CAMERON IS IN NEED OF A BIG RETHINK
CAMERON: Ratings are falling
By Richard and Judy
NINETY days to the general election and incredibly, implausibly and depressingly it looks like Gordon Brown is actually pulling the fat from the fire.
There’s Dave looking at a gaping door made of rotting wood and he can’t seem to kick it in. Worse, said door seems to be slowly, creakingly but undeniably swinging shut in his face. What’s going on?
Before Christmas the Conservatives were ahead of Labour by double figures in every opinion poll you could shake a stick at. Now it’s down to single fi gures and falling. The prospect of an outright Tory win has morphed into one of a hung parliament. If the gap closes a little more Brown wins.
I watched Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday from the snug warmth of BBC2’s Daily Politics studio (they’d got me in to explain why I don’t think Blair lied over Iraq). After PMQs Andrew Neil’s co-presenter read out viewers’ e-mails and they unanimously praised Dave’s attacking form and rubbished the PM’s response.
“Brown drowned,” said one contributor. Hmmm. It’s true that Cameron seemed to be back on form this week. I particularly liked his: “What first attracted the Prime Minister to the Lib-Dems?” barb, a neat exposé of Brown’s transparent electioneering ploy of sucking up to Clegg. But his repeated blows seemed to bounce off Gordon like BB pellets off the hide of an elephant. The man’s got his mojo back, no doubt.
The problem seems clear enough to me. Cameron has lost his momentum. Perception is all in politics and voters perceive Cameron to be dithering, something Labour is ruthlessly exploiting. Before Christmas the Tories stood for swingeing cuts in public spending to tackle our nightmare deficit now they don’t seem so sure. They can only identify savings of £1billion.
That’s like someone with a massive overdraft promising their bank manager they’ll switch to a cheaper brand of toothpaste. With Brown promising to halve the deficit inside four years the Conservatives now look as if they are running to catch up and failing.
My advice to Cameron this weekend is to retreat to a nice quiet room, lock the door, take out a blank sheet of paper and start again. He needs to remember that voters are crying out for a real alternative to the worn-out, frayed New Labour suit, not a slightly brushed-up version of it. For a start he should heed the Treasury think-tank document which this week advised against raising taxes.
Every independent study you look at says a hike to a 50p top rate won’t touch the national debt. Indeed many predict it will actually result in a fall in revenue. Secondly he should take courage from polls which show that the British public are grown up enough to know that big cuts in public spending are needed to deal with the horrendous consequences of Brown’s reckless borrowing.
Thirdly he should go back to a clear commitment to phasing out the hated inheritance tax. It doesn’t raise much money for the government anyway, and the public loathes it. If Cameron were to outline a bold election manifesto that promised flatline taxes for now with a guarantee to lower them as soon as possible, serious cuts in public spending with a promise to ease them when possible and the imminent demise of inheritance tax Brown would look as flat-footed as he did in 2009.
Come on Dave, grab your cojones and grab the election. It’s there for the taking.
UP TO THE JOB
15.02.10, 8:14am
The B.N.P. are up to the job though, and probably U.K.I.P too, but forget the three dying exhausted of ideas and lies and cons, Lab / Con/ Lib parties..the'll only con you and string you along for another 5yrs, they haven't a clue and the country's sinking fast.....Oh and i don't want to hear about the Times journalist who was bundled out of the B.N.P. general meeting again...He was asked to leave and he wouldn't, so he was the thug and not them, if it was a meeting of Labour , he'd have been arrested..THERE !!
• Posted by: belcoo • Report Comment
CAMERON PLUCKING DEFEAT FROM JAWS OF VICTORY
12.02.10, 4:54pm
I agree with your article, Richard. The country is crying out for a new Government and Cameron is faffing around at the edges. The other day I read he wanted to allow gay Africans to claim asylum here. That will hardly be a great vote winner among communities already overwhelmed by illegal, politically motivated immigration. To be frank, I'm not sure the team around him is giving enough support at this critical moment. He looks tired out and run ragged to me.
• Posted by: country_reflections • Report Comment
NOT UNEXPECTED.
09.02.10, 2:57pm
i am not at all surprised that David Cameron and the Tory party are seeing some confusion on where to direct policy. There are many people like my self that never fell for Tony Blair and his aparrent charms. the fact that a lot more people have now come to realise that he was never more than a lightweight politician, does not alter the fact that he carried the labour party to three election wins.
The tories chose Cameron because he was a self confessed Blair groupee and was built in a similar mould to Blair. It is difficult to blame them because the country had given the impression that they were more interested in so called style over substance.
The signs are now that people have become fed up with the self serving styly of the present regime and the sheer corrupt incompetence of the last thirteen years.
David cameron and his team may well have what it takes to lead the country in the direction that it needs to take, but being brave enough to tell it like it is could be a winning or losing tactic.
May be a television interview and a few tears could swing it, as this seems to be the Alastair Campbell approach for labour to swing a fourth disastrous term in office.
• Posted by: weebal • Report Comment
CAMERON IS IN NEED OF A BIG RETHINK
07.02.10, 2:58pm
At the risk of being told (not for the first time) that I have my priorities all wrong, I cannot stand this man. Why? Because he wants to repeal the no hunting with dogs law and bring back the vile and disgusting 'hobby' some primitive people have of wanting to see animals torn to pieces by dogs. Any mind that wants this sort of thing is uncivilised and barabaric and that is no quality I want to see in a British Prime Minister.Okay, maybe I should be more concerned with who'll sort out our finances best among other things but we all have our own thing about politics and anilmal welfare is mine....but obviously not Cameron's!
• Posted by: skyguy • Report Comment
NO WALK OVER
07.02.10, 1:20am
One thing is blatantly clear,cameron like brown is not up to the job,,and you can discount clegg,
the reason I I would suggest is , If you are the leader of a political party and you have a election comeing up in six months time ,,surely you would have a manifesto all in order and full of the policies you want to persue,,You would not make policy on the hoof ,you would be pro active and not reactive,It dose not show leadership ,,it is simply following the methods used by the party in office ,thats why we are in such a mess..What we need is a leader who will stand up to be counted,not one who is put up and told to count,,,,,
• Posted by: wigwam • Report Comment
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