Star Comment: Not sure what David Cameron stands for
Writing in the Shropshire Star today, Prime Minister David Cameron has laid down all the good things his Government is doing for the people of Shropshire.
Yes, he says, he knows times are tough, but he is “on the side of people who work hard and want to get on with life”.
Among the list of achievements Mr Cameron lists are over 6,000 people starting apprenticeships in the county since April 2010, and the opening at Barrow of the county’s first school under the Free Schools programme.
The recovery won’t happen overnight, he says, but his Government is delivering improvements which are making a difference.
This is all well and good. But Mr Cameron has a problem.
If you were to ask anybody to define Mr Cameron’s premiership, you would probably get such a broad range of answers that, taken together, they amount to a big “don’t know".
You get the impression that even his parliamentary colleagues are not really sure what he stands for.
Has he a grip on things and have a strong vision, or does he simply react to events?
He is very plausible and very slick. But when it comes to fight-to-the-death principles in which he believes, it is a struggle to come up with anything much.
He is the very essence of a modern presentational politician, as opposed to a conviction politician like Margaret Thatcher, where things were black and white.
Mr Cameron has broad brush policies – economic recovery, improving schools, improving the NHS, creating more jobs, and so on.
Alas, when you look at the detail and what he is actually doing, it is like trying to catch a cloud.
And that is the perception that threatens to define Mr Cameron’s premiership – that he comes up with impressive and eye-catching clouds, but substance is lacking.
Comments for: "Star Comment: Not sure what David Cameron stands for"
Ken Adams
I think you are being to kind Cameron stands for nothing never has, that is why the Tories did not win a majority against one of the worst governments in recent years. And I am a conservative, note the small c.
Colin Dodd.
If he really wanted to do something useful for the people of Shropshire, and, indeed, the whole country, he should resign, and take that incompetent oaf Osborn with him.
James
There is one thing he definitely believes in : further enriching his already overprivileged friends.
Otherwise, he publicly espouses whatever beliefs he thinks will benefit him.
For example, a little over two years ago, we saw countless pictures of him cycling to the office because he thought that would somehow establish his 'green' credentials. The same with his claims that he had a wind-power generator on his roof. We were promised that his would be the 'greenest government ever'. Yet this week he appointed the pro-fracking, pro-third runway, anti-renewables Owen Paterson as Environment Secretary.
He appeals to the readers of the Daily Hate with his talk of no second chances for criminals such as last year's rioters, including those whose actions were merely silly, like the girl who stole an odd shoe or the lads who publicised a follow-up riot that not even they showed up for. Yet David 'Fingers' Laws gets another crack at a cabinet job and Andy Coulsen breezed into a spin-doctor's job despite his association with the phone-hacking scandal. Second chances for these men? No problem, they're 'one of us'.
Before he was elected, he praised the NHS and claimed he was 'passionately committed' to it. Quite how that squares with the appointment of Jeremy Hunt - a man who seems to prefer homeopathy to scientific medicine and talks of 'denationalising' (ie privatising) the service - as Health Secretary is anyone's guess. Not to mention Cameron's own recent digs at NHS nurses - the same type of people who once did their utmost for him and his family in tragic circumstances.
Cameron appears on the surface to be what this piece says he is - a 'presentational politician', a buffoonish toff, a kind of weathercock of politics. I'd say he and the government he leads are worse than that - they are outright venal.
louis
I have never read such gutorial nonsense in my life , James wants to leave these playground comments aside and start placing the the blame that the problems th this country is now facing, fairly and squarely at the foot of the last Labour Government incomptence and stupidity (1997~210) of which we are now paying the price for
James
Explain 'gutorial' for me and maybe we can discuss....
Roger
Your memory is very short. The origins of the World Financial Crisis lies back in the Thatcher days of de regulation and denationalisation which built the financial freedom for all. It allowed the Bankers the freedom to fail and entrenched the rest of in ever rising utility bills which are frequently making gross profits for their foreign owners. The investment in our infrastructure promised by selling off the utilities never happened, they just extracted the maximum profit from the infrastructure they inherited and failed to invest in the future. We will have to do all over again. The main problem with Blair/Brown was that they did nor see it coming and tried to embrace the right of politics. Brown did however manage us through the banking crisis and left power with a fragile recovery in place.
This government can claim its only measurable progress as putting the economy into a double dip recession by applying austerity to the poor and placing a safety net under the rich. They have succeeded in absolutely nothing except the transfer of wealth from poor to rich at the cost of the collapse of the economy.
The reshuffle should have indicated any change in direction coming, so he kept the entire major cohort and moved Hunt into health. That is a declaration of war on the poor and he has already proved that that, and the rest of his policies are disastrous to the Economy.
He could make history by being the only Prime Minister to have been forced out of office by a popular revolution. We will remember his words on foreign counties supporting the rebels overthrowing dictators in Libya and Egypt and Syria and hope that other countries will support us in overthrowing this dictatorship of irresponsible misrule.
James
'The main problem with Blair/Brown was that they did nor see it coming and tried to embrace the right of politics.'
Exactly - and that's one of the points I'll happily make once I have this accusation of being 'gutorial' explained to me. It's to Labour's enduring shame that they tried to 'out-Tory' the Tories in their early years in power. The thought of Mandelson and his 'totally comfortable with people getting exceedingly rich' sickens me to this day. But that - and the light-touch regulation mantra - were Tory ideologies that Labour thought they had to adopt to get elected.
john
I know what Cameron stands for
1.Privatising the NHS
2.Attacking the vulnerable ie.the disabled by cutting their benefits.
3.Employing people who should otherwise be prosecuted for fiddling expenses .ie Lib Dem David Laws
4.Destroying the environment by approving a 3rd runway at Heathrow and claiming to be aGreen Govt.
5.Being in partnership with a Lib Dem leader who serves as his lackey.
Loads more things that Cameron stands for but there wouldn't be room enough to name.
john
Not forgetting the privatisation of Royal Mail putting 160 odd jobs at risk in Shrewsbury.
JohnH
And there would be no need for Barrow 1618 Free School if the ConDems cuts hadn't closed the state school there.
Bill
Whilst some Conservatives (large C) may be struggling with Cameron's strategy, many conservatives (small c) are wondering how this country is ever going to achieve efficient government.
Those who position themselves to the right of Cameron are living in denial - denial of the fact that this is not the 1950s of Macmillan ("You never had it so good") for any but a small coterie of wealthy people - maybe 5 -10% of the population.
Somehow the maxim of "Business Will Fix It!" no longer rings true. There are some great businesses and business people out there who have long term vision, but they are outnumbered by those who are only interested in a quick profit and a bigger house, a better car or a better school for their children. Bankers and financial speculators head this rush to the trough.
Business alone won't fix it. Businesses deal with their own product or service. They have to focus on that, not the wider vision. Or they won't be in business much longer.
Government (national and local) has to look to the wider picture - infrastructure, housing, energy, natural resources. And, as is the responsibility of any civilised society, supporting the less fortunate.
Cameron may not be exhibiting a clear vision, but Osborne demonstrates a completely perverted one.
As to the other side of the House? Well, the 'vision' there now seems to be some sort of enforced wealth re-distribution. But if you deprive a very wealthy person of a million pounds, that only gives each of the unemployed 50p. Next idea - a 'living wage'. So UK products rise in price and fail to sell in the international market. And what is a 'living wage'? Whether somebody can live on a particular wage without incurring debt depends wholly on their circumstances and whether they have dependents to support.
The problem is that in both major parties there are far too many MPs and senior figures still living in the middle of the last century - diehard capitalists on the right and diehard socialists on the left. Neither group seems to be able to come to terms with the realities of the 21st century and put the needs of the nation first.
Roger
The "living wage" is the "Minimum Wage" + "Tax credits" All it means is that the employer pays an unrealistically low wage to his employees to make profits which are then taxed to pay for the tax credits all at massive administrative costs.
The minimum wage tends to keep inefficient businesses going when they should have failed, and stops efficient businesses from picking up the trade.
It the minimum wage does not make a living wage it operates counter productively in a free enterprise economy by allowing the losers to not lose.
This is also why most government outsourcing appears efficient. The Tax Payer subsidises the contractor, by allowing him to employ cheap labour and supporting it with tax credits. So no saving in the end.
Nistagmus
What does Cameron stand for ?
C - Cameleon, a lizard that can appear to face one way whilst looking in the opposite direction.
A - Austerity, a method by which the rich can buy up assets that are not normally available for sale at a bargain bin price.
M - Murdoch, a gutter dwelling creature that wishes it could be human. Only those desperate for power would consider befriending it or any of its cohorts.
E - Environment, something that is best preserved by being built upon.
R - Recession, an endless night experienced by peasants. Considered mythical (or at best irrelevant) by those with the power to stop it.
O - Osborne, a self-confessed one-trick pony whose trick turned out to be useless anyway.
N - NHS, a golden goose looked upon with envy by many a private insurance company, now sadly virtually extinct (see 'A')
Allen Grant
David Cameron has proved his excellence in his field. The prime minister is definitely liable for good wishes.
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