Super Cameron's Optimistic Miliband's Atrocious
James Charlton watches on in despair as Blair's heir runs rings round Miliband.
22 Dec 2011, 09:30
Is Miliband up to scratch?
David Cameron has a habit of performing well in trying circumstances. To skirt around a tired cliché, he is a Prime Minister with a penchant for pulling unlikely solutions out of nowhere.
From his speech that won over the Conservative party in 2005, to his support for Tony Blair's education reforms and a “big, open and comprehensive” offer to the Liberal Democrats during the coalition negotiations, Cameron has been most impressive when he's on the offensive.
The recent EU summit afforded another opportunity for Britain's buccaneering Prime Minister to be bold, the French acting as pantomime villains in another Tory drama about Europe.
Understanding the ramifications of an EU summit is a difficult business. It requires knowledge of the structures of European Union governance with a firm grasp of jargons and their acronyms. Even then, you must decipher the motives behind the reporters and political commentators.
The only thing that is certain about the veto that might not have actually been a veto, is that Cameron did well out of it. One Conservative Eurosceptic told me last week however that the veto is only “a start”. There are bigger obstacles to overcome if Cameron is to follow up on his rhetoric to prove his bulldog, and tiger, credentials.
The only person to display better political timing than the PM is X-Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos. Fans of the show will know that she skewered the most talented competitor in an early round, accusing 'Mischa B', 18, (a favourite of Ed Balls, incidentally) of being a bully live on primetime television. Tulisa skilfully followed up by making amends the next week, “we're cool now” she said. She knew the damage she had already inflicted. Her own somewhat anodyne but wholesome girl band romped to victory.
Over in Norman Shaw South, Ed Miliband's team will be hoping that Flashman is eventually vanquished by an anodyne group. The Eds must be wondering how bad things need to get before voters consider Labour a genuine alternative. Ed M is a keen Labour party historian, and went to the same school as Tulisa the political wizard. The alumnus of Haverstock Secondary must now realise it is a possibility, at least, that he will not lead Labour to victory in 2015.
Milibandits are trying to paint narrow poll leads and by-election victories as great successes. This is Balls. The last time an opposition party won enough seats to form a majority government was in 1997, and at the equivalent point in that electoral cycle, December 1993, John Smith enjoyed a 21.5 point lead (Gallup, 6/12/93) over John Major. That was a time of a strong economic recovery - UK GDP rose by 2.9% in 1993.
One of the cheapest Brownite digs at Blair was that he placed style over substance. Their man, they said, was a Volvo. Brown was supposed to be the intellectual muscle behind Blair's PR froth. Blair had the ability to make people vote Labour, but even that was viewed as a useful ability and not, in some strange way, genuine.
It was ironic that when Brown finally got to Number 10, he became obsessed with style and PR. The difference was that this did not manifest itself in votes. Instead he produced bizarre YouTube videos and appeared on Piers Morgan's 'Life Stories'.
It is interesting to compare what the two men have done since leaving office. Could Brown become a big employer, or compete in a two hour debate on religion with Christopher Hitchens? Would Blair find intellectual stimulation as a bit-part backbencher?
This is still important because two men who spent years pulling back-room levers for Brown are now in full control. One Labour commentator reckons they are in a death spiral.
A criticism Blair made of Brown and his henchmen in 2007 was based on Brown's unwillingness to share his vision for the future. In 'A Journey' Blair wrote, “OK, I understand you don't agree with my analysis, give me yours”. Brown couldn't. There was no alternative to Blair's vision, and there still isn't.
That is why Cameron is heading for a quiet and content family Christmas. Unemployment is at record levels, economic growth is stuttering and the Prime Minister was uncomfortably close to the biggest scandal of his generation. Yet still he leads.
Comments (2)
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An excellent article, I particularly liked the Brown/Blair - Christopher Hitchens comparison
22/12/2011 09:47Please don't throw shade at Little Mix. They're great and Jade is so pretty.
23/12/2011 10:18