The Sunday papers on the Conservatives
Written by Mark Pack on 29th July 2007 – 7:55 amThings aren’t getting better:
Anxious Tories turn heat on Cameron
PRESSURE is growing on David Cameron to embark on a shake-up at his party headquarters amid plunging opinion poll ratings … “Nothing is going right at the moment and it is difficult to see a way out of it,” said one insider.
Sunday Times
As Brown soars in the polls, a split opens up between Cameron and his Shadow Chancellor
The first signs of a split between David Cameron and George Osborne emerged as the Conservatives blamed each other for Gordon Brown’s surge in the polls … But there was undisguised fury with Shadow Minister Grant Shapps, who was blamed for the decision to call the party ‘David Cameron’s Conservatives’ in the Ealing by-election at which the Tories came a disastrous third.
Mail on Sunday
Cameron insists he won’t wobble
Alan Duncan, a key moderniser in the shadow cabinet, is leading the charge against Cameron for failing to set a strong strategic direction for the party … His criticisms directly contradict Cameron … One senior Tory feared that Cameron’s intervention was a sign of weakness as he attempted to appease the Tory right at a difficult moment.
The Observer
CAMERON ‘FAILING TO REACH VOTERS’
David Cameron is failing to reach out to voters in the North and Midlands, a former Tory frontbencher warned.
Sunday Express
And one from yesterday:
Tories are revolting
Davis allies turn on reeling Cameron
Civil war broke out in the Conservative Party yesterday as senior Tory MPs publicly blasted David Cameron. Die-hard Derek Conway said there were “generational difficulties” with the new leader.
He claimed the views of older Tories had been forgotten in plans to rebrand the party.
Veteran MP Bob Spink accused Cameron of relying on gimmicks and “wet behind the ears” advisers.
And a third MP, Philip Davies, gave him just six months to turn round the party’s plummeting ratings.
All the MPs are close to Shadow Home Secretary David Davis - Cameron’s leadership rival. And there are now fears within Conservative high command they will face a “summer of discontent” with increased restlessness about Mr Cameron’s leadership.
The Mirror
Posted in Grant Shapps, Opposition watch
29th July 2007 at 9:19 am
Lucky for Cameron Brown doesn’t have the cash for a snap election
29th July 2007 at 10:40 am
I’m sure that isn’t a problem. Trade Unions will bail him out. Big doners will also come on board as they will feel they are backing a winner.
29th July 2007 at 12:17 pm
really? I think 30 million is still too much for such a short period of time. Brown will wait
29th July 2007 at 1:43 pm
£30M certainly seems like a lot if he’s planning on going this autumn. But just like a fair chunk of Brown positive poll position is probably just a end to the negative effect that Blair was having, there may well be a lot of ‘deferred’ donations. People who were unhappy with Blair and wouldn’t give until he had gone, or others who thought it made more sense to give to tomorrows guy rather than yesterdays man. Labour’s fund-raising has seemed very low (especially for a party in Govt) for some time, ever since ‘cash for coronets’, but many of the deterrent factors seem to have gone away recently.
29th July 2007 at 2:58 pm
I thought the most telling criticism of the Tory front bench was that by going on for months saying how poor Brown was going to be as PM and encouranging the press to do the same, they had created an image that he could only better and in the process its now scuppered them!
They then had nothing to say when he took over and they are still floundering around.
Very poor strategy and poor judgement by Cameron and Osbourne….
29th July 2007 at 5:18 pm
Hmm maybe, we’ll wait and see. but as it stands now I think we’d better get our local parties organised just in case.
29th July 2007 at 6:05 pm
I agree with lharris999 that the money will flood in now Brown has taken over and he looks like a winner. Plus I suspect people are beginning to realise that it’s not worth spending tens of millions on the campaign only for it all to be wasted. Campaigns change little. Labour spend less than the Tories, look less “spun”, and still not lose a lead. 25th October looks good.
29th July 2007 at 8:11 pm
As I have said elsewhere, the problem of Cameron is that he is like a blindfolded child beating the air with a stick in hope to hit the piñata so that it would break and there would be a shower of candies. Cameron doesn’t have any vision or knowledge of the direction where he should go, either, but he pokes at every direction just in the case that he would win the prise.
30th July 2007 at 1:24 am
Melian, what a fantastic image!
30th July 2007 at 7:56 am
Expect Grodon Brown’s pockets to be filled by US trades unionists once the US Presidential race is won by a democrat.
One demonstration of the way in which politics has globalised is the merger of trade unions across international borders - which enables the voice of the corporate labour lobby to exerted in a coordinated fashion around the globe (that is unless the party funding scandal expressly outlaws the sourcing of campaigning war-chests from foreign clients).
30th July 2007 at 7:57 am
The Torys are revolting!