Kamikaze Conway?
2008 has begun with both parties wracked with uncertainty.
Today the former Home Secretary Charles Clarke has put into print what many in his party feel. Labour, he writes for Prospect * magazine, is suffering from "debilitating" uncertainty about its policy direction under Gordon Brown. The party, he goes on, wasted much of this parliament focusing on the succession struggle and could lose the next election unless it shows greater "clarity, decisiveness and a lucid sense of direction".
Other memorable quotes are:
"Labour has wasted much of the first half of this parliament. With some exceptions, our action to make the necessary changes has been insufficient. And now it seems to me that Labour still remains very unclear about our approach, both in this parliament and the next."
And:
"By now people are entitled to expect Labour to know what works, and not to need short-term reviews and pilots. Now, above all, we need clarity in each policy area. The current uncertainties are widespread, debilitating and give ammunition to our opponents." Ouch.
Lest you think that the Tories have no such worries, think again. David Cameron, I'm told, has been deeply frustrated that he's struggled to make news since the beginning of the year. Hence, his desperation yesterday to seize the credit for the scrapping of the police "stop" form and a .
All this, though, must pale into insignificance compared with his reaction to the with all its reminders of the Tory image Cameron has worked so hard to expunge.
I can't eradicate from my mind a terrible idea. Could Conway - who tried to stop Cameron becoming leader, who dubbed his mates ‘the Notting Hill set’ and condemned their out of touch liberal metropolitan ways – have decided on one final desperate act to destroy the modernisation project albeit whilst destroying himself at the same time? Could he be the modern day political equivalent of a kamikaze pilot?
No, you're right, that's a grotesque idea. How the mind plays tricks...
PS: I hesitated for reasons of taste to dub Derek Conway a political suicide bomber, only to learn that that phrase is already doing the rounds amongst Conservative MPs.
* Apologies for this. Here's .
I'm 
Comments
I think you make a very important point. Fraser Nelson is on the ball as well in this weeks Spectator. I also think there is a large slice of the Tory Party that is not interested in power and all it can do is look back to the days of Maggie and hope they return. Iain Dale's blog this week has given me reason to believe the that Tories may well be finished as a governing party.
I think you make a very important point. Fraser Nelson is on the ball as well in this weeks Spectator. I also think there is a large slice of the Tory Party that is not interested in power and all it can do is look back to the days of Maggie and hope they return. Iain Dale's blog this week has given me reason to believe the that Tories may well be finished as a governing party.
'David Cameron, I'm told, has been deeply frustrated that he's struggled to make news since the beginning of the year'
Come on Nick, Cameron's problems are much deeper than that.
He's not far ahead in the polls to satisfy his internal critics or to become the apparent next PM.
Despite what some people like to peddle he dithered over Conway, and had to back track on a statement that he'd not withdraw the whip.
His biggest club against Labour, that of financial iffiness, has been taken away and he must be terrified at how many other of his MPs are arick of being exposed.
And yes, some of Labour's also might be doing the same but it won't help Cameron if they're unveiled because it's him who has been ramping up the honesty idea.
By kicking Conway out he'll have upset some of his backbenchers and he has to get through a long debate about Europe
hoping that Bill Cash and friends won't reverse some of his rebranding.
He has the problem of how to respond if Boris Johnson doesn't beat Ken Livingstone - Johnson's too closely associated with him to dismiss such a failure and it'd invite (pointless) speculation about implications for the General Election.
Brown has other massive problems and he's not been the huge success his supports have hoped for but after 4 months of endless negative media reports and scandals there's something very wrong with Cameron's current polling numbers.
I think you make a very important point. Fraser Nelson is on the ball as well in this weeks Spectator. I also think there is a large slice of the Tory Party that is not interested in power and all it can do is look back to the days of Maggie and hope they return. Iain Dale's blog this week has given me reason to believe the that Tories may well be finished as a governing party.
I think that you, and Charles Clarke, are wrong about Brown and his wasted opportunity. Labour are forging ahead with new policy initiatives, the problem is that they are those of the Conservative party. They need Cameron to publicise his ideas on policy and then Labour can take them as their own. The problem for Cameron is that he knows that this is what will happen.
Forget policy at this stage. The Conservatives need to hit Labour for the mistakes they are making every day. Just take the instance of allowing a woman to die of cancer because she would have to pay for all her treatment and not just the top up that the NHS won't allow.
With regards to Conway I think that he is not braveenough to commit personal suicide and take Cameron with him. He's just an MP doing what most other MP does. The difference is that he went too far.
i know you say your joking, but for conway to hae somehow manufactured this situation is absurd, do you really think he was hatching this 'plot' 3 or 4 years ago when he was paying his son? dear me, bring back Marr
I think you are reading a bit too much into the story an MP being creative with his expenses. I think Cameron has been happy to sit back and watch the government get itself into the most awfull mess with the issues of party funding and competence to govern. I don't think there is a big appetite in the country for big ideas and major reform. We have been bombarded with that constantly for the last 10 years. Much like New Labour in 1997 David Cameron will win the election if he can consistently show that the government have lost the plot. Cameron is best to keep the big policy ideas to himself and snipe away at Gordon Brown who is clearly failing.
Had Conway been a front bencher I think this would have been more of a story. However it wouldn't surprise me if others get caught out like this. However as someone who is part of his family business I would like to say that nepotism is not all bad. There is a natural inclination to want to do the best for your children. However using taxpayers money to do so is just not on.
Nick,
Apologies - two fairly large areas please :
Listening to PMQ's it was obvious that the only thing not to be mentioned was MP's expenses.
Was this a bad case of "elephant in the room" or are we seeing an extension of MP's desperately trying to continue their unaccountable expenses ?
Also, what is happening to the Speaker - did he really overrule the information commissioner by not allowing expenses to be questioned in the commons ?
I'm not a political junkie, but I like to think that I follow politics fairly closely and I have to admit, I'm not really clear what Labour stands for under Gordon Brown.
Nearly every single policy area seems to be under some sort of review.
Maybe Gordon Brown should hold a review to find out if holding reviews constantly is the best thing to do?
Charles Clarke has put into print what all Labour supporters have been thinking for six years since the beginning of term two - what are we actually doing?
Wasting tax payers money is the answer to this question, without a great deal of result. Partronising the electorate talking about reform based agendas is another. Not abiding by your own rules is the third thing they're doing.
History will look back on this period as one of serial mismanagement, spin and sleaze. The Labour party has itself to blame for its failure to convince any of their 'hard working families' that there is anything for which it is worth working hard.
well what can we say now that the MPs are all on the take how can we trust any of them now these are the the law makers and they just keep on lieing to us i work very hard to get my wages and i can tell you it is not a lot to live on all the time the bills keep going up i pay my taxs and this is what is happeing to us i use to vote not any more i just cant trust anyone now why are these MPS not being investegated by the police if some of them are not on the take then let them stand-up and be counted we need to know now
"By now people are entitled to expect Labour to know what works, and not to need short-term reviews and pilots."
I think Charles Clarke is wrong on that. Surely this is the mistake that politicians are always making. They are forever committing to huge changes and expenditure without any evidence that the approach works. We will always need pilots when doing genuinely new things. We will always be doing new things, at least while technology continues to advance and drive social change.
Dear Nick
If i could get through on your blog it might help, Must be Blocked, anyway, Charles Clarkes speech,
The only thing about it is the fact that he mentioned Margaret Thatcher,the most vile politician that this country has ever Bred, folled by Brown, then Blair.
Regretably this shows how our politicans are moving away from the rest us. They are in the main professional politicans without much experience of a normal working life. (I do not think you can even say their researchers have much experience as they tend to be young)There is a real need for more MPs to be selected from normal walks of life and all age groups. Less of the life timers & lets have healthy turnover in the membership,with people from all walks of life. This would stop the attitude do as we say attitude that seems to permeating the House.
I suspect the reasons why the Conservatives are not polling as well as they hope can be summarised as follows:
1. the various political internet sites show how antiquated the House of Commons is.
2. Most Conservative MPs represent rural areas, are in their mid 50s and are as represenatative of modern British working life as a former steelworker.
3. There is a BIG backlog of distrust from the past. Conway proves it is still partially justified.
4. The Conservatives are unproven in power and have a number of high profile activists who to most people would appear as nutters ( eg the Vulcan)
5. In many areas the Conservative Party organisation is being rebuilt from near collapse post Mrs T.
So Labour may appear incompetent, indecisive an dshallow ... but are the Conservatives demonstrably better? No.
I speak as a Conservative voter.
:-(
I was under the impression that there were 3 main political parties in the UK
I know Charles Clarke doesn't want to look backwards but to define the Thatcher/Major years as ones of 'decay and decline' is to misremember history very badly and to fail to understand or appreciate the drivers that made the early Blair/Brown years seem so successful.
Martin 12:47 PM
I don't agree. Cameron has come out of this as someone who isn't scared to act, someone who wants to rid his party of sleaze, and will act even if he knows some in the party may not agree with it. Compare this to Brown who hasn't made a decision for the whole of the time the funding rows have been chomping away at his credibility. He waited and waited, and in the end, it was Hain who fell on his sword (eventually)If it had been left up to Brown, Hain probably would still be in office, along with Alexander and Harman...It was as if Brown just thought everyone would forget about it... when it comes to leadership, Cameron has shown he can make the big decisions, while Brown cannot.
Well, Nick. Good theory. Mark could be right that a 3-4 year gestation is stretching things a bit. But, the politicians ability to take current events and mold them to their purposes cannot be overlooked. Yours cynically. FirstAde.
The article was in fact for Progress magazine:
Just a small point - in recent months we've witnessed think tanks that do precious little thinking, let alone publishing, so it would be doubly unfair to misattribute the work of one which actually does think and publish, Progress (which is not responsible for Prospect magazine, to my knowledge). The article is their exclusive and is available here:
Conway was very foolish, but the system has let us down. Is it not time when we had full time MPs answerable as to what they do and achieve. They are paid to represent their constituents and to my knowledge no form of appraisal or review from what ever party they belong. A safe seat whtaever their party or performance is a job for life.... is yours.
The public have lost respect and voted with their feet by no voting at election.
It's a bit rich for Clarke to come out with this stuff now. He was sitting at the top table under Blair, but what was actually achieved then, apart from constant hikes in the tax-take by government?
The ill thought through constitutional changes, like devolution and the upper house have never been finished off (more trouble in store there), the armed forces have been stretched to breaking point and underfunded throughout (more trouble in store there), the police have been pushed and pulled every which way to score political points resulting in rampant gun crime and a demoralised police force (more trouble in store there), immigration has been allowed to get out of control draining public services of resources (more trouble in store there), the public sector has exploded while the wealth-creating private one has been submerged beneath taxes and red tape (more trouble in store there), the economy is balanced on a knife edge as the world faces a slump (loads more trouble in store there).
For ten years this country has had a "leader" who was all show and no substance, and as he dances off into the sunset clutching his pension and memoir advances, we are left to pick up the pieces. The stark fact is that "new" Labour didn't ever stand for anything accept gaining and holding power by trying to say whatever the audience of the day wanted to hear. We now have a PM who can't decide if we should be more British or more European, and will probably end up once again being allowed to be neither.
Charles Clarke was one of those who treated this country as a plaything, socially engineering their idea of a brave new world, and he would do well to keep his silence now that the scale of their disasterous experiments have become clear for all to see.
It became obvious to Conway that he was going down, and it was notable that he didn't use the opportunity to attack Cameron as some past dissenters may have done.
This incident will be quickly forgotten if Cameron can get a few more policy announcement into the news, or if the Government slip up again. No need for the Conservatives to panic.