The coming of age of David Cameron

Since David Cameron’s early days as Conservative Party leader, and Gordon’s Brown’s accession to the Labour throne, many believed the conventional wisdom about our respective Party leaders and by extension their parties:-

Gordon Brown, whilst not youthful or with the political skills of Tony Blair, was without doubt an outstanding Chancellor. Going forward, Gordon will steer the country in a clearer and more ethical direction than that of his superficial predecessor; possessing honesty and integrity, he will put an end to the spin culture proliferating in and out of the Number 10 press room.

David Cameron, whilst youthful and with some of the political skills of Tony Blair, is a priviledged Etonian/Oxonian, a man with little in the way of substance whose only experience working outside of politics was in Public Relations. By contrast with that man of steel, Gordon Brown, Mr Cameron is devoid of political ideas, preferring instead to perform vacuous public stunts, including but not limited to arctic adventures with huskies, solar panel spin, and riding a bicycle to work in front of a huge black motorcar of parliamentary papers.

It would be unfair to make too many direct comparisons between David Cameron and Gordon Brown, on the basis that whilst Brown had had to make real decisions for 12 years, Cameron has not. Neither do I want to make this piece a personal attack on our Prime Minster - it is not. However, I have still felt, certainly from the start, that the media and general public perception of Mr Cameron has been somewhat unfair, particularly where comparisons are made with Mr Brown and his record in Government.

Gordon Brown – policy and presentation

Whilst Mr Brown supposedly had a clear vision of the direction he was taking the country, it was the Conservatives who had been busy researching and advocating changes in the inheritance tax regime and the fiscal status of non-domiciled residents - only for Mr Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling to promptly steal them and present them as their own. Their almost ‘coincidence theorist’-style defences were unlikely to convince even the most ardent Labour members, let alone the public at large.

Mr Brown was supposed to represent a more honest way of doing politics –a President Carter, perhaps, to Tony Blair’s President Nixon. Yet we have a Prime Minster whose governing style is apparently more dictatorial and secretive than anything witnessed during the Blair years. People genuinely expected Mr Brown to be an honest – if not eloquent - communicator who was more interested in policy than in playing politics. Needless to say, this has not been borne out in our experience of Mr Brown, and is unsurprising when we consider his record of openness as Chancellor.

After all, it was Mr Brown who tried, in his final Budget, to present himself as a tax cutter when he was stealthily raising them instead; it was Mr Brown whose 2004 Budget attempted to make savage civil service cuts - purely for the purpose of party political gain; and of course it was also Mr Brown who attempted to gain political advantage off the backs of the lesser-off by abolishing the 10 pence marginal tax rate and claiming at the very same time to be committed to poverty reduction.

I'm not sure I can see any direction in the actions of the Labour Party under Mr Brown.

David Cameron – policy, presentation and deliverance?

All this is not to say that Mr Cameron is 'above it all' and that a Conservative victory in 2010 will wash away everything we have come to dislike about New Labour’s culture of Government. Mr Cameron is a politician who by very definition will not be immune from ‘playing politics’ where perceived necessary. And it does remain true that the Conservatives have further work to do in improving communication of their central message and continuing the steady progress in developing policy ideas.

One is able to assert, however, that there has been more straight-talk from the Blues under Cameron than the Reds under Brown. This is in addition to a clearer philosophical understanding of where the Blues are coming from and where they are going to – a sense of consistency in public policy proposals and an understanding of the conservative bigger picture. Whilst there have naturally been internal quibbles, over the UK’s place in the EU, for instance, and the place in society of grammar schools, these have been finer points of detail within the same philosophical-political framework that is informing the Conservative Party platform for 2010.

By contrast, I do see a sense of direction in Conservative Party policy, and signs that David Cameron and his team will govern with more openness and directness than we have become accustomed to of late.