Michael Howard may have many qualities but he was a poor strategist. His leadership had at least seven zig-zagging phases:
(1) It began with that widely acclaimed commitment to govern for "all Britain and all Britons". We didn't hear much more of that commitment. Social justice concerns hardly featured during Michael Howard's leadership. The commitment lasted about as long as Mr Howard's streamlined, ‘super’ shadow cabinet of twelve (now up to 22).
(2) Months were then wasted with the negative 'Let Down By Labour' campaign - unnecessarily duplicating the Blair-hatred of newspapers like the Mail and Express.
(3) After the disappointing European election results the Howard team finally focused on positive policies with a £500,000 launch of the 'right-to-choose' announcements on health and education. These policies were quickly forgotten when focus groups gave them a big thumbs down.
(4) The 'if I knew then what I know now' opportunism on Iraq then followed as the Howard team became obsessed with the footnotes of the Hutton-Butler reports - rather than the big picture threat of terror.
(5) Through the summer months we had 101 unconnected announcements. This offensive - which left voters unmoved - was criticised by ICM's Nick Sparrow. Mr Sparrow questioned what he called the Tories’ “scatter-gun” approach. Individual policy announcements are quickly forgotten, he suggested, if “a glue” isn’t provided to bind the ideas together.
(6) The autumn saw the launch of The Timetable For Action. Although this was never shelved it was quickly relegated to second order status.
(7) Then came the reversion to an updated version of the 'core vote strategy'. Controlled immigration and worries about gypsies took centre stage. Some even argue that Michael Howard lost faith in this dog-whistle strategy during the campaign. The dog-whistle issues were motivating Old Labour as much as the Tory core vote and Michael Howard became sidetracked into spending valuable airtime discussing the Attorney General's legal advice on the Iraq war.
When he resigned Michael Howard said that he had achieved much in 18 months. Imagine, he asked, what might have been achieved if he'd had four years? Perhaps we would have had another seven relaunches?
Conservatives keep seeking 'silver bullets' with which to retake power. They become quickly bored with strategies that have focused on public service reform, the renewal of one nation or other vitally important long-term aims. When busy voters occasionally tune into political news they need to see a Conservative Party that is pursuing a consistent mission - not zig-zagging between focus-grouped wheezes.
Keeping faith with a strategy (this site proposes the 'good for me, good for my neighbour' strategy) and being loyal to a leader are two qualities that the party needs to relearn.
Recent Comments