Good for me and good for my neighbour

Tony Blair won the last election because of his continuing ability to present New Labour as more economically competent AND more socially just than the Conservative Party.

Michael Howard did little to tackle Labour's supremacy on either of those battle fronts. Instead we got his lopsided, shallow emphasis on immigration and cleaner hospitals.

The Conservative party cannot fight the next election without (1) restoring its reputation for economic competence and (2) presenting itself as a party committed to the welfare of the whole nation.

IDS calls this a 'good for me and good for my neighbour' politics. He and Danny Kruger, in their recent paper for the Centre for Social Justice, explain it this way:

"Many Conservatives cannot understand why support for Labour outlasts its broken promises. They fail to comprehend Labour’s greatest strength – its perceived sense of moral purpose. The Labour Party, like the NHS and the United Nations, has a set of values that commands more loyalty than its actual performance merits. Its ideals inspire and reassure.

Traditionally, voters saw the Conservatives as the competent, practical party who were ‘good for me’. Labour were the compassionate, idealistic party who were ‘good for my neighbour’. Today, by adopting Conservative rhetoric – especially on the economy and crime – New Labour have successfully presented themselves as competent without losing the perception of being compassionate. Conservatives, meanwhile, have lost their reputation for competence and have still not acquired a reputation for compassion.

The task for the Conservative Party is not merely to demonstrate competence once again – it is to present a set of values which represent compassion. This will not be achieved by aping the Labour Party. It will be achieved by a sincere and sustained commitment to authentically Conservative principles which are ‘good for me and good for my neighbour’."

Comments

[Bernie]

This is an appalling policy because it is not a Conservative policy.

Stop looking at how to get elected and start finding out what what really needs doing to bring back some greatness to the country. When you have these getting elected will follow.

I think one of the main planks should be rebuilding civil society and removing the nanny state. Government should not be involved in more than defense of the realm, police and legal machinery. All else should either be privatised or removed. I don't expect this in one term of office but if the preparation is right it can happen.

[Jack Stone]

The Conservative party have got to get away from this obsession with tax cuts. A lot of people in the party apparantly including David Davis seem to believe all you have to do to win an election is prove to the public that there is going to be massive cuts in taxes if you get election. I am afraid this simplistic nonsense just will not work.
The main inpedimant to a Conservative victory is that the public do not trust the Tories on public services. They believe that tax cuts basically mean cuts in public services which they don`t want.

The party needs to stop talking about tax cuts and private health and education and come up with policies which will see state education and health become as good as that in the private sector.

The only person who seems to know the right way forward for the party is David Cameron, Mr Davis is just promising more extreme versions of policys that have failed before.