The defining events of David Cameron's leadership

We've already drawn attention to it on the homepage but there's a must-read piece in today's Sunday Times by Jonathan Oliver and Isabel Oakeshott about David Cameron's right-and-wrong speech from last Monday.  We said at the time that it was "a great speech" and Oliver and Oakeshott have put it alongside two other speeches as the defining moments of David Cameron's leadership.  The other two being his speech at the 2005 Party Conference which saw Mr Cameron become overnight favourite to succeed Michael Howard and his speech last year - again in Blackpool - when he called Gordon Brown's bluff on an autumn election: Call That Election, We Will Fight, Britain Will Win.

We'd put George Osborne's inheritance tax announcement, the 'huskies trip' to the Norwegian glacier and the tough reaction to Derek Conway as three other defining moments.

What do you think?  We'll add the best suggestions to our Wiki, which will be up-and-running in a few days...

Comments

[activist]

Defining moments:

first PMQ's "he was the future once"
first and second local elections
foundation of Webcameron - not so important in and of itself but as the harbringer of the direct to the people approach of Cameron direct, answering questions online for papers etc
Huskies
A list establishment - that DC changed the candidates' list he has cited again and again
Standing firm on grammar schools
Speech at conference '07
Cameron's demolishing of Brown at PMQs from the first appearance onwards, particular ref to the PMQs after Yellow Saturday
Mayoralty of London/oustanding locals of '08
Crewe and Nantwich
I think his fight in Glasgow East will come in time to be a potent symbol of his courage in contrast to Brown.

[bluepatriot]

Winning the London Mayoralty

Winning Crewe & Nantwich

Both showed the party was ultra credible.

[Votedave]

Making all the doubters on these blogs look foolish when the Brown Bounce ended.

[Alan S]

Bottler Saturday. Cameron would have been toasted in an autumn election. He was saved by Brown's indecision. We were all saved by Brown's indecision.

[activst]

No Alan S, Cameron would have won an autumn election. How quickly you forget

http://politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2007/09/28/what-will-gord-make-of-the-council-by-elections/

Brown didn't dither over an election out of the goodness of his heart, he dithered because DC was beating him.

http://notw.typepad.com/saturday_notw/2007/10/stop-press.html

[Alan S]

Possibly activist but I do believe we would have been beaten by a PM who announced that he wanted his own mandate and went to the country as a man of principle (as he then was still seen). People would have given him the benefit of the doubt. If he had gone in early September we would have been massacred. As big a mistake as not calling the election was to delay his decision until after his and our Party Conference.

[Votedave]

Some of the comments posted about David Cameron from June-October last year on a number of political/newspaper blogs were positively vile - just take a look at them. Those who stood by him before things dramatically turned around in October were proved right.

[public school trust fund prat]

Why id Gideon involved in this? What is "defining" about him? Nothing.

[Ay up]

Criticising grammar schools was pretty defining whether oyu agreed with it or not

[John]

I agree with Alan S "Bottler Saturday. Cameron would have been toasted in an autumn election. He was saved by Brown's indecision. We were all saved by Brown's indecision"

We would not have won - in many key areas we were not ready to fight a campaign, certainly up here in the North. Candidate in for a year - bugger all done.

[Tanuki]

Everyone I know giggled profusely at Cameron's 'huskies trip'. In a time of inexorably-rising fuel costs to achieve electability we need to jump off the 'global warming' and green-taxes train. Specious ~saving the planet~ nonsense doesn't work when our target-voters are looking at paying £2500 for six months' worth of home heating-oil and £100 a time to fill up their car.

[activist]

Are they giggling at his 22 point lead over Labour, Tanuki? I find it never fails to raise a smile, myself :)

[Kirsty, Merseyside]

Standing for the leadership of the party against the overwhelming favourite Davis.

Keeping his cool and not losing his head during the Brown bounce period. Then going eyeball to eyeball with Brown over the election and Brown blinked.

Persuading Boris to stand for London Mayor.

Looking back three years before DC and you realise just how much he has tranformed the party and its fortunes. There have been many times that the thought of the Tories being 22 points ahead in the polls would have been unthinkable. We shouldn't take it for granted.

[David Cooper]

I'd back Crewe & Nantwich if I had to select one only. It showed theory being put into practice in the most obvious way, via the ballot box, and if we compare what happened here with a couple of late 70s examples I have mentioned on this site before - the two by-elections in Birmingham Stechford and Ashfield - we didn't just snatch a narrow victory, we won an overwhelming one.

[passing leftie]

His recent speech where his true colours began to show through - an Old Etonian suggesting that the poor bring it upon themselves.

[Kate Bollinger]

That's weak, passing leftie. Read the speech.

[Joe James Broughton]

Passing leftie - David Cameron's speech was a message of hope - highlighting opportunities to improve people's lives.

My own view (not in DC's speech) is that I'd rather get up in the morning and earn 10p above what the State would pay on benefits to do nothing.

Sitting in front of a DVD player, stuffing your face with 100 sausage rolls that cost £1 from Iceland, and looking up to foul mouthed celebrities as a way of making it is pretty depressing. And you might get very fat.

Get out and work, and then you build up contacts, and better paid work can follow.

The working poor need more help, and their taxes cut.

[Norm Brainer]

I'd say mainly his speech at the conference before the non-election was most defining.

Since then, he has seemed like the PM in waiting - from walking with Brown into the Queens speech he made Brown look like his student or now when he's been called to stand at PMQs he says "Thank you, Mr Speaker" in a way that makes it sound like he's just been introduced as the lead singer at a gig - if would seem phoney or wrong if he wasn't in that strong position.

On the news that DC was heading to Crewe after the win, apparently one local woman had said "ooh, the Prime Minister is coming".

[Ken Stevens]

PLUS:
"You were the future once"
"Sub-prime minister"

MINUS:
"Heir to Blair"
"Sour little Englanders"

[Votedave]

Regarding the 22% lead by YouGov - it should be noted that the recent LibDem figure wasn't 18%. It was in fact 16%, making the projected Conservative overall majority 250.

[passing leftie]

Sitting in front of a DVD player, stuffing your face with 100 sausage rolls that cost £1 from Iceland, and looking up to foul mouthed celebrities as a way of making it is pretty depressing. And you might get very fat.

I'm guessing, just guessing, that you don't know many working class people, or unemployed people.

Do you really think the increase in obesity is caused by a rise in the number of individuals being innately "bad", or is something to do with changes in the nature of working class employment, food provision and entertainment?

Do you think employment levels fluctuate because of people being "immoral" or for structural and economic reasons?

Pointing the finger and saying "you are bad" is not a basis for government policy. Stick with the Labour-aping nudge policies. At least they aren't statistically illiterate.

[Norm Brainer]

I'm guessing, just guessing, that you don't know many working class people, or unemployed people.

My guessing is that you only met one once.

...Or to build your imaginary backstory in my mind I would say that your partner was unemployed or poor, but now isn't and so is feeling class guilt meaning you'll try and overcompensate and believe in mad labour schemes.

Do you really think the increase in obesity is caused by a rise in the number of individuals being innately "bad"

People don't mean to be bad.. but the government is rewarding bad behaviour so it's easier to not fight the system and submit to just being a statistic rather than suffer the consequences of doing the right thing.