Political

So, what is the Conservative Party political strategy now?

In recent days we’ve had:

It’s not happening! It’s not happening!

Hence Eric Pickles telling the media the weekend that there was no Lib Dem surge detectable in the Conservative Party’s canvassing and Boris Johnson writing in the Daily Telegraph that Nick Clegg was “by far the worst”. Yeah right.

Go right! Go right!

Hence William Hague warning of a European Union inspired catastrophe if the Lib Dems win. Guess he’s not on talking terms with Eric Pickles or Boris Johnson, because how could the Lib Dems win if they are both right? But also I guess he’s hoping we’ve all forgotten the number of similar apocalyptic warnings he gave in the past about what would happen if Labour won. Labour won; the apocalypse didn’t happen. And not perhaps the smartest of moves to revert to an approach that has failed so often.

Go in to hiding

Hence the Conservative Party declining to put up any senior figures for a slot on Radio 4’s Today yesterday morning. Hence too David Cameron finally agreeing to do a Jeremy Paxman interview, but in a quieter Friday evening slot rather than a much higher profile Monday evening slot that he was invited to fill.

Ditch heir to Blair, it’s time to be heir to Clegg

David Cameron ditched his planned party political broadcast last night and recorded a new one – all about change, the need to make tough choices, the need for fresh energy and so on. In other words, copying just what made Nick Clegg so successful last night. Not so much vying to be heir to Blair as heir to Clegg.

Whatever the merits of any of the individual approaches, the scattergun chaos of four such different approaches is hardly the sign of a Conservative general election campaign that has clear decisions being made and followed.

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