A Tangled Web

Howard's Way



Simon Heffer has produced this interesting piece on the Tory Party in The Spectator. He says it is insufficient to have a leader whose prowess is demonstrated verbally at the Dispatch Box once a week. To have any chance of making headway at the next General Election, the Conservative Party will have to take the lead on innovative policies designed to capture the mood of the electorate.



British Conservatism has been a traditionally 'catch all' movement, a fact reflected in its broad base of support. Thus, if certain policies were key to the popularity of the Opposition at a given time, Conservatism would gradually adopt and adapt those policies as integral parts of Right-wing philosophy. In seeking to move increasingly onto New Labour territory over issues such as health, education, transport, and over-emphatic deference to minority viewpoints, the Conservatives are following previous strategies, but with contrasting fortunes. Why? Because this Labour government is NOT a popular regime. Aping a government whose fortunes are in steady decline is axiomatically no way to ensure their defeat.



Michael Howard, like Duncan Smith and Hague before him, cannot yet contextualise what is needed to achieve electoral success. For Hague, it was the lack of understanding of the events which precipitated the 1997 defeat: a party divided over Europe, oozing perceptions of economic incompetence. For Howard, it is the eagerness to provide a plethora of policies virtually indistinguishable from what is currently on offer from Blair's New Labour project.



Permitting the Portillistas to gain a stranglehold on policy enunciations emanating from a sense of guilt over attitudes to 'social justice', has been a notable contributory factor in the lack of Tory success. For those of us who yearn to see the back of Blair, and the establishment of a Conservative government, we urge Howard to create a radical but viable alternative set of manifesto pledges on the principal issues of the day. These are, as Heffer points out, public services, immigration, law and order, and taxation. A decidedly Euro-sceptic stance coupled with pledges to uphold the Union will also have a positive result provided they are articulated in perspective. It is no longer enough for the Conservatives to be a 'catch all' movement if they only thing they are catching is negativity.