Cameron and his team of advisors are pursuing a clever (but potentially dangerous) strategy.

Significant elements of his teams resources are undoubtedly focused on the task of receiving feedback/soundings from his "real" audience - namely, floating voters in marginal constituencies.

Blair isn't Cameron's target because he knows he won't be standing against him in three/four years time. It is noticeable that his recent (phoney?) positive commentary has been directed at Blair, not Brown.

This is tacit admission of two facts:

1. Political duels are fought (in our media orientated environment) on the basis of personality rather than substantive policy issues.

2. Mainstream parties all sound the same because they are the same! They're all trying to woo the same target voters - the ones mentioned above - because they're the voters that swing the balance of power and win you elections (under FPTP)

Cameron isn't too bothered about alienating a limited number of core (hardline?) Conservative voters in middle England, by spouting some soft liberal lefty type rhetoric, because what he loses on the roundabouts (in true blue constituencies like the one I live in, which are stone cold certainties as Tory holds in the next GE) he will more than make up for on the swings (in target marginal seats).

Cameron's problem is he doesn't know how far (to the left) he can go before the pendulum swings against his strategy.

Hence, he will keep coming up with "Social Justice" orientated policy ideas whilst his team is busy in the background taking soundings amongst the "real" target audience.

He can carry out this exercise now, relatively safe in the knowledge that he hasn't nailed his colours to the wall (manifesto wise) yet. He can just tweek the policies according to the soundings / feedback / opinion polls / focus groups, data he receives.

In other words Cameron's strategy is based on cynical manipulation of the electoral system. The apparent pressing of the self-destruct button by the Lib Dems during their own leadership contest merely presented him with an extra "gift wrapped" bonus.


Peter Davidson
Alderley Edge
NW.England

True, but David Cameron is a very professional politician trying to build a coalition of support for the next election. To keep his right wing together, his initial bid is anti-European stances. He can be expected to build on this with a "respectable British patriot" set of speeches, probably after the local elections. Until then, I expect the theme will be "listen to the locals, the people who actually know what they are talking about".

The appeal to the centre ground will be kept vague until he has pinned down what he can offer the floating voters while not putting the right wing off voting in the marginals. That will probably imply an election campaign attacking anything the suburbs and the shires can be persuaded is a bogy in the cities; knowing that the city constituencies are Lib-Lab battlegrounds where the Tories have little hope this election. Or so I interpret what he expects to get out of re-mobilizing Michael Hestletine for the inner cities.

Cameron looks like the best Tory political tactician since Macmillan.