inhabit a world of economic make-believe. As for education, with the Tories signed up to Labour's failed policies, the outlook is pretty bleak too.

[Simon Chapman]

Be careful about mis- or over-interpreting the "I will never vote for them again" line. We found plenty of those disaffected voters in 2001 (when I was a general election candidate) and 2005. In % terms they were a very substantial section of our canvass returns. They generally did NOT mean that they would vote for us. They meant they would vote for somebody other than Labour, or they would not vote at all. We need to enthuse people to vote FOR us.

[Chris]

Simon, you're quite right about dissaffected voters not necessarily flocking to us. Until we start unveiling policies we cannot expect to gain new supporters, we can merely wittle away at our opponents support through criticism .

Every teacher I've spoken to has echoed my thoughts on classroom discipline deteriorating over the last few years. If focus our policies on things like this, we'll be able to win over more voters than Labour's ultra-generic "respect" agenda ever will.

[Chips of Brookfield.]

Maybe the this thread shows why the Party cannot win teachers - many posts do not focus on schools and virtually all are devoid of a clear idea on how education should develop. At the moment staffrooms still fear the party of National Curriculum, Ofsted and imposed contracts. Labour fairs no better in many cases. Sorry to say that this has made many teachers go libdum, not Conservative.

Your own 100 policies initiative contains ideas that would really worry many teachers, but little that would win them over.

[Lord Cashcroft]

Miss Staff Room? Used to be Miss Whiplash in the good old days............