David Cameron's response to Davies

"Dear Quentin,

Thank you for your letter. Your decision does not come as a surprise to me.

The Conservative Party has changed, as you say. We need to do more to protect the environment and tackle climate change. That will mean taking tough measures on carbon emissions. And it does mean looking at ways to encourage greater use of alternative sources of energy. Of course, I will also continue to stand up for Britain’s interests in Europe, and work to give the British people the referendum they were promised.

People see that we are now focusing on what matters to them. That is why so many people are supporting us once again – as shown in May, when we won over 900 Council seats.

I am sorry that you feel unable to be part of today’s Conservative Party, and join us in campaigning on what matters to people – for example, against the NHS cuts or for a better deal for pensioners. The big dividing line in British politics is between Labour’s approach of top down State control and the Conservative vision of pushing power outwards and downwards from central government, trusting people and sharing responsibility with them. You have made your choice and the British people will make theirs.

Thank you for your support in the past. We will watch your future career with interest."

Comments

[Jack Stone]

Well said!As for his career. What Career?

[Jennifer Wells]

"Your decision does not come as a surprise to me."

Yeah, right.

[English translation]

In English: you silly sod, if you wanted to support Labour policies under a winner you should have stayed with me.

[Mike A]

"Future career"?

a) He has the Toriest name in the world
b) He is the Toriest-looking person ever

[Londoner]

As someone who has had doubts on some aspects of Cameron's strategy recently, I must say that his response is a masterful put-down. "We will watch your future career with interest"!! Does Tory high command already know that he has been offered a job in the Brown Government, or is this a reference to him sinking without trace? Either way, it's a great phrase to see him off with.

He also implies that Davies is against dealing with global warming, alternative energy and sticking with manifesto commitments.

Top marks to whoever helped Cameron craft this letter. If that man from the NoW is already helping behind the scenes he may be worth his salary after all.

[Peter Golds]

I have just pulled out an old copy of teh Roth Guide. Quentin Davies comes immediately before Ron Davies, Shepp and Badgers m'Lud.

It includes "Labour Jeers greeted his admiration of Chancellor Lamont" - October 1992. I wonder if Mr Brown remembers that?

Roth describes him as sophisticated and "superloyal" and as "regarded by contemporaries as as one of the two most openly ambitious of the 1987 intake"

Best of all is Ed Pearce describing his speeches " a fashion as unnameable as his social contempt which is of the accentuated or minor public school kind"

Yup, Tom Harris and Dennis Skinner will love him

[Man in a Shed]

"We will watch your future career with interest."

A spectacularly loaded sentence.

Good to see DC get a response out quickly.

[Tory T]

Beautiful - and so singularly free of the personal invective and bitterness that marked out Davies' screed - coals of fire is the phrase that springs to mind.

Cameron is gracious and polite. Good for him.

[Sean Fear]

I feel the same way as you, Londoner. It was a nice put down.

[Justin Hinchckliffe]

Brilliant respnse.

[Anon]

Fantastic reply

[Mark Fulford]

Jennifer, I think this defection genuinely is not a surprise to the leadership. In 2005 George Osborne told the BBC "...I actually disagree with almost everything Quentin Davies has ever said".

The "future career" line was delicious.

[Harry Marshall]

Brilliant reply? Why exactly? Cameron will continue to be the slimy PR man he's always been while he's lost one of his own MP's (first of many no doubt).

If Cameron wanted to write a truly 'brilliant reply' he should have written a resignation letter.

[Mark Clarke (Tooting PPC)]

Great response from Cameron.

This guy represents the past. As does Gordon Brown. They are welcome together.

David Cameron and his policies are giving me a huge chance of winning in Tooting. As the PPC I'm closer to the dynamics there than any other Conservative. And its a key marginal seat. Let's not let this old, yesterday's man distract us.

Journalists are reading this blog to see the state of the party. If you are the silent majority who supports Cameron, don't leave the comments to the small, but vocal, group of whingers on the side.

[Andrew Woodman]

Very good letter.

Blair to stand down as MP if he gets the Middle East job. Have we got a candidate for Sedgefield?

[WHS]

I wonder if Dennis Skinner will be "raising his fist in salute" (Robert Jackson's words)to yet another Tory defector with a plummy accent and a country seat?

[tapestry]

Quentin's devastating words must hurt - 'incredibly imprudent… extraordinarily incompetent… extraordinarily naïve… desperately complacent…' about Gordon Brown!!! You couldn't make it up.

Cameron's letter is measured. He doesn't need to say much. Davies' defection has shown that Cameron is determined to defend the interests of the British people and fight for the referendum.

This should be most reassuring to Conservatives who doubted the determination of Cameron.

[Annabel Herriott]

Great letter. Great put down. Cameron is starting to show his sharp incisive mind. I expect he wrote the letter himself.

[Liberal Tory]

Rather a weak response from Cameron, though his polite and restrained phrasing is sensible (and rather better than some of the vitriolic responses on this site).

But - Davies' letter was pretty devastating and Cameron hasn't really addressed any of his most telling points, especially about spin and policy-making off the cuff to wrong foot our opponents.

It doesn't bode well...

[Andrew Woodman]

Why should Cameron address purile points most probably written by Labour HQ Liberal Tory (or maybe Labour troll as you've only recently appeared)

[mike]

Tomorrow's papers will, in any case, be dominated by Tony Blair's resignation as an MP

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6242788.stm

[powellite]

Liberal Tory

What policies would you like to see DC adopt?

[John]

David Cameron identifies the main issue. Davies is a centralist and I see no loss in his departure.

Iain Dale has found some of Quentin Davies's comments about Gordon Brown's chancellorship which conclude.

"I trust and believe that something nasty will happen to the Chancellor in electoral terms before too long. He will have no one but himself to blame"

It would seem that something nasty has just happened..

If he has become Gordon Brown's friend then Gordon definitely does not need enemies!

From what I can see Davies was isolated in the party and wanted some serious attention.

Let him have his five minutes of fame and then see him return rapidly to backbench obscurity.

[Richard Tyndall]

Damn, I find myself doing this a lot this last couple of days but once again well done Cameron. A well crafted and underplayed response.

All the better since Liberal Tory didn't like it. :-)

[tapestry]

Brown could have a much bigger problem brewing over Europe than Cameron.

From the Democracy Movement - A survey of MPs revealed today - 21st June - has shown that more than 50 Labour MPs had already pledged their support for a referendum on the EU Constitution before Tony Blair U-turned to promise one.

The research - conducted through a letter-writing campaign by supporters of the eurosceptic Democracy Movement - revealed that 52 Labour MPs were prepared to rebel against the government and support a public vote.

[TomTom]

Top marks to whoever helped Cameron craft this letter. If that man from the NoW is already helping behind the scenes he may be worth his salary after all.

You are being satirical i hope. It is grammatically poor and evidential proof of the PR charge against Cameron.

People see that we

That is why so many people

hat you feel unable to be part of today’s Conservative Party,

And it does mean looking at ways to encourage

Of course, I will also continue to

Thank you for your support in the past. We will watch your future career with interest."

This letter was concocted by someone devoid of education - I get better written junk-mail. In fact this is platitudinous twaddle. The letter from Davies was far better written -if Cameron wrote this himself he is really dim and poorly educated. It is the kind of rubbish churned out from templates available on £9.99 "Business Letter" Cds at Staples.

The accusations Davies makes about shallowness and PR-driven are borne out by the syntax and form of this letter. Own goals abound.

[Dontmakemelaugh]

"The Conservative Party has changed, as you say. We need to do more to protect the environment and tackle climate change. That will mean taking tough measures on carbon emissions. And it does mean looking at ways to encourage greater use of alternative sources of energy. Of course, I will also continue to stand up for Britain’s interests in Europe (that's nice of him), and work to give the British people the referendum they were promised" (and then lose all interest).

Oh dear! Still obsessed like the BBC with climate change Dave; no mention of immigration Dave; no passion on the EU and no mention of nuclear power Dave. It is all grief.
However, I will definately vote to be taxed more to save the planet from the Americans, Chinese,Indians, Brazilians, Canadians, Russians, Australians, Europeans (can't be trusted) and the Scots (the SNP has its own policy for neutralising atomic waste).
How much extra tax Dave do we need to pay to save the planet? Give us a clue Dave.

[Giles Richardson]

Fantastic letter. After an afternoon of my blood boiling at this cretin's disingenuous self-indulgent, self-serving rubbish, that was the perfect response to let me know that the leadership has this wholly under control, and has more wit, intelligence and grace than the clunking fist or his new comrade will ever muster.

[powellite]

TomTom

How would you have written it instead?

[John]

Did someone mention the EU.

Help Make Gordon's Premiership A Misery (and upset Quentin Davies)

Sign The Downing Street Petition (if you haven't already)

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to guarantee that the British people will be permitted a binding referendum on any and all attempts to resurrect the EU "constitution" (and any or all of its content) regardless of nomenclature.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/EU-treaty-NON/

[Ken Stevens]

As well as the pithy putdown, I liked the concise way in which that Mr C set out some core points of Tory policy.

... But he had better mean unequivocally ".. work to give the British people the referendum they were promised.." rather than do a Blair/Brownism by later averring that there was nothing substantive at the relevant time upon which to hold a referendum.

[TomTom]

TomTom

How would you have written it instead?

Posted by: powellite | June 26, 2007 at 17:46

Avoid platitudes and stock phrases....this letter is awful. Cameron had better not have written it himself....it is so insincere and shallow that it looks like the kind of HR rubbish that the system spews out to all and sundry.

The sentences are so poorly structured. The language so stilted. Do I live in a country where the english language is now so sterile and devoid of meaning ?

I am frankly disgusted and contemptuous of the utter banality of this letter - it represents the mediocrity of the British education system in its full bathos.

[powellite]

"I am frankly disgusted and contemptuous of the utter banality of this letter - it represents the mediocrity of the British education system in its full bathos."

As a quick follow-up thought, do you prefer a Party who elected John Prescott as Deputy Leader for 10 years? His mastery of the English language was, and is, unparalleled...

[Ken Stevens]

John | June 26,17:49
Re:
Downing Street Petition
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/EU-treaty-NON/

I have also emailed the Queen on
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page249.asp

urging her to impress upon Mr Brown not to sign up to anything without a mandate by referendum.

[Alex Fisher]

Davies appears to have lost the plot.

All of the dissatisfaction with Cameron is from the right; he is dissatisfied with Cameron, thus he joins a left-wing Party. It's like a Labour left-winger joining us because Labour are too centrist for him.

By the way he says he will 'not seek' a position in the Brown Government, presumably implying he wouldn't refuse one if offered it.

Perhaps he could be their candidate in the Ealing Southall by-election that's coming up? It would give him a safe seat and we could give his constituents the rightful Tory MP they voted for.

[William Norton]

Voice of Sanity:Davies's devastating condemnation of Cameron will ring round Europe

I imagine they'll be burning the midnight oil in all the chancelleries tonight. In the Arab souk they'll be arguing about this for weeks to come. Expect widespread stock market falls....

[Voice of Sanity]

COMMENT OVERWRITTEN BY THE EDITOR.

[malcolm]

What an amazingly witty response! You're not very bright are you?

[TomTom]

As a quick follow-up thought, do you prefer a Party who elected John Prescott as Deputy Leader for 10 years? His mastery of the English language was, and is, unparalleled...

Posted by: powellite | June 26, 2007 at 17:56

Are you a metronome powellite ? You swing from extreme to extreme.

What has despair at the poor literacy in a letter got to do with John Prescott or Labour ?

It is my language we are talking about not your silly little playground games, and which boys you want to kiss today - there is a major language here and official documents cannot even manage basic standards of literacy.

Go read some political biography and see how grown-ups write letters - read Duff Cooper, Macmillan, Thatcher, Reagan, Churchill, Eden, Wilson, .......

You turn everything into childish politics. There is suppose to be a culture in this country and I should expect someone with an education to be able to write to a fellow MP in a prose style which suggested levels of literacy and syntax consistent with the position held.

[Editor]

Malcolm and others: The best thing to do about trolls is NOT to give them the attention they crave!

[Liberal Tory]

John, Ken et al.... Didn't take long for this to get back to Europe, did it? Change the record, please.

BTW, since Quentin Davies was shadow N Ireland Secretary under IDS, the path's clear for him to take the job for real now Paddy has passed it up....

[malcolm]

Of course you're right Tim . This troll was obviously a bit thick and I thought I'd have some fun at their expense. Sorry, not very grown up I know.

[torylady]

There is suppose to be a culture in this country
Posted by: TomTom | June 26, 2007 at 18:04

You're absolutely right, TomTom. Syntax and Grammar have gone down the toilet.

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!

[Adrian Owens]

Good letter. Very nicely put in his place.

[powellite]

TomTom

Have you thought about becoming an English teacher, if you aren't already? sounds like the best possible profession given your concerns about the parlous state of our education system. Failing that, you could stand for Parliament and become Education Minister. You'd get my vote...

"which boys you want to kiss today" - not quite sure what you're driving at - would you care to elaborate?

[powellite]

TomTom

A further thought. Whilst I share your despair at educational standards, I'm not quite sure you've picked out the major issue which will play in the press tomorrow:

'Tory grammar row - shock new developments'.

However, don't rule it out, you know what the subs at the Sun are like...

[Daniel VA]

"We will watch your future career with interest."

Has Quentin Davies been offered Sedgefield?

[Kris]

David Cameron's response was perfect. I am very impressed by its professional sound and also its parting shot. If only this letter is published in the press i think that Cameron and the Conservatives would come out on top in the eyes of the electorate. I for one am off to the Conservative party website and joining!

[Ashton]

a perfectly weighted response. this man's departure is insignificant compared to what is happening around us right now. if DC had spat forth vitriol at him it would have been a complete over-exaggeration. if he had showed dismay and regret it would have been an acceptance of QD's criticisms, and would of course be a fallacy. A more perfect reply could not be asked for

[Spitfire]

Big deal - so what if Quentin Davies has joined Stalinist Gordon Brown's New Labour Old Communist party? The Tory Party should treat this traitor with the contempt that he so richly deserves. We Conservative are fighting a war with a clear and simple goal to win the next general election so that we can save Britain and particular England from the clutches of the European Union. We need to support Cameron's leadership and remain focused on the main goal. To all of those so called Conservative who write whinging letters of complaint about the Conservative party to the Daily Mail and Telegraph etc., - here is a simple message 1) Leave the Conservative Party and f**k off if you won't actively support it and it's leadership - with all your mind, heart, body and soul.
2) Keep your mouths shut if you have nothing good to say about the Conservative - zip it or join another party.
2) Get active help with distribution of leaflets, push the positive Conservative message wherever and whenever you can.
3) Donate to the party's war chest.
4) There is a shortage of people willing to stand as Conservative councillors - if you feel and believe that strongly about the Conservative party - make a stand and stand as a councillor.
5) The fight for this country will be street by street and door to door – if people don’t feel that we can take on and beat Labour and the Lib Dems – they should f**k off NOW and join another party.

The Conservative Party cannot and will not lose a fourth general election to Labour.

[Ashton]

Amen Spitfire, Amen

[kris]

I agree with you spitfire, but i think it would come across better if you didn't use so many words that require ****'s in them.

[RobD]

Great reponse from Dave, short and not making too much of this insignificant little toad's defection. Great to see the referendum mentioned again as well.

[Chelloveck]

"the fight for this country

Like securing our energy supplies with windmills?

Like protecting our population by hugging a hoodie?

Like helping poor but bright kids compete with the privileged ones by removing the one remaining ladder of social mobility?

Like voting for a leader who broke his pledge on immediate EPP withdrawal?

[Tory T]

"short and not making too much of this insignificant little toad's defection. Great to see the referendum mentioned again as well."

Couldn't agree more, on both counts.

[kris]

David Cameron pledged to pull out of the EPP and will do so in the near future. He didn't break the pledge. Getting upset about having to wait is like a child getting upset and stamping its feet because its dinner isn't ready yet. Give him a break, he is getting flack from Europhiles for pulling out of the EPP and flack from the Eurosceptics because they have to wait a bit. Give him credit where it's due, we have a more Eurosceptic agenda than we have had since Margaret Thatcher and as a Eurosceptic i am over the moon about it. Cheers Dave.

[chel]

Kris - Yes he did. He pledged immediate withdrawal.

Read this by Dan Hannan from Nov 2005 during the leadership election:

"There is a clear division between the candidates on this question. David Cameron would remove us from the EPP grouping immediately; David Davis would leave the decision to MEPs, a majority of whom favour the status quo. With Cameron, we’ll be out of the EPP by Christmas; with Davis, we’ll still have this albatross dragging us deckwards at the next European election.

That alone ought to answer those who wonder how much substance there is to David Cameron. On the one issue which he would have to decide within days of taking over, the one which he must have been most tempted to fudge, he has been unequivocal and bold. David Cameron’s robustness on the EPP confirms my impressions of a man I have known since he gave me my first job 15 years ago. He is polite; he listens to other points of view; but, when he makes up his mind, he is resolute."

If you are calling Dan Hannan a liar, please do it clearly so he has a chance to respond.

[Ismail]

Quite pathetic from Cameron the toff. He should have mentioned that under his leadership, Conservatives are weak on terror, support diversity and multiculturalism, like to hang out with eco-terrorists (Greenpeace, Friends of the Ass), like to hug hoddies, favour positive discrimination, doen't give 100% support to Trident, and embraces the liberal media and celebrity.

[Sean Fear]

I'll repeat a post I put on Political Betting.

"Thinking it through, the reasons for his defection are idiotic.

He wants to belong to a party that is affiliated to the EPP (so he joins one that’s affiliated to the European Socialists);

He doesn’t like Cameron’s line on grammar schools (so joins a party that wants to abolish them);

He didn’t like Greg Clark’s praise for Polly Toynbee (so joins a party that admires Polly Toynbee);

He is strongly in favour of the Iraq War (so joins a party whose Deputy Leader said they should apologise over Iraq - though she denies it now);

He doesn’t like Cameron’s policies on pensions or the family (so joins a party whose policies on pensions and the family are far removed from his own);

plus he favours fox-hunting (which Labour voted to ban) and is opposed to homosexual equality (so joins a party that favours it).

It’s a bit like falling out with someone, chopping off your right arm, waving it at them and yelling “there, you bastard, that’ll show you.”

[Chelloveck]

Perhaps he just thinks that it will help speed up the demise of Cameron, so someone closer to his values can take over Sean?

[MHDH]

Actually, a weak and panicked response. The wheels are coming off Project Cameron if the left is now defecting.

[Afleitch]

I think it was a proportionate response to the defection and under the circumstances was a strong one.

[Edison Smith]

I think the letter's fair enough.

Short, as it should be for an MP who has no integrity left.

Why should the leader of the Opposition waste his busy time writing an essay defending himself to a man clearly devoid of sense and being used like a tool by Brown Labour.

I thought the wry comments 'it comes as no surprise', and 'we shall watch (his future career) with interest' rather amusing, and pretty much a two fingers.

Good on Cameron I say.

[Liberal Tory]

I've been reasonably tolerant of Cameron, despite his pandering to the Eurosceptic nutters (sadly a necessary evil to get into power in the party today).

But Davies's letter has shaken me, because I'm afraid it rings true, chiming with all my supressed doubts.

I think the best thing for us all would be for Cameron to go NOW and take Osborne and the other kids with him.

There's still time for Ken Clarke to rescue us - he's the only grown up we have left, watching him tackle Brown would cheer us all up.

Fourth time lucky, Ken!

[aghast]

You guys need a reality check. If Cameron was doing his job properly there'd be defections to Conservative - not from it.

So he wrote a good letter. So what? The BBC are running with this defection as their top story.

What the hell is the matter with you guys?

[Rachel Joyce]

DC's letter is spot on. No point giving Davies airtime, really.
He comes over as an out of date bitter man and - so the message that gives about the Labour Party is quite fitting.

[pap]

Sean Fear has provided the most pointed and accurate analysis thus far. Mr Davies has connived with the Labour Party to inflict the maximum possible damage on the Conservative Party with the timing of this resignation. In common with Peter Temple Morris and Robert Jackson he is an unremarkable politician in the twilight of his career shamelessly seeking his 15 minutes of fame. He will no doubt be rewarded with a peerage. It will be a difficult few days after which this episode will be consigned to the history books.

[Colchester Tory]

Well said Spitfire. I agree with Spitfire's posting about 20 postings back - that we should unite and fight. Spitfire is spot on when he or she says that "The Conservative Party cannot and will not lose a fourth general election to Labour." So let's get behind Cameron and fight the battles that matter and to those who run down Cameron and the Conservative party they should piss off and join another party.

[Cllr John Gover]

There are plenty of people in the Conservative Party who are less than persuaded by the electoral tactics now operated under Mr Caneron's lesdrship. My life is not ruled by opinion polls but facing a morally bankrupt government we should be seeing much better indications from them than we are.

That however is not a reason for leaving the Party. It's only a reason for changing the Party's strategy. That will happen if enough grass roots members require it.

The solution to the issues Mr Davies has raised, many of which will be recognised by grass root members is insistence on a real Conservative policy agenda. Not defection.

In the end,Mr Cameron must carry the Party with him. If he does, fine. If he doesn't we'll have to get someone who does. It's as simple as that.

For 200 years the Party's greatest strength has been unity based on common purpose from top to bottom. Since the Hague reforms post 1997 that seems to have diminished. If we are to again govern it must be fully restored.

[Scotty]

"What the hell is the matter with you guys?"

Aghast, I have watched the various defections suffered by the tories over the years since Labour came to power but this one is different.
All are planned to undermine and embarrass the leadership and party, but I think the personal and vindictive nature of Davies's letter and general behaviour today has left him looking anything but principled. David Cameron's response by contrast was measured and dignified.

[Cllr Lindsay]

Frankly, for an MP to jump ship at such a critical turning point in this party's history, demonstrates a complete lack of understanding and an absolute failure to grasp what what we are try to do - win. Sorry to see that he will not be a part of our next Government.

[Macca]

Not to worry, He's a bumbling idiot anyway. Who can forget his Northern Ireland Gaff! Do us all a favour, give us a laugh Gordy; Make him NI Secretary!

QD do the right thing; don't be as undemocratic as your new bosom Buddy... Resign and fight a by-election!

[Ken Stevens]

Illiberal Tory:
June 26,18:07 "Didn't take long for this to get back to Europe, did it? Change the record, please."

Only game in town right now!

June 26, 20:46 "Fourth time lucky, Ken!"

Oooh great. Ooops sorry; you're referring to some other Ken who has a slightly different view on the incontrovertible merits of the EU.

Much weightier a topic than a no-hoper grabbing his 15 minutes of Warholian fame, with convenient amnesia about the nasty things he has previously said about his new boss.

[Oliver McCarthy]

I loved the Chancellor Palpatine line at the end. Brilliant!

As for Quentin Twit, the real news is that he's joined the Socialists and not the Liberals. Given the (poor) excuses for his defection that he's given, it's hard to imagine what sort of Tory is going to miss him.

BTW, there are plenty of people fulminating in here that it's the trads in the Tory Party that want the Tories to fail. Well fine, I certainly want David Cameron to fail. But in reality it's people like Quentin Davies that want the Party as a whole (and the Right in general -- even if, unlike John Major, they don't actually want to "f**king crucify" it) to fail.

[Ali T]

DC's reply was spot on. Bring on Brown!

[Paul Kennedy]

Good letter, could I suppose have added how Mr Davies has betrayed his Constituents.

But maybe Mr Cameron's response should have been, "who". ;)

[Londoner]

TomTom's attack on Cameron's syntax illuminates more about the depth of his anxiety to find fault with everything Cameron does than it does about Cameron's education. But apart from starting a sentence with "And" - a rhetorical device which I admit is not entirely Fowler's English Usage - I am obviously very thick and poorly (if expensively) educated, as I cannot see what the grammatical or syntactical offences are alleged to be. Up with this preposterous satallite navigation aid I will no longer put.

However, TomTom must have a point because it was clearly the poor syntax which has led to none of the newspapers printing the letter this morning. They were obviously as deeply offended by the use of english as was TomTom. It's very encouraging that TomTom's efforts have resulted in this most important deficiency of our leader being so widely recognised.

On the other hand, the fact that Team Cameron got its response out so quickly, that it cheered up a few of us for a few hours, and that it set the tone for a fairly dismissive coverage of QD in the press, is of no consequence.