Friday, April 11, 2008

Telegraph Column: How the Tories Are Preparing for Power


Read my latest Telegraph column HERE. It discusses how the Tories must prepare for power and how they should learn from what Blair did wrong in his first term.

  • Blair wasted his first term and only realised how to exercise power by the time it was too late.
  • The Tory team is more experienced than the Labour team were in 1997
  • Difficult decisions will need to be taken in the first few weeks
  • Francis Maude's role in preparing the Tories for government
  • Why the Tories should learn from Michael Heseltine
  • How to deal with the civil service
  • Which books aspirant Tory Ministers should read.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent article Iain, and not just because you are waxing lyrical about a possible Conservative government!
I think that one big fear for even the most ardent Conservative supporter is that we might not be any different from the last lot, and that all our aspirations and hopes will be dashed in much the same way as many Labour activists have been.
The fact that we are trying not to make the same mistakes with some very practical measures is heartening.

James Higham said...

... and how to overcome the Cameron resistance factor, esp with Boris.

Anonymous said...

You'll be the same is this lot, only worse!!

Like to comment on this Iain.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3724416.ece

Anonymous said...

err, you realise the odds are still against a Tory victory? Maybe you should focus your energies on winning the election.

Newmania said...

At times his read like a Conservative Party hand out Iain , quite unlike your usual 'voice' although I recognised bits from the reading list as authentic Dale . Who was your source for all this highly unlikely , supposed battle readiness? I do not believe it for one second nor do I think tearing about the place "effecting change " is a good idea initially.
I did like your bon mot about Quentin Davies the other day .." He certainly is history as far as the Conservative Party are concerned "...very good

Unsworth said...

All well and good, but let us not forget that c--t Kinnock's cretinous triumphalism before his election disaster, eh? It's by no means certain that the Conservatives will win, so they'll need to keep a very tight grip on the game.

Anonymous said...

I wish they would tell us (the voting public) what they intend to do when they take power. At the moment, all we hear is that it will be more of the same.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing how difficult it is to remember anything that Blair did between 1997 and 2002, bar making the Bank of England independent.

Anonymous said...

What... By going on GMTV, and talking about the naughty step....cringe cringe

Anonymous said...

Well Iain, you've had the car a couple of days now.Has it broken down yet?

Anonymous said...

""Deal with the civil service""

Thats sounds like a THREAT

Good luck, you will need it.

Get rid of 100,000's of public sector workers...ie put them on the dole, while at the same time undermining the services they provide.

Good luck indeed.

My favourite gaffe of the week has got to be Gideons idea to micro manage every singlr bank and financial institution in the land... Will not happen

Anonymous said...

lettersfromatory said...

It's amazing how difficult it is to remember anything that Blair did between 1997 and 2002, bar making the Bank of England independent.

April 11, 2008 9:33 AM

errrrrr

Minimum Wage

NI Peace process

Devolution

Class Sizes cuts

windfall levy on the privatised utilities

Rail Track back in public hands

And of course the NHS saved from certain privatization if Major had won in 1997

Anonymous said...

Look you have been in oppostion for 11 years.

I watched the Tory party political Broadcast this week and it was as ever vague.

No specifics just vague waffle and intentions, no solid commitments, promises or vision.

Anonymous said...

In the face of the deep humiliation of this country by the presence of those Chinese 'Police' pushing Gordon around in Downing Street; we now read of Poole Council unashamedly using terroist laws to snoop on people for trivial matters.

Perhaps the Tories should tell us how they are going to reverse this oppressive police-state, then they will merit support.

Chris Paul said...

What Blair did wrong in his first term was following Tory plans.

With any luck your lot will have ten or twenty more years to prepare for power. Half the shadow cabinet will get caught snorting cocaine off Max Mosley's favourite (allegedly nazi aping) whore's buttocks while singing the Eton boating song at Johnson's inauguration bash.

There will be a Tory meltdown with a midnight swoop on the crack smoking circle behind the speaker's chair adding insult to injury.

Johnson will be caught with a bicycle shed full of stolen aristo bicycles, and a list of bastard children longer than a big ape's arms.

Fortunately there will be no bunker shooting incident as Sir GOO will get a call on his mobile at the last minute, inheriting that wallpaper empire, and he'll employ Cameron and Johnson in his boardroom as they resign from politics in ignomy.

Hope you're getting all this Iain? You can use it in your next Torygraph column if you wish.

Anonymous said...

Blair won in '97 by creating a mood of competence and renewal. The Tories need to do the same, and they will win with a mix of this and rejection of New Labour. Government's lose elections, etc. ...

So please (you genuine supporters), stop asking for detailed plans. More details will be revealed when appropriate - and when they can't be instantly stolen by them others!!!!!

It's all looking very good.

Newmania said...

and a list of bastard children longer than a big ape's arms.



I think that one is taken Chris. I think what Tony Blair did in his first term was an approximation of what he said he was going to do . Who knows perhaps without Brown he might have stayed moderately honest

Richard Edwards said...

Labour didn't waste their first term. They enacted far reaching constitutional changes that were years in the preparation. E.g. Scottish constitutional convention. Apart from policy reviews under party fossils sorry Elders what new policies has Cameron come up with - apart from some pish on family friendly policies.

Anyway I dislike the tone etc of this article. It is a very presumptive, and quite arrogant PR release. So unlike a bunch of old Etonians of course. Its not in the bag yet boys.

Anonymous said...

Preparing for power by using NuLabour's RIPA to spy on ratepayers presumably. Building on the legacy. Why no comments on Poole Council Iain?

Anonymous said...

One thing they MUST do, is leave Jowell in charge of the Olympics. So when it all goes wrong (which it will) New Labour can be given the blame.

The Tories stitched up new Labour like a Kipper with the Dome, don't give them the chance of revenge with the London Games.

Anonymous said...

'Ministers will possibly face a Civil Service culturally resistant to what they want to do'

Eh? Senior Civil Servants would crap on their own heads if a Minister told them to. What the Tories are going to find is a much more 'compliant' civil service with a dearth of any discernable talent. A civil servant gets on these days by being a government bully boy, both to their staff and the public they purport to serve.

Bring back Sir Humphrey.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

In the face of the deep humiliation of this country by the presence of those Chinese 'Police' pushing Gordon around in Downing Street; we now read of Poole Council unashamedly using terroist laws to snoop on people for trivial matters.

Perhaps the Tories should tell us how they are going to reverse this oppressive police-state, then they will merit support.

April 11, 2008 10:49 AM



Poole is a Unitary Council, who spy on children applying to their schools is......AT TORY COUNCIL

OH DEAR....

More importantly wasnt it Cambo who said it was OK for parents to LIE to get into a school of their choice. Looks like Cambo needs to go down to Poole and chastise the Poole Tory council Leader.

Anonymous said...

Iain - I'd point out that the incoming Labour administration did some preparation for office - I think it was Peter Hennessy who said in his book on Prime Ministers that he'd run seminars for Blair and his senior colleagues on how to govern.

Anonymous said...

Iain - I'd point out that the incoming Labour administration did some preparation for office - I think it was Peter Hennessy who said in his book on Prime Ministers that he'd run seminars for Blair and his senior colleagues on how to govern.

strapworld said...

Iain. The Kindergarten are out again I see.

Your article was superb. It is right that the Conservatives prepare with time on their hands. I recall Blair did the self same thing. So I do not know what Brown's pet poodles are moaning about.

That said I must take issue with one aspect.

Frances MAUDE. Now I know you like the fellow. But he is as weak as dish water. He has absolutely no charisma and I do not believe him to be a Tory!

He got where he is because of his Father and not on his own record - which is what exactly?

I am sorry there are so many good people Cameron could have used for this very important role. I note also that Cameron - despite his vow to have 50% of his cabinet women- is not using women. When they have at least TWO excellent former Cabinet Ministers in the Lords!!

I cannot comment on Maude's partner as I do not know of him. BUT using the wrong people to 'energise' future Cabinet Ministers will have the wrong effect in my view.

Maude should go to the Lib Dems where his heart really is!

Anonymous said...

Barman!

Please can I have a pint of whatever Chris Paul was drinking...

@molesworth_1 said...

Your article's currently No.1 on PH's "If you have more time..." Top 10. Are they trying to tell you something...?

Bill Quango MP said...

This is a scadalous lie Iain.
I remember quite clearly the day before the election Blair prepared very hard to shaft the Lib dems.

Then onto an important appointments meeting.

"OK, first number out is 22. Who's got 22. Derry Irvine. well you are Lord Chancellor. OK NEXT. Number 31! Frank Dobson. Great. you will be .. let's see.. Secretary of State for Health.

Next up , one from the women's bowl I think ,number 18. Chancellor of the Exchequer. Oh no sorry. I've promised that to someone else."

Then of course there was momentous decision to call everyone in the cabinet by their first names.

Ahh, those great days of statesmanship..

Anonymous said...

lettersfromatory said...

"It's amazing how difficult it is to remember anything that Blair did between 1997 and 2002, bar making the Bank of England independent."

How can you have forgotten so much? Everything was REVIEWED to see if it was functioning properly. As soon as nulab had a full list of what was working they buggered it.

Anonymous said...

anon @ 12:19 PM

Yeah, as you say a Tory Council. Even more reason for its leader to consider his position as he said on BBC TV News 24 that this was not the first use of these terorist laws to snoop on people.

This is the sort of Tory council that we could do without. If I lived in Poole they, the Tories, would have lost my vote unless some changes are seen, I would far sooner vote UKIP than re-elect them.

Unknown said...

Wonderful blog !

Steve_Roberts said...

Iain, one more for the reading list is John Seddon's "Freedom from command and control" which explains in detail a better way to mange service delivery than target-driven centralised insanity

Newmania said...

Actually Brown found the plans for the indepndence of the B of E hanging on a hook , Major was keen and it was ready to go.The plans were all laid and it was all to do with Maastricht when we had actually signed up to moving towards bank independence.
His one act of competence was in fact John Major`s then to whom he gives as much credit as Blair does goer Major`s work on NI.

Good man Major , much underated.

Anonymous said...

I've never voted Tory but almost certainly will do from now one.

I think (as Jack Straw pointed out in The Times a few months ago) that the public mood has shifted towards favouring policy areas traditionally associated with Conservative politics e.g. low taxes, support for strong policing, less state interference etc.

I'm a bit disappointed however as Cameron et al do not seem to have enough confidence in their policies to articulate how they want to change Britain.

I'm familiar with their policies but only because I've trawled through the Conservative website. Most of what I hear and read in the media is fluff and no substance.

I believe that Labour are likely to move further to the Left IF (not when) they lose the next election and will (hopefully) consign themselves to electoral obscurity for a good few years by doing so.

However I wish the Tories would be more assertive and aggressive by being bold and clear about what they believe and not just making gains because they're not New Labour.


And one more thing...

PLEASE can we have a Tory party who are prepared to grow some balls and stand against the nefarious cultural marxism that has beset the public sector.

Anonymous said...

CCHQ are entitled to be upbeat, at least for a moment: Polly Toynbee has just given Gord a kick in the Graun.

Anonymous said...

About Poole.

Dave. Dave? This is turning into a saga, Dave.

The facts are that a local Conservative run council has seen fit to invoke powers gained for the purposes of anti-terrorism to hunt down parents who may or may not have been oblique with the truth on an application form.

Oh really?

We can learn from this. We can learn that

1.If you give those in authority wide ranging powers they will sooner or later use them to pursue political or extra-legal ends.(cf Walter Wolfgang)

2.Council officials believe it is their job to do unto others what they would rightly not want to be done to them.

3.The state school lottery has reached such a low that parents are reduced to all manner of means to secure a good education for their kids.

Now Dave.

The first thing you can do is to call for the head of this council. Nothing less will do. This is a gross infringement of liberty and the right to privacy. They have crossed the line big time and, if you don't take a stand, Dave, you are complicit in this mindset. You, Dave, are encouraging this kind of maladministration.

Never mind "things can only get better"

If you tolerate this, our children will be next.

Anonymous said...

Good article, Iain.

However, we need to take things one step at a time. First we need to win the London Mayoral Election(and whilst Boris is doing better than hoped let's not count our chickens etc until the result is known)Second we need to keep concentrating on those councils where just one more push can give control to the Conservatives Thirdly we need to keep concentrating our resources on those marginal seats that are becoming increasingly vulnerable as the days pass.Fourthly we need to keep hitting Brown and Labour on the economy and particularly Brown's incompetence over the past decade and his plethora of red tape and complex taxation laws(incl his disastrous abolition of the 10p rate - a gift)Fifthly keep hammering on about Brown's "dithering" and the arrogance of Labour i.e. "So What !"(As I've said before it really doesn't matter if Balls said it or not it's already passed into the public consciousness that he did so therefore he DID)

Finally we probably have 2 years before the election and there's plenty of time to firm up policy(too soon and Labour will filch it. All people need to know is that there is policy in place.)

In the intervening period before then we need to totally destroy the reputations of Brown and Labour for competence
It's likely that the in fighting in the Labour Party will increase as the economic situation get's worse and the polls continue to show Labour trailing; backbenchers in marginals will be unsettled and members of the Cabinet will be protecting their future positions.

Remember the "Major Government" was ultimately destroyed by party division;loss of public confidence and yearning for change and so will Labour be.

We need to be patient. We've waited 11 years we can wait 2 more before the electorate deliver the final "coup de grace" to the Brown Government.

Anonymous said...

I just read the opening lines of your article: "Gerald Kaufman is perhaps not an author you might think Conservative MPs would find very riveting. Yet one of his books, How to be a Minister, has become a must-read among the more ambitious of them - so much so that it's become quite difficult to find secondhand copies."

For one moment I thought I would be able to sell my second hand copy on Amazon marketplace for a decent price - and then I checked it out and saw that there are 24 new and used copies, starting at 1 pence.

I really hope an inability to check on Amazon for a book is not going to hold back the "more ambitious" Tory MPs! lol


PS Thank you for highlighting my comment about Boris' campaign yesterday. I was amused by the follow up rants. They sure don't like it up 'em (in contrast to the results of your political sex survey....)

Theo Spark said...

The Tories are not ready for power. They have gone all 'media friendly' and that do not make a credible party. My little toe has more talent than all the so called 'politicians' in this country put together. Until we have some credible people willing to put country before personal gain we are screwed. I could run this country in my spare time. It's not difficult.

Baldwin said...

You wrote a good column today Iain.

It's obvious that the tide is retreating for this feckless government and I'm glad to hear the Tories are preparing for the nuts and bolts of being office.

What a shame there will be so much mess to clear up.

Anonymous said...

.....and no dounbt the torygraph poll of polls is saying that the tories are leading by a million per cent.

excellent stuff but bound to lead to yet more misery for those that stick to reality.

A fourth term is real politics for real people outside of jingoistic broadsheets.

I see no reason for UK plc to vote the other way. China isn't Gordon's doing but I think it may need another tory led public inquiry to prove it.

Gary

Anonymous said...

one of the generally acknowledged problems with polls is not just the the sample error in asking people who they would vote for but determining the likelihood of them actually voting. I've asked a number of friends who say they support Boris but arent actually yet registered. The Torys should accept that if the will of the people be known Boris will win but they need to get people registered and out there voting for him.

Anonymous said...

I don't like the look of the Tory attitude to the BAE systems judgement. Lib Dems showing the correct response here.

Cosy little deal between Gordo and Dave???

Anonymous said...

Hmmm see the Tories are backing the government over the Saudi issue

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/12/bae.defence

Hope we'll be getting a scathing attack on Dave from you Iain

Anonymous said...

This is a good idea in principle, however......
Was Heseltine a brilliant minister? I thought his reputation in the eighties was as a civil servants dream, totally malleable. He was a pre-Blairite - all show and no detail.
Are Maude and Boles the best to enact this? Nick Boles is brilliant and I am a fan, but he is best on policy, not implementation. I would not let Maude run a bath.

cassandra said...

Great article Iain!

Heres a few dragons that the Tories must slay...

a)Shut down the QUANGOs and save nearly 200 billion pounds an added bonus would be to get rid of thousands of state parasites and make them find real work! The amazing thing is that if all QUANGOs were culled the public wouldnt notice!
b)Repeal the 'yuman rites' laws because this monster has only made thousands of lawyers rich and it has paralysed the state into impotence in dealing with both internal and external threats!
c)Slash peronal and corporate tax rates straight away and watch the ecomomy grow!
d)Expel all fake asylum seekers and terror suspects regardless of origin!
e)Limit social benefits and housing to British subjects only with all others having to wait five years in gainful employment before any benefits are granted AND put British subjects first in social housing queues!
f)Deport all foreign criminals from our prisons back to their country of origin to serve out their sentences there!
g)Empower teachers with absalute authority and powers over discipline and good order within the school enviroment!
h)Withdraw from all EU political laws/subjugation and restore total Westminster authority in making and excersing the Queens laws!

Last but not least, have a full inquiry into the Iraq war and punish anyone who broke the law!

BUT the Tories will never even try to do any of these things and they will never challenge the EU monster or rescue us from becoming a client state/region with no control of our own destiny and because of this I will not be voting Tory I will be voting for the BNP because the only party that will do all of those things is the BNP!
No wonder then that the big three are demonizing them!

Anonymous said...

When it started to look likely that Labour would win, the Civil Service College made them an offer to train them in how to manage the Civil Service. This offer was refused as the Labour party who had been out of power for so long knew better and did not trust the Civil Service. It took them quite a while to work it out. 10 years is quite a long time and the Conservatives may wish to avoid the same mistake. Rather than making ill informed statements about cutting the Civil Service they may wish to find out what they do first.

Anonymous said...

What plans does a future Conservative administration have for dealing with a hostile BBC?