Bercow attacks David Cameron for "Eton, hunting, shooting and lunch at Whites"

Yesterday's negative campaigning from David Cameron has produced a furious response from John Bercow, a prominent backer of Ken Clarke.

Unlike David Cameron's remarks - which focused on the political weaknesses of David Davis and Ken Clarke, Mr Bercow has chosen a deeply personal form of attack.  "Eton, hunting, shooting and lunch at Whites" made David Cameron the wrong man for the job, Mr Bercow said.

Mr Bercow's implied attack on Mr Davis was more political.  Mouthing the same old mantras on Europe, immigration and tax cuts would cause the Tory Party to "sleepwalk" to another election defeat, he said.

Although Liam Fox had made attacks on Ken Clarke's Iraq policy earlier this month, his campaign is now trying to rise above the fray.  "We're not going to get sucked into this," a spokesman said, "We're concentrating on the issues. This morning we highlighted the need for lower taxes and English votes on English laws. This afternoon we're talking about the "Broken Society" and need to help Britain's mentally ill. Anything else, frankly is irrelevant."

Comments

[Oberon Houston]

Brown has obviously learned his lesson. Don't attack Blair at Conference, agree with him and watch him squirm. Browns finally learned that the way to beat Blair is to talk his language whilst secretly side-winking to the party faithful

Everybody knows whats going on, what a farce.

[Oberon Houston]

He could have said "This lady's not for turning" or "I'm going to privatise working class kids and export them to Poland" and they would have applaused him until the roof collapsed.

Honsetly, what a farse. Their talk has got so topsy turvy and muddled they are all completely confused. I wouldn't be surprised if the Unions called for a ballot on whether every 'Comrade' should own Walmart shares, whilst calling a general strike over Gate Gourment.

[Cutting taxes win elections]

I remember Bercow, rumoured to be ex Monday Club turning up at Conservative Students conferences in the early 90s and banging on about how he was just so Thatcherite. And at least DC did not marry a socialist.

Is anyone interested in setting up a sweepstake on what Bercow's politics will be in 3 years time?

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

"Is anyone interested in setting up a sweepstake on what Bercow's politics will be in 3 years time?"

Well seeing as he's moving steadily leftwards (he's now somewhere to the left of Marx but somewhere to the right of Galloway), will he be defecting from the Conservatives to Respect?

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

"DVA - Isn't it just as patronising to say: "he merely highlighted reasons why the public won't identify with him"".

Possibly, but it'll be all-too-true once New Labour and its media allies unleash their smear-and-sneer attacks of 'typical Tory toff' etc.

"Or are you now saying that MP's should only be selected from the working class so as not to alienate a section of the electorate."

No I'm not saying that at all. (I believe James H would call that a straw man argument?) I believe that MPs should represent a broad cross-section of society and the leader of the Conservatives should be able to reach out to as many sections of the electorate as possible.

"It hasn't stopped people associating with Tony Blair and didn't he go to the Scottish Eton?"

Well, a) thank you for providing more evidence of Cameron's Blairite similarities and b) as James H pointed out, Blair's background challenged traditional perceptions of Labour and made Labour more appealing to Middle England whereas a Cameron leadership would serve to reinforce the stereotypical perception of Conservatives as a party of toffs, at a time when we need to be reaching out beyond our traditional areas of support.

[a-tracy]

Thanks for your comments Daniel, I can assure you I'm not a straw man!

What concerns me regarding the future leader and the next election is 1) are we trying now to win back the lost middle classes as you've hinted at in your comments above, or 2) are we trying to attract potential voters from Labour's strong hold in the working class? If it's the lost Middle Class that were attracted to Blair won't they be just as accommodating to Cameron? I say this as not a particular fan of Cameron, I have said previously I like all the candidates - the only candidate I have reservations about is Mr Clarke on replacement (i.e. he will be like Blair with him needing to leave and hand over before the election after next if he came to power - and what do they call Blair now a sitting duck) - do we really want to be doing this again before ten years are out? I don't particularly like some of his supporters or his opinions either.

If we approach this with a scatter gun theory we will end up with too few from each section of the voters to make a difference. Is it really possible to be all things to all people? and if that is the case then that makes for one party politics, isn't it our differences that make life interesting?

When you've got area's in England whose economy is over 60% reliant on the public sector or on handouts from the state why are you surprised they don't want a party that's talking about economising and cutting waste - they need wasteful spending to survive! Those people will vote for a party that will give them what they want either individually (or in the touchy feely new labour speak - as a community).

[Kris]

So far the candidates have behaved well, conducting a positive campaign and only deriding their opponents policies, and not them personally. Bercow has let the party down by behaving so childishly. What next, will a candidate be deriding Ken Clarke because he's so fat? Shame on you Bercow.

[Domz]

Surely its reasonable of Cameron to raise his fears of voting for Clarke or Davis from a political perspective. I fear the media have created it into a personal vendetta which it didn't seem to be.

Bercow's comments, isn't it sad that at the start of the 21st Century we're reverting to character assassination. I myself am from a "privileged" background, but I care passionately about social justice. We need to remember that in comparison to the rest of the world we all are privileged and therefore "posh". Enough personal vendettas in a leadership election please Mr Bercow and all others concerned.

[Living in the 21st Century]

"This is the John Bercow who was Secretary of the Monday Club's Immigration Race Relations and *Repatriation* sub-committee (Chairman: Harvey Proctor), and who proclaimed that the "preservation of our national identity demands a massive programme of assisted repatriation."

He grew up unlike some of the Jurrasic views expressed here by Heller and Oberon. What planet are you guys on?.The reason the Tory Party has been out of office for so long is precisely because it hasnt connected to the majority of the population for so long. Bercow is one of few Tory politicians that has recognised the country has changed....