Thursday, September 11, 2008

It's TIME for Cameron


There's a glowing portrait of David Cameron in TIME Magazine, out today. You can read the full, lengthy article by Catherine Mayer HERE. Suffice to say, Mr Cameron will be highly delighted with it. He will also be pleased by the very positive things David Davis has to say about him...

Over the course of the last decade we've seen different leaders who are good at different things, and what they've demonstrated is there are some pieces you can't not have," says David Davis, runner-up to Cameron in the Tory leadership contest and until June a member of his Shadow Cabinet. "David has got the key things. He's good in the House [of Commons]. He's good on television. He's pretty good at policy. He's pretty good at the diplomatic wing of leadership. There are no missing slots... David took a much stronger line than I did in [the leadership contest]," says David Davis. "He would use a word like 'detoxifying' the party. He thought that was the predominant mission, and arguably he was right.


These profile pieces are always a minefield. Politicians feel they have to cooperate with them but can never be confident about the final result. This one has turned out very well for the Tory leader.

11 comments:

David Lindsay said...

Who cares?

In senior positions behind the scenes, and thus conveniently outside the parliamentary process (unless, which cannot be ruled out, peerages were created in order to confer Ministerial office), any Cameron Government would certainly now feature:

Matthew Taylor, Head of the Number 10 Policy Unit under Blair, and mate of Ed Vaizey’s;

Julian Le Grand, a former Blair adviser on health policy; and

Ken Anderson, another old Blair adviser on health, now based at UBS.

It would also very probably feature Geoff Mulgan, a former Downing Street Director of Policy, before that Director of Demos and a writer for the Independent, and throughout it all, right up to the present time, an utterly unrepentant old Trotskyist.

There will be more. Many, many, many more.

Indeed, George Osborne has just given an interview to the Guardian practically offering James Purnell his current job, and openly offering Andrew Adonis the position of Education Secretary.

It is inconceivable that any of these people either would have been approached or would have accepted without the permission of Blair and those behind him: Mandelson, Campbell, and all that crowd of old Communists, Trotskyists and fellow-travellers; the European Commission, of which Mandelson is now a member; Murdoch, who now employs Campbell; and the old Trots at the American Enterprise Institute and the Project for the New American Century.

Whether in intent or in effect, there is absolutely no difference whatever between what we now have and the physical rigging of elections by such means as the stuffing of ballot boxes.

It’s a fix, such as would provoke riots in the streets if anything remotely like it occurred in, especially, football.

Anonymous said...

To say of a wannabee Prime Minister that "He's pretty good on policy" is to damn someone with praise.

David Davis shows every sign of being the Tory Party's very own Charles Clarke - full of ego, empty of support.

Anonymous said...

Its time for Cameron all right - its time for anyone but this shambolic Brown led Labour shower.

Let me get this right - in order to alleviate fuel poverty he is unveiling a scheme - an extension of a scheme - where by the costs of insulating other peoples houses (and other home improvements) will be paid for ... wait for it ... by increases in our fuel bills.

And if by some generosity hitherto unheard of in the power companies they fund these from their own resources there will be no money left to build sufficient new generating capacity.

And on top of which money from schemes designed to prevent global warming will be used to stop us freezing. A Prime Minister who shouts from a global warming band wagon promises (some of) us money if we get 7 days of freezing temperatures.

Am I missing something? And just how much loft insulation is there readily available - can even Poland provide enough installers?

We have all heard of 'Reganomics' ... this has all the hallmarks of 'Ballsonomics' Is not this the last desperate throw of the utterly failed Brownian paradigm ?

Can we really carry on like this?

Does it matter who the labour party elect as their leader? They clearly have not had much clue up till now what a mess their leadership has led them into.

Anonymous said...

Its time for Cameron all right - its time for anyone but this shambolic Brown led Labour shower.

Let me get this right - in order to alleviate fuel poverty he is unveiling a scheme - an extension of a scheme - where by the costs of insulating other peoples houses (and other home improvements) will be paid for ... wait for it ... by increases in our fuel bills.

And if by some generosity hitherto unheard of in the power companies they fund these from their own resources there will be no money left to build sufficient new generating capacity.

And on top of which money from schemes designed to prevent global warming will be used to stop us freezing. A Prime Minister who shouts from a global warming band wagon promises (some of) us money if we get 7 days of freezing temperatures.

Am I missing something? And just how much loft insulation is there readily available - can even Poland provide enough installers?

We have all heard of 'Reganomics' ... this has all the hallmarks of 'Ballsonomics' Is not this the last desperate throw of the utterly failed Brownian paradigm ?

Can we really carry on like this?

Does it matter who the labour party elect as their leader? They clearly have not had much clue up till now what a mess their leadership has led them into.

Anonymous said...

Another example of the fact that power and executive authority is seeping away from Brown and bit by bit being transferred to Cameron.

The World's media realise it; other world leaders realise it and deep down the Cabinet;Labour MPs;Labour Supporters and the Labour Party realise it. Brown is a "dead man walking" and there is no one in his party willing too offer the "coup de grace" to his disastrous Premiership and so they will all go down to electoral disaster with him

Anonymous said...

Our Dave seems to be aging well.

Or is photoshop getting ever better?

Anonymous said...

great post man! I totally agree with you

Anonymous said...

Sorry for the double comment - word verification seemed to have gone all wrong ... or 'sommink' (wifs just been watching Eastenders).

but anyway ... just popped in to say that David Lindsay is talking a load of frothy horlicks.
Yes thats just what we can expect a Tory govt full of unrepentant old trotkyists. yeah well as long as they went to Eton.

Mr Lindsay, the economic situation will be so eye wateringly awful when the Tories get back in to power that even John Maynard Keynes' cat will realise it has to submit to the sickening tasting medicine thats being rammed down its throat.

Osborn offering Purnell a job is as neat a way of scuppering his leadership ambitions as I can think.

The Sloper said...

I cannot help but recall a Time Magazine cover featuring a flawed Conservative politician:

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/time/1682-1.jpg

Though, to be fair, Brown is more of a Eden than Cameron; Eden was, on the surface, a decent Foreign Secretary who was in the shadow of a far "bigger" Prime Minister, was assured of the top job and took just months to crumble when handed the keys to 10 Downing St.

Brown, on the surface a good Chancellor, was in the shadow of...

But back to Cameron. It now seems highly unlikely he won't be in 10 Downing Street come summer 2010. But, even as an active Conservative member, I have serious concerns about the man's qualifications for the top job.

He certainly understands spin, though.

Anonymous said...

I saw David Cameron speak at a public meeting about two months ago and was surprised by how much younger and better looking he appears to be in person than in photographs.

The one black cloud on David Cameron's horizon is that he appears not to appreciate that many of the Conservative councils we so enthusiastically elected a few months ago are inviting a backlash against themselves and the Conservatives by embracing nulab's greed fuelled PARKING POLL TAX.

With hard working people and SME's struggling with UK's impending recession, the last thing we need is to fork out £20 a week for the LA parking fee/ fine swindle. This is going to be such a massive issue.

David Lindsay said...

"Yes thats just what we can expect a Tory govt full of unrepentant old trotkyists. yeah well as long as they went to Eton."

Quite.

Academic Marxism long ago moved on from economics to the culture wars. That the Tories presumably wouldn't renationalise the steel industry or whatever is wholly beside the point.

"Osborn offering Purnell a job is as neat a way of scuppering his leadership ambitions as I can think."

Only to lead the Labour Party...