Two years of David Cameron

Yesterday was the second anniversary of David Cameron's election as Conservative leader.

Of those two years what would you choose as the high point and the low point?

My own high point would be the whole emphasis on social justice (closely followed by last week's Washington visit for the reasons explained here).

The low point would be the grammars schools row (closely followed by the failure to deliver the scheduled exit from the EPP).

Comments

[Alan S]

High point: Cameron destroying Brown at PM Questions after Chicken Saturday.

Low point: Ealing Southall.

[George Marshall]

The most recent high point was the general fightback at the party conference in October, leading to the dramatic reversal of fortunes for the parties. This was quite an extraordinary feat, one of the most dramatic turnarounds in politics I have ever experienced, principally attributable to the tremendous strength of all the speeches at the conference (as well as Labour's own mishaps).

The lowpoint would have to be the period over the summer - grammar schools, poor by-election results and general disquiet within the party. Overall, however, a very good two years for the party under Cameron's leadership.

[Edison Smith]

High Point: Speech to Conference 07 (plus any speech to do with the broken society).

Low Point: That clip on the news during the floods. When asked if he were neglecting his constituents by flying to Rwanda, he was completely bamboozled and couldn't get his words out. Brown trousers moment. Summed up a terrible summer. Haven't seen that before or since.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Easy, high points Conference speeches 2005 & 2007.
Low point, Grammar School fiasco.

[Tony Makara]

There have been several high points but David Cameron's speech at conference was highly inspiring for me on a personal level. Hearing that speech gave me hope for the future and faith in a man who really worries about the fate of our country. As for low points well, it was sad to see the stick David got during the Brown bounce, but that's politics I suppose. As David says, there are good days and bad days in politics.

[Pauline Buffham]

High Point: Scaring Brown out of calling an
early election

Low Popint: The Grammar School fiasco

[John Trudgill]

High Point: - has to be the conference speeches

Low Point:- grammar school debacle

[David Belchamber]

Maybe John Trudgill would lend me one of his entries, as I agree wholeheartedly.

[James Burdett]

High - The comprehensive outmanoeuvering of Brown over the last few months. I would include the summer as I am not entirely convinced it was unplanned to allow the Brown team to get carried away.

Low - Accepting Labour spending plans, good politics at the time but may be an albatross. Although I think it may be possible to extricate himself from this without too much damage.

[judy from the north]

high point the bravery of the conference speech and the feeling that the shadow ministers were ready to govern.low point the despair that the country thought gordon brown was the change the country needed.

[Christina Speight]

Low point - Definitely the failure to disengage MEPs from the federalist EPP. Why the lowest? Because it was a clear breach of promise - an unforgiveable sin.

[Chad Noble]

High Point: Highlighting, upon being elected, how politicians breaking promises erodes trust in politics as a whole and must stop.

Low Point: Breaking promises.

[Mark]

High point - 2007 conference speech (and leadership acceptance speech) - loads of sincerity

Low point - car following bike with shoes. Smacks of insincerity.

[MH]

High point: IHT proposal. Callow, but superb realpolitik as it curely stopped a GE that would have been clearly lost.

Low point: Joint tie between A list and EPP lie.

[Robert Winterton]

High point - realising that cutting taxes does matter - IHT and Stamp Duty

Low point - 'tilting at Windmills' - Grammer Schools and unnecessarily accepting Labour spending plans at top of both economic and debt cycle (not the same as '96/7!)

[Rover]

High Point: Strength of character shown at the last October conference.

Low Point: Breaking the EPP promise. Many traditional Tory Members voted for him rather than DD on this issue alone. He knew this would be the case, that's why he made the promise! Pure deceit. But then he is a Politician and deceit is what we have come to expect of all of them.

[London Tory]

HIGHS:
1. Vastly improved performances at PMQs.
2. Setting the political agenda most weeks.
3. Giving a high profile to Andy Coulson, Michael Gove and Sayeeda Warsi.
4. Keeping Hague and Davis prominent, and on side.
5. Putting some long overdue fire-in-the-belly in our previously lazy Front Bench.
6. Good conference performances.
7. Holding his nerve during the Brown bounce.

LOWS:
1. Grammar school muddle, and unfair trashing of Willetts.
2. Allowing Trust Fund Tory perception to grow over taxing supermarket trips, flights etc.
3. Still too many non entities in Shadow Cabinet. Only Hague, Fox, Davis, Willetts, Gove and latterly Osborne impress consistently.
4. Failure to appoint a credible Party Chairman (see above list).
5. Indulging Boris Johnson, who's performance in campaigning for the mayoralty to date has shown again why he is not a serious politician.

Cameron is carrying on the good start made by Michael Howard, and is gradually erasing the memory of Major/Hague/IDS.

[David]

High point: Succesfully detoxifying the party and moving it back to the centre right

Low point: Failing to follow his instincts on drugs policy-the major thing that could massively reduce crime and increase tax revenues allowing for a decrease in income tax.

[Alex Agius.]

High Point: Passing the education bill and renewing trident.

[The Huntsman]

High Point: Getting Brown to crap himself at PMQs when his hand shook.

Low Point: the shameful visit of and fawning over the appalling Paul Kagame at the conference

[Sally Roberts]

London Tory - agree with all your points except No. 5 of the "Lows"! I think Boris is coming out of his corner fighting now - particularly on the subject of Mr Lee Jasper and the dodgy goings-on of Ken and his Cronies!

[Yogi]

High Point: not reached yet, although very much on course to get there within the next 30 months.

Low Point: Cameron Conservative candidate in ealing Southall, who turned out to be a Chamalean.

[Jar Jar Binks]

High point: being consistently around 40% in the polls for a sustained period

Low point: idiots dressed as bottles of brown ale shouting "Bottler Brown" - fire the person who thought this was a good idea!!

[Gordon's Missing Bottle]

High: Conference 2007. The media stage was such that he could have won big or lost big. He won big.

Lows: The pointless grammar school row.

Honestly, though, I'm not sure there are any other lows I'd care to name. I'm happy to wait on the EPP. I think the Shadow Cabinet is getting stronger and stronger with people like Hague, Herbert and Gove joining Davis and Osborne. I think the A-list has done its job well, not least in promoting the party's new talent and putting the change agenda into the media spotlight. He was right to go through with the Rwanda trip; he's right to stick to his principled stand on the environment; he's right to stick by George Osborne and Francis Maude.

I voted for him and with the singular instance of the grammar school nonsense, I haven't been disappointed.

[Edward Huxley]

Can`t think of a high point. Low point the stupid insult calling UKIP members and supporters fruitcakes and closet racists.

[Gurcharan Singh]

High point conference Speech of 2007 which changed the political landscape that resulted in our big improvement in opinion pollso followed by his speech on immigration earning respect of all decent people.

Gurcharan Singh
Southall.

[Andy D]

It seems a little unfair to pick one high point and one low point, when the former outweigh the latter so convincingly.

With each passing day I grow more convinced that we'll not only win the next election, but that we'll do a good job in government too.

[John Leonard]

High points: The Party Conference, PMQ's, deservedly trashing Brown and Labour's reputation over the last few weeks and seeing the Conservatives 11 points ahead as a result from 13 points behind.

Low points: No consistency in the concept of localism and in some cases (e.g. Health, Democracy and Environment) being hardly less statist and centralist than Labour (although less punitive to the people). Consistently failing to deal with the out-of-step former 'Big Beasts' (e.g. Clarke). In these cases to claim to be a localist party is hardly credible!

[Mark Fulford]

Andy D, well said.

[Christina Speight]

Andy D @1408. "With each passing day I grow more convinced that we'll not only win the next election"

Andy you can 't have seen the dreadful anti-democratic proposals for rigging the selection of MEP candidates. Unless that;'s ditched pronto, he'll lose all those of us who have drifted back

[TimC]

High point: scaring Labour enough to ditch Blair.

Low point: not immediately dismissing increases on taxes on flights and supermarket parking.

[Yet Another Anon]

The low point has to be almost losing Bromley & Chislehurst to the Liberal Democrats, the high point must've been winning the leadership election although he rather did it by unrealisticaly raising expectations and I still think that David Davis would have done better.

It's not just about the highpoints, there has been a lot of policy ambiguity, timidity and an obsession with style over substance.

[Frank McGarry]

His high points were his decision to increase the Inheritance Tax threshold to £1m and his promise to hold a referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty when he becomes PM - even if it has already been ratified.

He started with a very low point when he broke the firm, bankable promise he used to get elected Party Leader.

His second low point was to take away from the rank & file members their right to democratically deselect sittings MEPs.

His present low point is to ignore the wishes of his party membership (and the wishes of 80% of the electorate too) to have nothing to do with taxpayer funding of political parties.

It is no good just preaching democracy - he has to practice it too.

[Scotty]

Difficult to choose a high point. I will simple say that David Cameron keeping his nerve and having the confidence to stick to his beliefs about what was needed to change and reform the party over the last 2 years, even in face of at times very vocal opposition from some in the party and those in the right wing media!
One other high point for me was the way the shadow cabinet has evolved and grown, for the first time in many a year we have not just got a leader who looks and acts like a PM, he has colleagues which look and act like a government.
Low point for me was the behaviour of the Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror to David Cameron.
For those that mention grammar schools (for gods sake, it is an insult and totally over the top to call it grammarsgate) or the delayed EPP withdrawal, I think that giving into the grammar school issue or a totally withdrawal from the EPP to stand alone, or with questionable friends would have been more damaging in the long term.

[Martin Cole]

High Point: Approving the Inheritance Tax gimmick at the 2007 Party Conference.

Low Point to date: Rejecting any review of the Barnett Formula on the grounds of his Scots blood.

Low point after 13th December 2007 (still therefore avoidable):

NOT CLEARLY SPELLING OUT A (THIS TIME) BINDING PROMISE OF A REFERENDUM ON THE LISBON TREATY EVEN AFTER RATIFICATION.

[activist]

High point

Watch this and enjoy it. Four minutes to warm the cockles of any Conservative heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Ps7fJm7rk

low point - who cares?