Tested fighter versus Beaming Tory Boy

Tory-supporting author, Frederick Forsyth, is unimpressed with New Labour:

"We see our soldiers treated like dirt; we are cripplingly taxed, over-regulated into the ground, in daily thraldom to an unseen government in Brussels and watching our pensions destroyed. Not a single Blairite pledge that I can think of has been fulfilled. So what might the Tories do about it..?"

Like Ann Widdecombe, Freddie thinks the Tories need a streetfighter and, for him, that means David Davis.  This is what he writes for today's Yorkshire Post (not online):

"Adopting the working-class Dave as a first name, [David Cameron] tells us he will adopt policies that are careful, moderate, cautious. For which I read "timid".  But, you know, unless Tories are truly daft, they should not pick timid...

That's why my vote is going for the other David: the Yorkshire-born one, as tough as the Pennines he hikes over.  The one who fought his way up from housing estate to grammar school, to Warwick University, to Harvard Business School.  The one who joined the Territorial Army to use the bounty to put himself through college; the one who tested himself with boxing, flying, free-falling, rugby, fell-walking and rock-climbing.

David Davis will never, like David Cameron, try to please all of the people all of the time; he simply cannot be all things to all men.  Maybe the charm, the beam, the beautiful manners of the Old Etonian are what you want. Then Cameron is for you. But a word of caution.

Whoever takes over the Conservative Party is going to have to take on New Labour's attack dogs and they are provenly vicious. And Paris and Brussels over EU reform and they are ruthless. And the vested interests who live off all our backs and they are devious and unscrupulous.  So that is the real choice. I plump for the man who has been there for 20 years. Occupied five senior offices. Been round the block a few times. Taken hardship, opposition and tough times and beaten them all.  It's the tested fighter or the beaming Tory Boy.

Just put it this way: if you were in an alley late at night, with two yobs bearing down, which one would you prefer beside you? Ah, you say, politics are not like that. Oh yes they are, chum, oh yes they are."

Great writing.  If only FF had written DD's conference speech...

Download forsyth_in_yorkshire_post.pdf

Comments

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

Hear hear!

[Editor]

This quote from the article is pretty strong, too:

"David Cameron is, beyond doubt, an attractive man: to look at, to listen to, to dine with. Well, his boyhood was nanny, prep school, Eton and Oxford. No blame attached, but he just happened to have the most easy, moneyed, privileged, struggle-free upbringing possible in our country. It is after emerging from Oxford at 22 that I find his career interesting.

What does a privileged young man do after that kind of boyhood? Go out and see the world? Try a stint in Africa to learn how the other half lives? A bit of soldiering? Climb a mountain? Fly a plane? Jump out of one? Not this young man.

He goes straight to the tiny hothouse of Tory headquarters as a gopher, bag-carrier and toecap-buffer to the mandarins. Seven years as spin doctor to a TV company, but always in London's West End, and back to Tory HQ. Then the gift of a can't-lose Tory seat at Witney. I find that an extraordinarily timid life. "

[malcolm]

A well written piece.But I notice Forsyth ignores the essential question,'can we win the next election'. We have proved time and again that unlike the Lib Dems the role of opposition does not play to our strengths.
I am starting to believe that Cameron offers some hope but the task of converting lapsed Conservatives is I think beyond Davis

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

"He goes straight to the tiny hothouse of Tory headquarters as a gopher, bag-carrier and toecap-buffer to the mandarins. Seven years as spin doctor to a TV company, but always in London's West End, and back to Tory HQ. Then the gift of a can't-lose Tory seat at Witney. I find that an extraordinarily timid life."

Why is Forsyth going so easy on him? Missed out in Forsyth's edited lowlights of Cameron's career are his stint as special adviser at the Treasury during the Black Wednesday debacle (when the Conservatives lost their economic credibility and started laying the dynamite for the 1997 Labour landslide) and Cameron's dismal performance in Stafford in 1997.

[Cllr Iain Lindley]

I am amazed, Daniel, that continually raking up Cameron's performance in Stafford makes you look daft. Ask yourself why Bill Cash chose to fight Stone instead, look up what the notional majority was, and then ask yourself why popular, well-known multiple-term incumbents like Ken Clarke (whom you initially supported for the leadership) suffered larger swings against them than a newly-selected candidate whose predecessor had abandoned the seat, which I'm sure sent out great vibes to the residents of Stafford!

[Mark Fulford]

And did we expect anything else from FF? Yawn.

[Rob]

A very well written article, it reassures me that I voted the right way, even though its all in vain.

[wasp]

Was the leadership of Michael "tough as nails" Howard such a sucess that we should want to repeat it?

No one is trying to pretend that Cameron is perfect but the backstory doesn't matter nearly as much as the message.

[Rick]

I rather like Frederick Forsyth, I suppose he has picked up an edge after years as a Reuters war correspondent.............but he is wrong about HBS. Davis did not have to fight to get into Harvard B, nor was his time there too onerous - he was an AMP - AMP96 in fact which is a $54.000 8-week course paid for by Tate & Lyle no doubt.

With that course HBS rolls out the red carpet; it is the MBAs it treats like sh*t

[Rick]

I rather like Frederick Forsyth, I suppose he has picked up an edge after years as a Reuters war correspondent.............but he is wrong about HBS. Davis did not have to fight to get into Harvard B, nor was his time there too onerous - he was an AMP - AMP96 in fact which is a $54.000 8-week course paid for by Tate & Lyle no doubt.

With that course HBS rolls out the red carpet; it is the MBAs it treats like sh*t

[Yet another Anon]

>>>>>>We have proved time and again that unlike the Lib Dems the role of opposition does not play to our strengths.<<<<<<<
People talk as if the Liberal Party/Alliance/Liberal Democrats are some great success - the fact is that they have been in opposition (excluding the National Government in the 1930's in which there were some Liberals) since 1923 and have not formed a one party government since before the Great War, their last overall majority will celebrate it's centenary anniversary next year and the current electoral system works against the Liberal Democrats more strongly than it does against the Conservative Party - they can get hugely more than either Labour or Conservatives in terms of votes and still not even form the offical opposition - if Labour and the Liberal Democrats had switched share of teh total vote last time and Liberal Democrats had got 35.2% of the vote and Labour had got 22.3% of the vote then Labour would have got double the current number of Liberal Democrat seats, the Conservative Party would have been the largest party in a Hung Parliament.

[Gareth]

Why don't we just someone poorer, 'harder' & more northern than DD, then surely our success would be guaranteed?

This is my fave bit though:

"Adopting the working-class Dave as a first name, [David Cameron] tells us he will adopt policies that are careful, moderate, cautious. For which I read "timid"."

Mad. Quite mad.

[malcolm thomas]

'his boyhood was nanny, prep school, Eton and Oxford. No blame attached, but he just happened to have the most easy...'

The Editor should bear in mind that some people have the toughest experiences of their lives at prep school, or Eton or even with some nannies for that matter! Maybe the SAS has the edge I would admit, but don't underestimate the difficulties of negotiating bath-time with some very formidable women.

As for Fred's streetfighter..could he have conned Alistair Campbell into providing wall to wall media backing for his leadership bid as did DC? Streetfighters don't normally get the enemy to do their fighting for them. They go for the frontal attack.

Campbell's starting to choke now, realising that the nanny-boy's played a fast one. Don't miss out on the joke, Fred. It's priceless. Campbell has fallen for Cameron's 'I'm the next Blair' charade. Look where all the real patriots are now lining up - sorry it's not with DD.

DC would get the yobs in the alley to fight each other while he heads for home. This is artistry which Feddie should be appreciating, while also admiring DD's obvious qualities.

[Rick]

but don't underestimate the difficulties of negotiating bath-time with some very formidable women.

Some wives................

[Barbara Villiers]

'The Editor should bear in mind that some people have the toughest experiences of their lives at prep school, or Eton or even with some nannies for that matter! Maybe the SAS has the edge I would admit, but don't underestimate the difficulties of negotiating bath-time with some very formidable women.'

Please, Malcolm, tell me that you are joking here!

[Jack Stone]

If the party is to get back into power it as got to be more caring and compassionate and wear its heart on its sleeve. Its got to be optimistic and give people hope. Its got to make people respect it and like it.Its got to talk to people with a smile on its face not hatred in its heart. People want a kinder, gentler Britain and we must make them feel we can deliver it for them.
We will simply stay in the wilderness of opposition if we go down the route of Davis and his supporters like Mr Forsyth who seem to want the leader of the party to act like a cross between John Wayne and Clint Eastwood and lead the party over the next four years like its taking part in some sort of horrific World War One battle.

[Jack Stone]

The thing I find most strange about the Forsyth article is that he thinks a student coming out of Oxford is a better person if he becomes a playboy than if he goes into politics and public service.
Very strange!

[Simon C]

Is it fair to turn Frederick Forsyth's question round, and ask which leader he thinks is more likely to have led us down a dark alley in the first place?

David Cameron. That photo of him on the security leak thread makes him look like a gay glamour model.

[malcolm thomas]

blunderbus or rapier? frontal assualt or stealth? How best to engage our enemies - with a Davis or a Cameron?

Davis' streetfighting would make better material for a novel. Fred Forsyth knows. Who are we to doubt? Cameron learned to mix it with the best that nanny school could turn out. No wonder he's running rings round Alistair Campbell. This is no joke Barbara.

[Ted]

Attack dogs are best dealt with by remaining calm - like it is for most carnivores. Rushing at them with your teeth bared and hitting out doesn't usually work.

[Michael Smith]

If the party is to get back into power it as got to be more caring and compassionate and wear its heart on its sleeve. Its got to be optimistic and give people hope. Its got to make people respect it and like it.Its got to talk to people with a smile on its face not hatred in its heart. People want a kinder, gentler Britain and we must make them feel we can deliver it for them.

That is the one of the silliest things I have ever read in my entire life. What, Jack, makes you think that any of this might be the case?

People would, in general, rather not have large amounts of their earnings taken from them by compulsion to fund 'services' so incompetent as to be downright harmful. Most people would prefer to be able to walk safely in their own streets, and to sleep peacefully in their own homes. Most people have little time for terrorists, marginally more time for the police, and infinitely more time for a flourishing private sector, lowish interest rates and low inflation.

When did the Tories last win lots of elections, Jack? Was it with a 'kind', 'gentle' party? Or was it with a party that got things done? And is that not what, in fact, New Labour has had to prove that it is, with some effect?

Since all this pathetic 'Modernising' breast-beating began, in contrast, what's been achieved in electoral terms, Jack? Are you proud of that record?

The pity in all of this is that the Right, for whatever reason, didn't manage to field a proper candidate. All succumbed to this stupid, pointless 'modernising' rhetoric, despite the complete lack of evidence for its efficacy. Fox was too pro-American. Davis is arrogant, not loved by his colleagues and not respected by the voluntary party. And who knows what Cameron is up to? He has no track record, except the mess he left after several years at Carlton. He's meant to be brilliant at presentation, yet his two main media performances to date have left distinctly negative impressions.

And so what are we left with? Jack Stone, mouthing what he hopes and believes to be platitudes. Perhaps that is the future of our once-great party. Perhaps the day will come when we shall look back to these hours of relative freedom and comfort with real nostalgia, realising how much worse was to be found in what would follow.

[Barbara Villiers]

I know who Jack is now! Barbara Cartland reincarnated. Bring out the violins!

I've heard you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar but I am not sure it has its place in politics. But then again, I have no time for hippy dippy stuff - I'll leave that to the Lib Dems. I think the best kind of compassionate Conservatism is the one that enables everybody to raise their game - Davis has said that many times. Nothing nasty party about that.

FF never said that Cameron should be a playboy either. He does raise an interesting point though I tend not to agree with it- experience comes in all shapes and forms.

Malcolm, I can't believe that's not a joke. I can't even counter something as absurd as that. Dealing with nannies can be difficult?! What kind of big girl's blouse kind of statement is that? No, surely you are joking.

[Ted]

Michael,

In 1979 we won because we offered a gentler, kinder Britain - one where there was harmony instead of discord, where there would be an end to the blackmail and ever worsening strife the Unions delivered, a vision of a Britain closer to the 1950's. OK I'm exagerating a bit but the offer was basically peace versus unrest.

Once we held power then we defended with vigour but we didn't start by being core right wing hardmen.

[Barbara Villiers]

I agree with almost every thing you have said Michael but Fox too pro-American? Davis too arrogant and not respected by the voluntary party? You have to be a Ken Clarke supporter (whom I happen to like and respect very much and supported last time).

Funny how self belief is very often seen in this country as arrogance and I beg to differ with you about the voluntary Party. As to his colleagues, people who really know Davis really like and respect him.

All that aside, you hit the nail on the head. Haven't we had enough caring, sharing, getting in touch with the feminine side politics with Princess Tony, the gulp, sob, sniffle, people's Princess? Can you imagine trying the caring, sharing approach with Putin? Oh, that would really solve the world's problems. Would be very inconvenient to wear your heart on your sleeve in the midst of tricky negotiations.