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:: Sunday, January 05, 2003 ::
Another miracle cure merchant offering nothing that works
As John Bercow writes off any chance of Labour losing the next election, I am forced to wonder where this genius gets his intimate knowledge of the British people from. How does he manage so effortlessly to work out exactly how to get the Tories back to power, something that has eluded so many for so long? If only the Tories listened to him, we would be home. And what does he recommend? Blairism. That's it - that's the strategy. A social agenda lifted from the pages of the Guardian plus an economic agenda much to the left of Ken Clarke's. His approach can't even be called libertarian, because however soft they may be on drugs and homosexuality, he and his Tory modernisers certainly wouldn't go near libertarian issues like gun ownership, tax cuts and letting people work at wages below the state-approved minimum.
I've never understood how someone who saw how pointless it proved electorally for William Hague to chase good headlines in the Sun and Daily Mail (combined circulation 5.96 million) can believe Iain Duncan Smith will do any better chasing good headlines in The Guardian and Independent (combined circulation 0.63 million). Nor can I see why Bercow thinks that people will vote for a Tory imitation of Blairism when they can have the real thing. If things go well and people are happy, they will keep voting Labour. If things don't, they will want something noticeably different. A straight copy won't please either group.
It is time everyone in the Conservative Party accepted that there are no easy answers to the current Tory plight, and pulled together in fighting this government, whose failure will come sooner rather than later, presenting us with the necessary opportunities. This country needs a coherent, united opposition that offers a forward-looking, radical and conservative alternative to Blairism. All Tories must work for that, ignoring the sniping of the Heseltines and Bercows, whose magical panaceas will only increase our problems and aid Labour and the Liberals no end.
:: Peter Cuthbertson 1/05/2003 03:17:00 PM [+] ::
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