Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Best Tory Manifesto Since 1987

Having now had an opportunity to actually read the Conservative Manifesto I have little trouble in saying it is the best manifesto since the Next Moves Forward manifesto in 1987. Oliver Letwin and James O'Shaunnessy should be congratulated for writing a manifesto which is truly inspirational. The Power to the People theme runs throughout the document and is a brilliant start on the road to introducing more direct democracy into our political system. And that's what I like most about the manifesto - it is not just a series of random commitments, promises and soothing words, it hangs together because of its theme.

No one has any excuse for saying they don't know what the Conservative Party stands for. No one can say it has no policies. This document tells you in plain language the direction a Conservative government will travel in and gives firm policy commitments in a number of important areas. The manifesto shows beyond doubt that accusations from voters that all three parties are the same simply do not stand up to scrutiny. That accusation betrays both laziness and lazy thinking. The people that say it are those who simply can't be bothered to look for the differences. All they need to do is read the three party manifestos and the differences become readily apparent.

And you don't even need to buy the Tory manifesto. You can download it for free HERE.

21 comments:

Antisthenes said...

I have to agree the manifesto addresses and hints at addressing much that is now so badly wrong with UK after 13 years of Labour misrule. My pessimism is turning towards cautious optimism, will the voters see the opportunity and grasp it on polling day, my optimism is now receding.

Lloyd B said...

Or, to put it another way, this manifesto is not as good as the one that gave us the Poll Tax.

Seadog said...

What strickes me is the absence of comment from people like A Campbell etc

Michael Fowke said...

What's Conservative about this? -

"So building the Big Society is not just a question of the state stepping back and hoping for the best: it will require an active role for the state. The state must take action to agitate for, catalyse and galvanise social renewal. We must use the state to help remake society."

It's just Marxist rubbish! I'm voting UKIP.

Unknown said...

That is the easy bit. It will be more difficult to implement successfully and almost impossible to sort out the deficit without again becoming "the nasty party"

Anonymous said...

Michael Fowke's comment is highly amusing and does make a good point.

DespairingLiberal said...

I felt it was the best Tory Manifesto since (and I hesitate to vocalise this, as pure joy might overwhelm you) the last one!

Which I believe was crafted by one M Howard (contact after dark only) and W Hague (currently detached to Oberkommando Nord von der Herren Lagervolk).

The new manifesto is 732 pages of incredibly wise and pithy magnificence. When I opened the hard, shiny, darkest blue front boards, my eyes lit (the cat jumped slightly), I felt a surge of optimism, nay, the thrill of (for the first time in my life) properly reading the very words of the Great Ones. There arrayed in all their stately finery, marching across the pages, Messires Osborne, Gove, Redwood and Hague bring forth!

Let joy unbounded fill the nations!

Lady Finchley said...

I am so excited about it - vibrant and positive. Let the Eurobores and the UKIPers who are just so full of negativity crawl back in their holes.

I am so sick of the negativity of the Simon Heffer and his little band of Eurobores. As for the Lib Dems and Labour it is just plain sour grapes.

Anonymous said...

The thing that strikes me most is the difference in tone.

Cameron inspires. Cameron wants a united Britain, wants the people to be communities again, just like they were 50 or 60 years ago. His cup is half full.

On the other side, everything Labour (Brown in particular) says and does is divisive. His cup is half empty and it's the Tories fault.

golden_balls said...

why was the Commitment given by Gideon on sunday to the gay community not included in the manifesto iain ?

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/04/13/conservative-manifesto-lacks-gay-convictions-promise/

DespairingLiberal said...

Yes Lady Finchley, I was so excited too! Oh what joy it is to be be alive on this, the very day when the 2010 (revised, 3rd edition, 2nd impring) Tory Manifesto arrived! (With errata and corrections, adjusted for core middle-england votes and market-tested in a range of Ukip-friendly focus groups for maximum racialistic impact)

Thank goodness this masterwork is now available to a public, who, mad with joy, will be literally pleading with their local Tory candidates to pass them a copy. If only everyone could have one!

Bird said...

lizenpumI watched the launch live on BBC.
The proceedings were overlong, but successful I thought, and Cameron came across as energetic and charismatic.
Typical BBC: as soon as Cameron moved offstage, they cut to a sour-faced Brown, somewhere in the midlands, who proceeded to rubbish everything. (Had he read or seen Cameron's speech?)
After a few minutes of this, they cut to Nick Clegg, who did a similar rebuttle.
At Clegg's side? Who else but smug old git Vince Cable. Is Clegg allowed to go anywhere without him?
Brown and Cameron don't need a sidekick. Will it dawn on the public that Clegg is the back end of a pantomime horse?

Sobers said...

Today I kept hearing Dave urge us to join in and become part of the government. Quite what this means I have no idea. Does it mean when some clipboard wielding bureaucrat arrives at my business I can tell him to sling his hook, because I'm part of the government now?

If not its just the usual politicians wibble for 'There's an election on, I'll promise sunshine and moonbeans for all, just as long as you vote for me'. Then its back to normal service until 5 years time.

Just leave me alone, I'll manage my life, you manage yours, and the State can kiss my......

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is a good manifesto which appeals to voters like me who are traditional voters and can understand the intellectual argument that runs through. But will it resonate with the white working class who see immigrants given greater attention for example in Dagenham? For them, like Frankfield saying in the DT, the elephant in the room is the high level of immigration and putting a cap makes no sense. Ofcourse Labour and Libdems will bleat and say the immigration cap will not allow in students. An academic like me knows that the students who come in, majority of them are here to work 20 hours a week, and get a job and studies become secondary. There is no billions of pounds of fee coming in as the universities know well. 60-70 % of them drop out before 1st year. This immigration problem is for Tories to tackle and tackle hard. Labour knows its 1 million skilled jobs if and when created will be taken by immigrants and businesses are already making noise about the generous cap Tories have. There is no boldness here. Libdem and Labour may shout Tories as nasty, but voters will support a strict immigration policy. Clegg's argument about Inverness needing people ( his Paxman interview on immigration was laughable) shows how he is deluded. The the Tories have failed to articulte strong control of immigration from outside the EU.

Lady Finchley said...

Despairing Liberal - jealous? A case of sour grapes, perhaps? Your little pisheker of a leader has been nothing but negative throughout and with no policies to boot.

And Norman - have you READ the manifesto? It indeed talks about immigration but sorry if doesn't pervade the whole thing. It is about inspiration, vibrancy and positiveness. There are other important issues besides immigration and the EU. Do get a life.

Unknown said...

I actually see some 'random commitments' in the Defence section of the manifesto. I don't see the logic of Trident replacement in the context of "the Power of the People theme". Why should that be a "foreign policy requirement"? And how does it fit in the whole process of economic recovery? Do we really want to spend £97bn in useless nuclear weapons?

Anonymous said...

@LadY Fichley You misssed my point, and I voted the real Lady from Finchley in 1979 and have been voting Tory since. If you read my posting carefully, which you have not, the cap Cameron suggests is very generous. Just talk to ordinary voters and ask what bothers them-economy, immigration and crime. I have got a life apart from talking politics and I do not want an imitation Lady from Finchley to say this. Inspirarion and vibration resonates with those who are educated and that alone is not enough. Thanks for your delusion.

Anonymous said...

The other day I went with the Conservative candidate standing in our constituency carrying leaflets etc..and almost all those who he talked with and asked about their concerns, the 3 that were mentioned by everybody were: economy, immigration and crime. The voters felt that immigration need much stricter control. I have been e-mailing Cameron and Grayling about this since last month. Labour and Libdem will not talk about it.

neil craig said...

And as electricity bills hit £2000 per household (when they could be £300) & even so the lights go out, all in the cause of fighting the global warming all lying parties procalim we are suffering from & as the EU tightens its destructive regulatory grip & as the remainder of our finaciail industry flies to Dubai & as India puts its man in space & as the national debt hits £1500 bn we can all be reassured that we have a cast iron promise that the parasitic state will be rolled back real soon,

Unknown said...

"The state must take action to agitate for, catalyse and galvanise social renewal. We must use the state to help r
remake society."

great. just great.

so we have a choice between Stalinism (labour) , Gorbachev socialism lite (tories) , or Eurocommunist Green socialism (Lib Dem)

no wonder folks are apathetic about this election.

Lady Finchley said...

Oh dear, Norman. Deingrating the little people now are we? Because people who aren't 'educated' can't grasp a concept.

The world has moved on since 1979 - get with the programme.