Leigh vs Portillo

On the Today programme this morning Edward Leigh and Michael Portillo unsurprisingly offered diametrically opposed perspectives on the direction the Party should be going in. Commenting on Brown's bounce Leigh said:

"The way that we fight back is to show that we are not weak, we are not driven by PR, we are a party of principle. There's only one way they can go, which is the traditional Conservative way, the right policies, the progressive policies of successful countries around the world of low taxation, deregulation, strong immigration controls, strong defence and building on the social responsibility theme of David Cameron. The fact is that traditional policies of all successful Conservative governments since the Second World War have all been much the same."

In response Portillo wheeled out the mantra that those policies lost us the last three elections and he urged Cameron to be a martyr for the centre ground cause:

"It is a moment of crisis, or at least a critical moment, in that it is very important that David Cameron should see off the people who want to undermine the strategy to position the Conservative Party on the centre ground. Many people like what David Cameron is doing, but they are not convinced that the party is following him... David Cameron has to take the party to the centre. It is possible it is not do-able, but he should certainly die in the attempt."

Michael Gove denied that the Party was in crisis but agreed that the election would be won "by sticking to the centre ground". He said Brown wasn't underestimated and that his poll lead is a blip similar to that enjoyed by Eden, Callaghan and Major.

Deputy Editor

Comments

[Cllr Tony Sharp]

I think Michael Portillo is wrong when he says "Many people like what David Cameron is doing, but they are not convinced that the party is following him...".

The issue does not appear to be whether the party is following Cameron; rather it is that many people claim not to know what the party stands for. The leadership is not getting our message across or landing blows on Labour despite the problems people can see around them in their everyday lives.

We may be waiting for the most far reaching policy review conducted in years, but that should not mean we avoid vigourous opposition to the Government and hard hitting exposure of its incompetence. We should be reminding people of our core values, which have remained popular with the public even when people in the party have not.

[CDM]

I'm not too sure what David Cameron is supposed to learn from a man who thought that John Redwood would be more appealing to the British public than John Major.

Who does he think he is? His bunch of knuckledraggers couldn't even put up a candidate for the leadership election.

[Yet Another Anon]

The major split now is one between the Public Relations fanatics and the People of Ideas and Principles; in the Labour Party and in the general public the drift has been towards the latter and the Conservative leadership seems to be going in the opposite direction.

In a choice between a fuzzy ill defined mainstreamist approach and a more philosophical approach based on solving practical problems in the country strategically, there is huge scope at the moment for different philosophical positions whether of an establishment, anti-establishment, Social Democrat, or Neo-Conservative standpoint of radicalising much of the population in a particular direction and that while David Cameron is being bold from a standpoint of internal Conservative Party management that he is actually being timid with regard to a general approach to having a strategy for government.

[Annabel Herriott]

Tim,
have you nodded off over your lap top?? Laigh said - WHAT????

[Annabel Herriott]

Tim - Have you nodded off over your laptop? Leigh said ---- What exactly!!!

[HF]

Both are wrong. The analysis from Lord Ashcroft after the GE2005 found that it was the image of the party that mattered. Our policies were correct but they did not address enough issues.

[Paul Oakley]

Er - what did he say Tim? You've left that bit out.

[TomTom]

Polly was remarkably unsure of himself when questioned....in fact he was just puffed up with his own self importance and could not have survived a junior debating club. He asserts without foundation and hedges when challenged. The upshot is that it must be so because Michael wants it to be so and will stamp his little foot itf it isn't so, so there !

[Editor]

I'm sorry - the programming error has now been corrected - I hope it now works for everyone!

[Sean Fear]

Portillo is wrong. The public is not so much concerned about how right or left wing the Conservative Party is as whether or not the Conservative leadership is competent and trustworthy. They like David Cameron, certainly, but it's not at all clear whether they respect him or his colleagues.

[Jack Cade]

All that has happened this week is that Labour has used its control of the media to exclude any other stories, and by default this makes Conservatives invisible and creates the impression of a vacuum. Does anyone remember the Local Government elections? This is the Labour media's payback. Our line continues to be that nothing has changed, the Labour emperor still has no clothes and no policies. Labour is a political parasite whose means and ends: the pursuit of power, are the identical (and that's why Portillo finds them attractive)

[Jaz]

David Cameron has to put his foot down soon. He needs to set out, at the next party conference, what the party would do IN government, and hence outlining what the party stands for.

A spring election isn't far away, DC needs to make it clear. That we HAVE to win, and have to unite behind him.

[John]

Editor:

Hardly a balanced summary.

Does Michael Portillo have any influence these days?

From what I can see he is a has-been political celebrity whose main role in life is to act as a leaning post for Diane Abbott on This Week.

His views are irrelevant. Ignore him and he will disappear up his own smug reflection.

It would have been much better if you had focussed on the excellent Michael Gove's comments that dismissed Portillo's excessively flamboyant and over dramatic performance.

[Joseph]

A lot of people do admit to liking Cameron. I cannot say I particularly like him or Mr Brown for that matter either.

However elections as I have said before are not a beauty competition, I would sooner have a dull, dour, boring old fart who appears more like the formidable very first Bank Manager I ever encountered, whom I feel safe with, rather than a glamour boy who is bereft of any principles with an overwhelming desire to win at any price.
The undisguised shallowness of Mr Cameron is what the public are more and more coming to realise. Unless the Tory Party wake up fast you can kiss good-bye to the next election.
Now, just before anybody jumps in and remind bloggers I am a Labour party supporter, I will do it myself...having said all that I have no wish to see the Tory Party destroyed. My only wish is it remains intact and in opposition which under Mr Cameron's leadership is a self inflicted fulfillment.
The reason I wish Tories to remain intact is because we need effective opposition, I cannot say we always got that even at the dispatch box as we had the spectacle of Blair mark 1 in the red corner and Blair mark 2 in the blue, red, yellow and green corner each week at PMQ's.
Yes, you may all commiserate with each other that your slim lead has
evaporated, but in truth it was never there in the first place.
The lead was far more to do with the Anti-Blair and Ante Iraq War faction than it was by Mr Cameron.

I await the barrage to follow with intrepidity, (in your dreams)
Quite a lot of the more realist bloggers will not only realise what I say is a fact they will also realise what I am saying is true, other will try to block it from their minds and wishful thinking will be going into over-drive.
Time is running out.

[Bill]

I suspect Joseph is correct when writes the Tory "lead was far more to do with the Anti-Blair and Ante Iraq War faction than it was by Mr Cameron."

[TomTom]

is that Labour has used its control of the media to exclude any other stories,

That is patently untrue as two badly-parked Mercedes have proven within the past 24 hours

[david]

Looks like a suicide bomber has struck at Glasgow Airport, the media is about to be hijacked once again.

[Derek]

I agree, we have got a lot to do to win the next election. In fact if Brown sees an opportunity for a snap election within the next nine months we could easily lose it. Cameron has got to show that he has got some real meat on his policies. Trusting people is a good start but it is not nearly enough. He must show a lot more difference from Brown's Labour. Being a nicer alternative is not enough.

[tapestry]

The middle ground is a marketing badge, a desirable label, like living in Chelsea or Notting Hill.

It is not a replacement for the application of human intelligence to the changing problems that society faces.

It is possible to live in Notting Hill and be intelligent, (and systematic) although with media commentators like Portillo being granted endless privilege to commentate despite his failures at the ballot box, it is a lot harder to apply intelligence to anything.

I've just had a brainwave. All journalists from now on must be elected. That might move the middle ground to a place where street murder is not a daily occurrence, thugs don't rule classrooms and the Police sort it with criminals.

How about that Mr Portillo? I guess you'd be kicked out/deseleced as usual.

[MikeA]

My god! One bad poll, a new PM and the Tory right is baying for a change in direction.
Mr.Cameron would be advised to call Edward Leigh in and have a little chat with him on the topic of patience and loyalty.
The polls will be all over the place over the next few weeks and months. So what?
Brown will appear to strengthen Labours position as he is new, well not really but he's not Blair. Also with terrorism sadly back, Brown can take charge and appear statesman-like further strengthening Labour. But it's all to play for.
To me all the comments on Cameron around shallowness, PR or lack of policy is code for "move to the right". I'm sorry we have lost three elections on the trot on a right-wing platform. It's time to try something else, unless you feel 4th time lucky. I do not.
I agree with Andrew Neil, the next political battleground is not economics or managerialism but societal breakdown.

[MikeA]

My god! One bad poll, a new PM and the Tory right is baying for a change in direction.
Mr.Cameron would be advised to call Edward Leigh in and have a little chat with him on the topic of patience and loyalty.
The polls will be all over the place over the next few weeks and months. So what?
Brown will appear to strengthen Labours position as he is new, well not really but he's not Blair. Also with terrorism sadly back, Brown can take charge and appear statesman-like further strengthening Labour. But it's all to play for.
To me all the comments on Cameron around shallowness, PR or lack of policy is code for "move to the right". I'm sorry we have lost three elections on the trot on a right-wing platform. It's time to try something else, unless you feel 4th time lucky. I do not.
I agree with Andrew Neil, the next political battleground is not economics or managerialism but societal breakdown.