Cameron from both sides
Yes, it's me, the Moai, your friendly neighbourhood tame lefty.
The Nameless One asked me, 'As a recovering leftie, what are your thoughts on Cameron? There has been a lot of argument on the right wing end of the blogosphere (God I hate that word) about young Hug A Husky Cameron so I was wondering what your perspective is.' I'm happy to oblige.
Bullet points, based on my view of what a leader should do/be:
- No policies of any note, so he wins no points on that front. He appears be a total facade, built around electability, pure and simple. The party are obviously backing him purely to get back into power.
- I cannot picture him standing up for Britain on a global stage at all. Cameron v Putin? Don't make me laugh.
- I also note that the man was born into wealth and privately educated, meaning that he has never had to actually interact with the state as a client, or, crucially, actually worry about money on his own account. If there is any good in the ideology of the Tory Party, it must be in providing the means for anyone to make something of themselves, without hindrance, and I liked that in David Davis - he was a self-made man, who probably knew how and where to catch a bus. How can David Cameron ever address the needs and concerns of people who live in crime-ridden social housing, earning a minimum wage?
- Appears more than willing to use his wife and kids for photo ops. This I find incredibly distasteful and, for all his faults, Blair has never actually done this beyond the obligatory new PM entering Number Ten shot.
- Backed the Iraq War. 'Nuff said, really.
I am trying to find a positive, but I am struggling. Can anyone think of one? Perhaps we can discern something from his voting record. I also note his Commons attendance is not stellar.
As you can see, some of us on the left are still trying to think, although we have scant evidence to work with.
posted by The Moai @ 11:55 am
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Policies:
Scrap ID Cards
Withdraw party from EPP
Scrap road pricing
Increase green taxation at the expence of others.
Reduce the tax take over a parliament
Depoliticize the civil service
Others are being worked on. Powder dry and all that.
And to criticize a politician for seeking elecability is just obtuse.
Jackart, the Moai is a recovering socialist. Being obtuse is practically his birthright.
But, joking aside, the point I find quite interesting is that Cameron is failing to impress those on the left and if memory serves one of the key strengths you see in him is his ability to win over "lefties".
True, the Tories have gone up in the polls. But whether this is down to Cameron and his drive for electability or whether it is down to the ongoing, excerable failure of the Labour party in government is open to question.
Scrap ID Cards
But not the underlying database
Withdraw party from EPP
But not immediately (if ever) despite the unequivocal pledge to leave "within months" of his election as party leader
Scrap road pricing
Big deal but hooray
Increase green taxation at the expence of others
Meaningless band-wagon climbing
Reduce the tax take over a parliament
No - he's going to "share" the increase in GNP with us peasants (who aren't adult enough to decide how to spend our money) - in other words a national marginal tax rate of 50% (if a 50/50 split of GNP increase).
Depoliticize the civil service
Uncontentious chin music
I never thought I'd agree with any statement from the left but the Moai has summed up Cameron's PR spivvery pretty well (except for his - Moai's - class envy peeping through).
As to the Tories poll rating: any (literally any) leader of the Tories against the present shysters in government would have done as well. For the first time in 10 years the electorate is prepared to listen to an opposition (not because of Cameron but because their eyes have been opened to the incompetence and corruption of NuLabour). And what do they get - a PR shadow of Blairism. Any wonder that fewer people bother to vote. The Conservatives under Cameron will increase their percentage of the vote but this should not be confused with an endorsement of Cameron. It's a statement about Blair and Brown.
You're right, Umbongo - it IS class envy. I'd love never to have to worry about how to pay the bills.
But anyway. As The Nameless One says, he was elected because apparently he could appeal to people like me, and he doesn't. We are crying out for someone to believe in, and vote for. There is a massive vacuum in British politics. Cameron is not filling it. He could, if he had the balls, but that would seriously frighten the Conservative Associations, most of whom were very, very sceptical of Cameron.
Umbongo is right - people will vote against NuLabour, but that does not imply an endorsement of NuToryism.
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