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The Conservative Party - What would you do ?

19:05 / 11.01.05

To be clear about this, I can't really say I'd like to see Mike H and the boys anywhere near a position of authority, I'd much rather picture them sewing mail sacks or something, but, on the other hand, the current situation, where there's a purportedly left wing government that's actually proud of the fact that the right wing leader of the opposition is publicly stumped as to how to *compete,* isn't all that good, either.

So, hypothetically, you are the leader of the Conservative Party, and while you do have to play to the Tory faithful, you also, at the same time, have to try and broaden your appeal. A thread for discussing how you'd proceed.

19:37 / 11.01.05

Bearing in mind that you can't really resign, or kill yourself, or disband the organisation.

19:43 / 11.01.05

Well that's ruined my Steven Milligan joke...

[hides an orange, some amyl nitrate and a noose behind back...]

19:54 / 11.01.05

(multiple post above is up for deletion...)

I know I've just called him a bumbling Tory buffoon elsewhere, and he is, but Boris Johnson is the Tories' secret weapon, probably because beacuse he is a bumbling Tory buffoon. He has a high recognition rate and people genuinely like him (even if that doesn't translate into respect...) I think sacking Boris was a bad move by Howard (or a very clever move, heading off a leadership challenge) and I'd reinstate him.

The Tories are trying to do what I would do if, disgustingly enough, I was their leader, I think; the old Clinton triangulation tactic, so loved by Blair, of making noises which appeal to the opposite of the core party philosphy and heading for the centre ground. It's why Blair's New Labour strategy is so keen to push hard on traditional right-wing areas such as asylum.

The Tories aren't doing it very well, and are clearly unused to it, but they are doing it - such as the example I talk about in the Boris=buffoon thread, where he goes on about trade traiffs for Sri Lanka being unfair. I'd probably just try and triangulate a bit better...

21:42 / 11.01.05

Well this is the thing - The Conservative Party could easily at the moment, and without compromising any of it's *core ideas,* almost reverse triangulate towards the Left. At least in Mike H's position that's what I'd do - it's not as if there isn't a lot of room to manoeuvre in terms of Tony B being anything other than loathsome scum, and if they picked a few issues, say, ID cards, Yerp, and unreasonable wars that are far too expensive, etc, and essentially argued for a less authoritarian society and forgot all those silly ideas about *Water Closet,* they might be okay.

Personally, having just finished reading Pretty Straight Guys by Nick Cohen, I'd rather have The Klan in government at the moment, but I will calm down.

Tryphena Absent

13:36 / 12.01.05

The Conservative Party could easily at the moment, and without compromising any of it's *core ideas,* almost reverse triangulate towards the Left

Yes, I keep expecting them to do this, after all they're an opposition party, you'd expect them to effectively oppose and it isn't as if they need to keep any commitments once they're in power, they simply have to make the electorate think they will. Instead they seem to be moving steadily further to the right, which is ridiculous.

Mind you if I was a Tory I would have voted for Portillo to be the leader of the party. I maintain that was their real mistake.

14:24 / 12.01.05

I think they would have been better off under Ken Clarke...

I think part of the problem for the conservatives is that part of their core belief is a resistence to radical change. This has lead in no small part to the party playing a significant role in creating the UK's enviable record of stable government, (not necessarily equitable but at least not prone to violent revolution). However, this same resistence to radical change leaves the conservatives spectacularly poorly positioned to re-imagine themselves in opposition to a successful and less radical government.

Tryphena Absent

07:18 / 13.01.05

In the mind set of big conservative menace I'd have to suggest that Ken Clarke would have caused too much tension because he was a bit too persuasively left for the party- they'd be in a different position but not necessarily a better one because they would believe that he was creating a true leftier party rather than lying about creating one.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:47 / 13.01.05

Also, to many people left as members of the Conservative Party it is no longer about left and right - it's about Europe, asylum seekers and the pound, and that's it. The smaller a football crowd, the larger a proportion a handful of extremists will represent - the "right wing rump". The selection choices of the Conservative, rather than the Parliamentary Conservative, Party demonstrated that what members of the Conservative Party want is a leader who, however unelectable by voters more generally, is sound on Europe, asylum seekers and the pound. If the Parliamentary Party seeks to broaden its appeal with actual voters, it risks a membership crisis.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

14:22 / 13.01.05

The Conservative Party are like Star Trek Enterprise, old and out of date but no matter how pointless and irrelevent they become they have enough of a rump of support that they won't get taken out of play so someone else less useless will get a chance in the spotlight.

15:30 / 16.01.05

I would oppose ID cards, put more bobbies on the street, cut taxes, cut public spending, pull us out of the loonier bits of the EU and try to restore civil liberties and small government to British politics. You know, all the reasons why I'm not voting Conservative but could.

16:18 / 16.01.05

Apart from opposing ID cards though ( which as a proposal has been on the Home Secretary's desk for years now anyway, just waiting for someone arrogant/childish/misguided enough - take your pick - to step up to the plate, ) the policies you've outlined, Tom, pretty much are the Conservative manifesto. And also the Labour one, this being Howard's main headache. The apparent flaw in that argument, the Europe issue, not being something that Mr Tony's exactly going to go to the country on the back of, as far as I can see.

Either way, these, as policies, are not working out for the Conservative Party.