Thursday, November 03, 2005
Ken Clarke's campaign manager gives his "vision"
In today's Guardian, Andrew Tyrie MP, Ken Clarke's campaign manager, argues that Conservatives should jettison beliefs of recent years in pursuit of a return to power:
So to get back in power, we need to:
> Stop trusting the people with their own money by not cutting taxes - the state knows best, you must trust it.
> Stop being so eager to ask people to respect our laws at the border
> Stop supporting the family through the tax system
> Stop caring about British soveriegnty with regards to the EU
> Stop supporting fellow conservatives in America, because killing terrorists may anger other terrorists - didn't you know
In essense, its the conservatism of the Conservative Party that puts people off. Damn, if only i'd have thought of that sooner, I might have backed Ken Clarke.
Sorry Ken, its just not all of us in the party accept the socialist consensus
The remaining five weeks of the leadership contest can be used to start a rethink. On policy, plenty of baggage should go. Detailed promises of tax cuts enable our opponents, however unfairly, to persuade the electorate that we will reward our own - the few at the expense of the many. Quotas on immigration are not only economically foolhardy, as the CBI has reminded us: the polling evidence shows that they alienated AB voters, shrinking our core vote. Talk of restoring tax relief for marriage sounds retrogressive to younger unmarried AB partners. Unilateral repudiation of treaty commitments on Europe is not only likely to be imprudent; it can easily be portrayed as xenophobic and out of touch, even if many EU policies deserve to be drastically reformed or scrapped (much of the CAP and EU aid among them). The vast majority of middle Britain has sensed that there is something dangerous about George Bush's foreign policy and that endorsing it is making Britain, and the world, less secure. Middle Britain is right. Embracing neoconservatism was probably the Conservatives' biggest single error in the last parliament.
So to get back in power, we need to:
> Stop trusting the people with their own money by not cutting taxes - the state knows best, you must trust it.
> Stop being so eager to ask people to respect our laws at the border
> Stop supporting the family through the tax system
> Stop caring about British soveriegnty with regards to the EU
> Stop supporting fellow conservatives in America, because killing terrorists may anger other terrorists - didn't you know
In essense, its the conservatism of the Conservative Party that puts people off. Damn, if only i'd have thought of that sooner, I might have backed Ken Clarke.
Sorry Ken, its just not all of us in the party accept the socialist consensus
# posted by Chris Hughes @ 6:19 pm 
