David Cameron: Lord of the Rings

2006-05-23T11:34:00.003Z

What makes a good political leader? Is it the natural ability to do the right thing? No. Is it to have the strength of conviction to make everyone follow your word? No. Is it being honest, trustworthy and doing your best to make things right for your loyal disciples? Definitely not. It is instead, the ability to persuade the masses that you are all of the above, even if you are not.

David Cameron has won not only the leadership of the Conservative Party, but the hearts and minds of the same media that was baying for Tory blood at every slip during the last ten years. In a few weeks he alone turned the Tories from unelectable political lemmings, to the smart bet for the next election. He had every political commentator making eerie comparisons to another young dynamic leader who rescued a dying party 11 years ago.

Political Folklore

The secret of how to turn a party from disarray to power is the stuff of political folklore, and will probably be told around Gordon Brown’s fireplace this Christmas rather than Harry Potter. In a nutshell, it involves a young fresh faced ‘chosen one’ leading his party against the evil empire and bringing change to the land. This isn’t ‘Lord of the Rings’, it’s the new era of PR politics, and Tony Blair is definitely Frodo. David Cameron has successfully proved himself a worthy challenger for Blair’s PR crown; his victory in the Tory leadership race is testimony to this.

Cameron is in every sense of the word a toff. He is an old Etonian and even his wife holds a hereditary title, however none of this figures in the well polished image of a dynamic young family man. In comparison David Davis was born and raised in one of the UK’s poorest areas. He spent his pre-political years in the military and knows the hardships of life. While Cameron has voted against welfare reforms, Davis has voted for them, but his image reeks of another Tory with too much policy and not enough charisma. What Cameron can’t do now is what every one of his failed predecessors have done with their leadership: Absolutely nothing.

He needs to wield the same axe of change that Blair used in his first months, to do away with the stuffy party old school, and bring in the Cameronians to serve his every word. The first thing Blair did was to ditch clause four of the Labour party constitution, and distance himself from the unelectable leftist activists. In Conservative language this points to the Europe question. If you went and asked everyone in Britain about the future of Europe, only war veterans and the mentally imbalanced would say Britain was better off out altogether. Cameron needs to banish the neoconservatives from his party and settle for a realistic centre ground line, or the nemesis of Hague could come back to haunt him.

New Tories?

When Blair came to the helm, the New Labour brand was plastered around the country like an O2 advertising campaign. Cameron needs to do the same. His face must become the shorthand for Conservative, and drop the stuffy image which the children of Thatcher have come to despise. He has already started charming the young and has been eager to begin dialogue on climate change and ending poverty. This week the Tories unveiled they are working with the peoples’ hero Bob Geldof, probably much to his dismay. However, this time last year they would have been lucky to have Gary Glitter’s support.

In 1994 Blair quickly axed the traditional Labour policies of high taxation and unilateral disarmament to drag his party kicking and screaming to the centre ground. Cameron has already started to follow suit with the immigration u-turn, but he needs to go even further with softer views on Europe and a new inventive education policy.

In the run-up to the 1997 General Election, Tony Blair met with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and enlisted his support for the Labour campaign. This meant the biggest names in news were on his side. Cameron has already won back the old faithful Telegraph, and his ultra keen attitude to the media has done him a lot of favours. Over the last few months Cameron must have been the most quoted man in the world, on everything from Europe to education. Even before he was elected leader he was fielding endless calls from Fleet Street and has now become master of the soundbite.

Being every journalist’s favourite politician has its benefits. He has enjoyed a very mild initiation into leadership, and has kept defiantly coy over the drugs question, winning respect amongst reporters used to bringing politicians to their knees. Cameron must give the press those comments that make good news stories, and they’ll repay him in kind.

Return of the Sleaze

The last strategy that Blair used to beat the Tories will ironically be the final nail in his own coffin. It was the allegations of sleaze and infighting that finished off the Tories last time, despite the flawless economy. Between David Blunkett’s extended family and Ruth Kelly relentlessly trying to commit political suicide, the good ship New Labour is heading for a giant election waterfall. Cameron needs to cash in and get his party united and on message. If they can start agreeing for the first time in 20 years they may just get a sniff at the next election. The public relations offensive must start here.

Cameron’s advisor George Osbourne may be a fully paid up member of the Tory right but this is politics at the highest level and there’s no room for differences of opinion. Cameron needs to become the dictator that Blair was, and make the Tories know who’s in charge now. That’s what makes a good political leader.

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David Cameron: Lord of the Rings