Those comments are to do with leadership.

For the first time for many years the Conservatives have a leader who has learned the art. Tories of every hue will follow him.

Cameron began by making his followers scratch their heads (his initial PMQ’s were bathetic with a capital B, and he bemused his followers almost as much as he bemused his enemy with his apparent deference to Blair). Policies re the NHS were bang on New Labour (plus “we’ll spend ‘better’”). A big tax cut for the wealthy (IHT), paid for by foreigners, was bang on Old Tory (minus nastiness).

I won’t harp on about the issues – and I’ll remenmber this is about polling performance- but I hope you get the point that leading is about knowing what to say to whom and how.

My main point is that energy comes from the top.

Brown’s strategy lacks recognisable, traditional leadership qualities. He pre-announced the Queen’s speech contents with the laudable intention of trying to engage debate before policies were formed, but with the effect that the Queen announced things we felt we’d heard before. That’s enervating, not innovating, and who can blame pro-Labour websites for lacking enthusiasm in the face of such wilful “anti-Blairite-spin” nonesense. An open goal for Cameron.

Brown appears to have adopted an appproach that is the opposite of Blair, and thrown Leadership out in the mistaken belief that he was throwing out “spin”. Cameron meanwhile has hired a (former tabloid) spin-meister in Coulsden and embraced Blair’s high octane winning formuula.

The Labour grass roots are still wick. Plenty of difference between the centre-right and centre-left, and we all, wherever we lean, would benefit from Brown focussing on the way forward rather than trying simply to improve slightly on his predecessor’s way. He has until May 2010.

I profoundly disagree with any statements along the lines of “it’s just the way it is”, simply because I believe that attitude leads to complacency, and ultimately war. Positive leadership really can change things. Cameron has proved that; perhaps Brown might just learn something from the last two months and change himself. If he doesn’t follow others’ arguments, he must surely follow the polls.

The signs this Govt have run out of steam started much lower down the chain than this “Cabinet of pygmies”[The Inde}. It comes from the lack of enthusiasm, energy and passion at grassroots level. “New Blood” is career new blood not idealistic or empassioned.
Have you looked in on Labourhome over the past few months? Its dead. There is little innovative discussion and, even more tellingly, major problems happening in the news and materially affecting Labour are often completely ignored.
Go on Tory home and they are debating everthing from the education systems of the world, Iran, nuclear power, civil liberties. For Lib DemVoice Voice its Trident, environment etc…
All Labour home does is with what little energy it has left is complain about everyone else.
They recently copied Toryhome’s “Why are we Conservative?” They slagged of the Tory’s many answers and then asked “Why are we Labour?”.
Hardly anyone repied. They can’t remember or they have given up on achieving it.
Its just the way of the world.

What I wonder is what’s going to happen to Labour when this government does fall. Who is there to pick up the pieces? What do they stand for?

On the matter of Cameron, I would simply say that as with all politicians he will be treated according to his success. Thus all those on the right of the Tory party are happy for now to tolerate his talk of green taxes and his acceptance of Labour’s profligate and immoral (to adopt the language of the DT) spending plans if ultimately he wins the election. If he loses (and by that I mean that Brown is PM after the next election), the Tory right will proclaim his one nation Toryism a failure and will leave a set of steak knives in his back. Atlas and Mike R will be at the front of that queue.

As a Labour supporter, I happen to think that Cameron’s instincts thus far have been right and that it is absolutely critical that he does not allow himself to be pushed by his party to the right if he is to win. The comparisons with Blair, while somewhat facile, do bear some truth but his greatest threat is actualy from within his own party.

Fortunately for moderate Tories (and the British people in general), Cameron does not share the views of the Tory right and their hopes that he will, in power, dust off a right wing agenda are as misplaced as those socialists who thought Blair was their gateway to socialist government. He may well send the odd dog whistle to them from time to time to keep them happy but he is not one of them.