Wintonsweek Cameron Resume Is Paper Thin; Has Conservative Party Gone Mad? Lust For Power From Tory’s Wet Wing Seeks To Steamroller Win What Will They Do If They Succeed? Be Modern! When George Bush and John Kerry started off on the long road to the White House, like ‘em or loathe ‘em, they both had formidable political records. Bush, when he first sought the presidency, had been a two-term governor of Texas; a huge job in a huge state. Kerry, (and I loathed him. Alan Duncan, fully paid-up Cameroon, said he would have voted for this corrupt big-government tax-and spend merchant) had been in the Senate for more than 20 years. He had been a student radical. He had a record as long as your arm for the voters to examine. Chancellor Angela Merkel has paid her dues in Germany with the Christian Democratic Party. Nicolas Sarkozy can run on his record as France’s Interior Minister and Finance Minister as he seeks to replace President Chirac. David Cameron was a two-bit PR man for low-rent company called Carlton Television for 4 years. He carried Norman Lamont’s bags for a couple of years. He’s been in Parliament for 4 years. That’s it. Yet 90 members of the Conservative Party, led by Tory apologists and hand-wringers like John Bercow, Tim Yeo, Andrew Lansley, Francis Maude and Theresa May, think this man is qualified to lead the party and become Prime Minister of the country. He has made one speech, and looks cute on TV. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic. Lansley, on BBCTV’s Question Time, described Cameron as a 21st century politician for the 21st century; how superficial is that? You have to ask yourself – has the Tory party taken leave of its senses? Flimsy Record It may well be that Cameron has fine qualities and may one day make a great Prime Minister, but pushing someone forward with this flimsy record is nothing short of stupid. William Hague was younger, but he had a much more formidable record. And Hague never descended to the bland, warm words, “Tories must love everybody, we love everybody”, garbage that flushes out of Cameron’s mouth. Some Conservative MPs – all of the above (except Hague, I assume) – and the other 84-odd Cameroons – are so desperate for the limo and power that all they care about is getting in. If it means the Tory party becomes New Labour II, they don’t care. Power is everything to these people. Luckily there is a majority in the Parliamentary party - 108 to be precise in the form of David Davies and Liam Fox supporters – who subscribe to some principle and have moral fibre. Davies wants to change the way the country is governed. He has a radical programme. He wants to introduce education vouchers. He is a working class Tory “I wasn't born a Conservative. I chose to be a Conservative,” as he said in his Blackpool conference speech. He has been a minister, and has an impressive track record in business. Media Has Decided The media has decided that David Cameron is the coming man and should be the next leader of the Conservative Party. Any other outcome will not be tolerated. But let’s try and take a look at what he stands for. Cameron’s Blackpool speech, which so impressed the media and bunches of soft-brains in the Conservative Party, said absolutely nothing; merely warm words and platitudes. No mention of difficult issues like Iraq, which Liam Fox so bravely and effectively tackled in his speech. Cameron has also demonstrated a rather shifty knack for avoiding tough questions. He refused to answer a question about drugs, and talked portentously about his right to privacy, then paraded his crippled son before the media without apparent embarrassment. Cameron apparently wants to introduce quotas to ensure a better balance of minorities and women candidates. For proper conservatives, this is anathema. Advancement must always be on merit. Never at the expense of those better qualified. Switched Views He has switched his views on tuition fees and now supports them. You wouldn’t expect an old-Etonian to have much grasp of the impact fees would have on aspiring young people seeking to get the best education their qualifications could earn them. David Davies said he is against tuition fees, saying that he wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to university if had had to pay these fees, given his working class background. I can attest to that. I entered university as a bit of an afterthought when I was 22. I find it intolerable that opportunities that were available to me almost 40 years ago – pass the exams, qualify for university, get an non-repayable allowance to live while studying with all fees paid - is not available to young people today. And I keep hearing how the Labour party is so “progressive”. Would I have taken on a huge debt to go to university, not to mention the probably similar amount of earnings foregone while studying? I doubt it. Vacuous Cameron is a vacuous man with no guiding principles, who talks in management clichés and opaque jargon. The most amazing thing about him is his arrogance, his hutzpah in thinking that such a thin resume qualifies him to lead a great political party and become Prime Minister. Just listen to the man and see his almost desperate need to be accepted and succeed. Over the next 6 weeks or so we have the chance to flush out the real David Cameron. Maybe he does have the potential to become a great man and leader. As the two David’s tour the country selling themselves, let’s hope some pointed questions are asked, and honest answers received. Neil Winton – October 23, 2005 Top