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Britannist · 31-08-2006, 09:50 PM

There are plenty of critics of anti-UKIP David Cameron in the Conservative Party and in pro-Conservative newspapers. Here's a couple of the very latest:

Sir Bernard Ingham, the former assistant to Lady Thatcher (the former Conservative Prime Minister), said on 27.8.2006 (according to the Daily Telegraph edition of 28.8.2006) in response to David Cameron claiming the previous day that Nelson Mandela (the former President of South Africa) and the African National Congress had not been terrorists (as the Conservative Government of Mrs. Thatcher had claimed) “I wonder whether David Cameron is a Conservative.”

Janet Daley, columnist, wrote in the Daily Telegraph edition of 28.8.2006 (extracts) “There is nothing surprising about Labour’s catastrophic poll figures. The real puzzle is why the (Conservative) opposition is failing to benefit from them in anything like the measure that it should be. The (very) small electoral advantage of this operation to present Mr. Cameron as a pleasant family man with the right fashionable concerns is rather cancelled out by what the country sees as an essentially shallow approach to politics. By making it so unmistakably clear that his leadership is so obsessed with the cosmetic, Mr. Cameron presents himself as, at best, an amiable nonentity, at worst, a charlatan. Of course, the electorate wants its political leaders to be attractive people, but that attractiveness needs to be contingent on character, principle and political identity. The Cameron people seem to have missed an obvious truth: most people associate a fixation with appearance as a mark of either neurotic insecurity or sinister motives. To be overly concerned with how you look to the world, rather than what you believe or want to accomplish, is generally assumed to be a character flaw. It is associated with predators of the sexual or financial kind, with those who are determined to seduce or mislead. Hasn’t anyone ever said to the Cameron team what every mother tells he daughter about handsome boyfriends – it’s what he is inside that counts.The Tory (Conservative) party is oblivious to the very considerable numbers of voters who feel over-taxed. The British public see Cameron as a party leader who is so anxious to please them that it would be positively rude to scorn him completely, but they are suspicious of his elevation of packaging over content. Likeable but timorous is not what they want in a leader, particularly at a time of international crisis. So they reserve judgement on Cameron’s Tories.”

* Janet Daley is not a right wing columnist with a record of opposing David Cameron (unlike the excellent Simon Heffer) so her criticisms will surprise the Cameron team :shock: .

31-08-2006, 09:50 PM	#3 (permalink)
Britannist Uber Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: London Posts: 22,896	Critics of David Cameron in the Conservative Party There are plenty of critics of anti-UKIP David Cameron in the Conservative Party and in pro-Conservative newspapers. Here's a couple of the very latest: Sir Bernard Ingham, the former assistant to Lady Thatcher (the former Conservative Prime Minister), said on 27.8.2006 (according to the Daily Telegraph edition of 28.8.2006) in response to David Cameron claiming the previous day that Nelson Mandela (the former President of South Africa) and the African National Congress had not been terrorists (as the Conservative Government of Mrs. Thatcher had claimed) “I wonder whether David Cameron is a Conservative.” Janet Daley, columnist, wrote in the Daily Telegraph edition of 28.8.2006 (extracts) “There is nothing surprising about Labour’s catastrophic poll figures. The real puzzle is why the (Conservative) opposition is failing to benefit from them in anything like the measure that it should be. The (very) small electoral advantage of this operation to present Mr. Cameron as a pleasant family man with the right fashionable concerns is rather cancelled out by what the country sees as an essentially shallow approach to politics. By making it so unmistakably clear that his leadership is so obsessed with the cosmetic, Mr. Cameron presents himself as, at best, an amiable nonentity, at worst, a charlatan. Of course, the electorate wants its political leaders to be attractive people, but that attractiveness needs to be contingent on character, principle and political identity. The Cameron people seem to have missed an obvious truth: most people associate a fixation with appearance as a mark of either neurotic insecurity or sinister motives. To be overly concerned with how you look to the world, rather than what you believe or want to accomplish, is generally assumed to be a character flaw. It is associated with predators of the sexual or financial kind, with those who are determined to seduce or mislead. Hasn’t anyone ever said to the Cameron team what every mother tells he daughter about handsome boyfriends – it’s what he is inside that counts.The Tory (Conservative) party is oblivious to the very considerable numbers of voters who feel over-taxed. The British public see Cameron as a party leader who is so anxious to please them that it would be positively rude to scorn him completely, but they are suspicious of his elevation of packaging over content. Likeable but timorous is not what they want in a leader, particularly at a time of international crisis. So they reserve judgement on Cameron’s Tories.” * Janet Daley is not a right wing columnist with a record of opposing David Cameron (unlike the excellent Simon Heffer) so her criticisms will surprise the Cameron team :shock: .