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Tory conference: Conservatives' lack of vision is most troubling Tory conference: Conservatives' lack of vision is most troubling
(35 minutes later)
The 2015 Tory conference in Manchester has been more subdued than triumphalist in tone despite the party’s unexpected election win in May. Good. Two echoes from the past and two details of government policy emerging this week throw the enfeebled state of British government into stark relief, so that restraint is appropriate. I’ll give you a clue: plastic bags.The 2015 Tory conference in Manchester has been more subdued than triumphalist in tone despite the party’s unexpected election win in May. Good. Two echoes from the past and two details of government policy emerging this week throw the enfeebled state of British government into stark relief, so that restraint is appropriate. I’ll give you a clue: plastic bags.
The twin echoes are those of giant political figures from the past whose range of experience and authority make today’s crop of leaders – in all parties, not just David Cameron’s – look Lilliputian by comparison.The twin echoes are those of giant political figures from the past whose range of experience and authority make today’s crop of leaders – in all parties, not just David Cameron’s – look Lilliputian by comparison.
Love her or hate her, Margaret Thatcher’s stature and achievements were acknowledged around the world, as extracts from volume II of Charles Moore’s biography reminded us. Denis Healey, who died at 98 on Saturday, was one of the last links to the wartime generation which made substantial contributions to Britain’s post-imperial re-adjustment.Love her or hate her, Margaret Thatcher’s stature and achievements were acknowledged around the world, as extracts from volume II of Charles Moore’s biography reminded us. Denis Healey, who died at 98 on Saturday, was one of the last links to the wartime generation which made substantial contributions to Britain’s post-imperial re-adjustment.
It is as hard to imagine Jeremy Corbyn long sustaining a conversation with clever, overbearing Healey (they overlapped as MPs from 1983 to 1987) as it is to picture David Cameron cross-examining Kremlin “new boy” Mikhail Gorbachev. She did so over a bruising Chequers lunch, then flew first to Beijing and on to Washington to inform Chairman Deng and Ronald Reagan that they should take him seriously. Thatcher got many things wrong, but that wasn’t one of them. It is as hard to imagine Jeremy Corbyn long sustaining a conversation with clever, overbearing Healey (they overlapped as MPs from 1983 to 1987) as it is to picture David Cameron cross-examining Kremlin “new boy” Mikhail Gorbachev. Thatcher did so over a bruising Chequers lunch, then flew first to Beijing and on to Washington to inform Chairman Deng and Ronald Reagan that they should take him seriously. Thatcher got many things wrong, but that wasn’t one of them.
Did I say plastic bags? Among Monday’s pre-conference announcements was a reminder that England is finally catching up with devolved regimes elsewhere in Britain and charging 5p a bag in larger shops. It’s a good improvement in our eternal effort to keep Britain tidy as well as in the wider fight to save the global environment. But it is micro, not macro, a detail, not a strategy. Did I say plastic bags? Among Monday’s pre-conference announcements was a reminder that England is finally catching up with devolved regimes elsewhere in Britain and charging 5p a bag in larger shops. It’s a good improvement in our eternal effort to keep Britain tidy as well as in the wider fight to save the global environment. But it is micro, not macro; a detail, not a strategy.
The week’s other policy detail? That cut-price share sell-off of Lloyds Bank shares. For all the much-vaunted safeguards to encourage small investors to hang on to them, this is a £200m giveaway by a supposedly responsible, deficit-cutting regime which simply hands over a few bob to those who can afford a few bob to buy the shares. The week’s other policy detail? That cut-price sell-off of Lloyds Bank shares. For all the much-vaunted safeguards to encourage small investors to hang on to them, this is a £200m giveaway by a supposedly responsible, deficit-cutting regime which simply hands over a few bob to those who can afford a few bob to buy the shares.
Most shares will end up in the hands of the big investors - your pension fund or mine perhaps - just as gas shares did after Sid sold them on in the 80s. Much more important, a lot of council houses sold to Sid and Mrs Sid at a discount in the 80s have ended up in the hands of buy-to-let landlords with tax-deductible mortgages. Most shares will end up in the hands of the big investors – your pension fund or mine, perhaps – just as gas shares did after Sid sold them on in the 80s. Much more important, a lot of council houses sold to Sid and Mrs Sid at a discount in the 80s have ended up in the hands of buy-to-let landlords with tax-deductible mortgages.
They rent many to housing benefit claimants who might once have been council tenants, so the taxpayer pays again. Housing associations are poised to suffer the same treatment.They rent many to housing benefit claimants who might once have been council tenants, so the taxpayer pays again. Housing associations are poised to suffer the same treatment.
That, too, is part of the Thatcher legacy. Little that Cameron is saying today gets to serious grips with the hole it ripped in affordable social housing, the country’s most acute social problem, much of it in a capital city where the house-price bubble makes it feel like a restless caldera.That, too, is part of the Thatcher legacy. Little that Cameron is saying today gets to serious grips with the hole it ripped in affordable social housing, the country’s most acute social problem, much of it in a capital city where the house-price bubble makes it feel like a restless caldera.
The awkward fact is, as Rafael Behr suggests in his column, that the Cameron government has regained power as the first wholly Conservative government elected since 1992 without being sure what to do with it. John Major had similar difficulties in defining his larger purpose when he unexpectedly won that year – would it be classless Britain or the motorway cones hotline initiative? Neither goal endured.The awkward fact is, as Rafael Behr suggests in his column, that the Cameron government has regained power as the first wholly Conservative government elected since 1992 without being sure what to do with it. John Major had similar difficulties in defining his larger purpose when he unexpectedly won that year – would it be classless Britain or the motorway cones hotline initiative? Neither goal endured.
Related: David Cameron vows to scrap requirement to build affordable homes for rentRelated: David Cameron vows to scrap requirement to build affordable homes for rent
Cameron’s declared conference slogan “Security, Stability, Opportunity” is a solidsafety first kind of sentiment that Stanley Baldwin made popular in the30s before it all went horribly wrong. In his own speech on Wednesday, Cameron is reinforcing claims by his ministers to be occupying the centre ground of politics now that Labour has vacated it on Corbyn’s big adventure. Cameron’s declared conference slogan “Security, Stability, Opportunity” is a solid, safety-first kind of sentiment that Stanley Baldwin made popular in the30s before it all went horribly wrong. In his own speech on Wednesday, Cameron is reinforcing his ministers’ claims to occupy the centre ground of politics now that Labour has vacated it on Corbyn’s big adventure.
Well, maybe. But it is pretty flimsy stuff. Ministers reaching out to the hard-working low paid do not make a convincing case for saying that their “national living wage” reforms will compensate for cuts in what used to be called the “social wage” – benefits and services – elsewhere. Well, maybe. But it is pretty flimsy stuff. Ministers reaching out to the hard-working low paid do not make a convincing case for saying that their “national living wage” reforms will compensate for cuts in what used to be called the social wage – benefits and services – elsewhere.
They may be right to say that in a changing world Britain, in or out of Europe, must slim down an unsustainable social security budget (it would help to point out that pensions are the biggest item), but not to present the policy as liberating. Jeremy Hunt pointing to the work ethic of the American underclass misses the point: they work hard but still have it pretty tough. Britain is not the US.They may be right to say that in a changing world Britain, in or out of Europe, must slim down an unsustainable social security budget (it would help to point out that pensions are the biggest item), but not to present the policy as liberating. Jeremy Hunt pointing to the work ethic of the American underclass misses the point: they work hard but still have it pretty tough. Britain is not the US.
At least George Osborne’s “we are the builders” speech offered a coherent view of what he wants to do, though it was built on wildly optimistic assumptions about what the British economy is still capable of. The trade gap, which once obsessed us all (it cost Labour the 1970 election), widens and there are now too few of what we used to call “invisible earnings” (ie profits repatriated from overseas) to plug the gap.At least George Osborne’s “we are the builders” speech offered a coherent view of what he wants to do, though it was built on wildly optimistic assumptions about what the British economy is still capable of. The trade gap, which once obsessed us all (it cost Labour the 1970 election), widens and there are now too few of what we used to call “invisible earnings” (ie profits repatriated from overseas) to plug the gap.
In any case, builder George’s hopes of replenishing UK infrastructure are diminished both by his dependence on foreign capital (the Chinese got a good guaranteed deal at Hinkley Point C for which we will get overpriced electricity) and by the shortage of vital skills at home. You cannot be a builder without brickies.In any case, builder George’s hopes of replenishing UK infrastructure are diminished both by his dependence on foreign capital (the Chinese got a good guaranteed deal at Hinkley Point C for which we will get overpriced electricity) and by the shortage of vital skills at home. You cannot be a builder without brickies.
Which brings us to Theresa May’s substantial (few speeches here deserve that adjective) immigration speech on Tuesday, unless we prefer to call it her leadership bid or her “no to Europe” speech. In reality it was a bit of all three and has been condemned by the Telegraph and Spectator – though not the Mail – alongside the more liberal press as too strident, demagogic even. The rightwing Institute of Directors (which believes in market remedies) threw stones, too.Which brings us to Theresa May’s substantial (few speeches here deserve that adjective) immigration speech on Tuesday, unless we prefer to call it her leadership bid or her “no to Europe” speech. In reality it was a bit of all three and has been condemned by the Telegraph and Spectator – though not the Mail – alongside the more liberal press as too strident, demagogic even. The rightwing Institute of Directors (which believes in market remedies) threw stones, too.
Having watched the speech, I find that severe verdict as puzzling as I found large chunks of Osborne’s blithe economic optimism. There was little in the home secretary’s address that outraged or surprised me and little in the subsequent analysis I read that prompts me to reconsider.Having watched the speech, I find that severe verdict as puzzling as I found large chunks of Osborne’s blithe economic optimism. There was little in the home secretary’s address that outraged or surprised me and little in the subsequent analysis I read that prompts me to reconsider.
We owe a moral duty to refugees, especially to the vulnerable, and can exercise it in many ways, among which admission to the UK is one option. But we are surely at liberty to decide, preferably with our struggling European partners, which and how many economic migrants we choose to admit. In the past decade or so, Britain’s population has grown by about 5 million – principally due to immigration. It is, as May said, a lot of people to absorb. We owe a moral duty to refugees, especially to the vulnerable, and can exercise it in many ways, among which admission to the UK is one option. But we are surely at liberty to decide, preferably with our struggling European partners, which and how many economic migrants we choose to admit. In the past decade or so, Britain’s population has grown by about five million – principally due to immigration. It is, as May said, a lot of people to absorb.
But what May and her ministerial colleagues lack is an overall coherence. Just as it is foolish to boast of being “builders” without brickies in a housing shortage, so it is foolish to boast of overtaking Germany’s falling population in decades and to assign national solutions to problems which require international cooperation and vision. Leaving Manchester it is what George Bush Sr called “the vision thing” that is most troubling. But what May and her ministerial colleagues lack is an overall coherence. Just as it is foolish to boast of being “builders” without brickies in a housing shortage, so it is foolish to boast of overtaking Germany’s falling population in decades and to assign national solutions to problems which require international cooperation and vision. Leaving Manchester, it is what George Bush Sr called “the vision thing” that is most troubling.
If we suddenly again face hard times, we will have to raise a better game than has been visible here.If we suddenly again face hard times, we will have to raise a better game than has been visible here.