It was a poignant watching the Tory Conference at Birmingham’s ICC on TV. After all, it was there at our Spring Conference in March 2010 that I became a Liberal Democrat, only to find my new party in coalition with the Tories two months later!
I described that as the happiest day in my political life: ‘the Lib Dems have tamed the Tory extremists’ I wrote as the Coalition Agreement was published, especially on the EU and human rights.
My impression is that the Conservative Party has made absolutely no progress in the direction of involvement, democracy, outreach – all the watchwords of the Cameroons in their early days.
Instead, the conference is still a completely top-down affair, with the insiders talking down to the outsiders, as it always was. In fact the only real reform was the introduction by William Hague while leader (and why has he decided to stand down just now?) of OMOV in the selection of party leader.
On Europe, the Tories have moved right decisively, not only on ramping up expectations of the Brussels reform agenda (there is much to be done, but I do not think the Tory Party Conference is the weapon with which to threaten other EU leaders, as Cameron did) but also on the future administration of human rights. How I look forward to hearing more from Ken Clarke, Dominic Grieve and others who really understand that agenda!
Of the speeches Boris Johnson probably had the most cut-through (to use the old Central Office jargon – and I bet that hasn’t changed) with his ‘brick’ analogy. But his speech was remarkably on-message. We may yet see, dreadful thought, this lazy, languid Europhobe taking over from Cameron, another Old Etonian of similar, if more thoughtful and disciplined, demeanour.
Now that the Tories have reverted to using the autocue it exposed George Osborne mercilessly. He started a sentence looking at the audience, then rooted back to the text on the screen in from of him trying to pick up his thread. It made for a very uneasy performance.
One year, while I was leader of the 36 Tory MEPs, the party abandoned the autocue to save money (£11,000 as I recall) and it taught all of us platform speakers to learn our lines, as William Hague – polished as ever – and Cameron clearly had today.
That year, I sat chatting amiably on the platform next to Michael (Lord) Aschcroft. This is the only tape the BBC seem to have of the former Treasurer – and how we Conservative Board members needed him, in the days when we had a £14 million overdraft! However, Michael is now the UK’s most assiduous pollster and yesterday The Times ranked him as 10th in ‘The Right Power List 2014’, up two places. However topping the list for the first time is Nigel Farage, pushing Cameron into second place.
One interesting finding in Ashcroft’s latest poll is that Liberal Democrats would prefer a renewed coalition with the Tories 42 – 36 per cent. But how many Tories would now prefer a coalition with UKIP? Most, by a large majority, I believe. That’s how far Cameron and his predecessors have taken their party from the moderate, pro-European centre.
It is a national tragedy, as I said at the opening of our Spring Conference in York. The most successful party of government in history is now contemplating – even relishing, to judge by the applause – leaving the EU. There is much to do.
* Edward McMillan-Scott was MEP for Yorkshire & Humber 1984 – 2014, Conservative then Liberal Democrat since 2010. He was Vice-President of the European Parliament for Democracy & Human Rights 2004 - 2014
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
High Fell leaflet watch (2)
No, Leave didn't win the Brexit referendum because of Northern working class voters
Two new Makerfield by-election polls gives Burnham 5 and 12 point leads
Reform under water
Geoffrey Payne
Richard Whelan
David Raw
Tom Reeve
9 Comments
Personally I believe that the renegotiation/referendum in 2017/18 is starting to look like the worst of all worlds. 2015 referendum anyone?
We need to be exploiting the rightward shift of the Tory party to win back the 2010 deserters. According to Yougov some 14% of our 2010 voters have gone to the Tories, so that’s 3% that could quite possibly be brought back into the fold. Add another 16% who’ve gone to Don’t Knows and we’d be up at 14%. That would leave only another 4-5% to get most of our MPs back into parliament.
We really need to exploit the toxicity and lack of affordability of the Tory plans laid out this week in order to bring voters back to the party.
“That’s how far Cameron and his predecessors have taken their party from the moderate, pro-European centre.”
Wrong end of the telescope, Edward.
Pragmatism rules the tory party, which is why the party always morphs to meet the expectations common ground: to win elections above all else.
So to complain about the unfair demands of tory MP’s and blame it on the leadership is not only wrong, it also betrays the very notion that successful politics should be ground-up in secretly believing that such control can be exerted top-down.
“But how many Tories would now prefer a coalition with UKIP? Most, by a large majority, I believe”
Actualy the BBC asked that very question (with their blue balls, the way they always do at every party conference). It was quite refreshing after years of being asked the same question by the BBC (who would you like a coalition with, the Tories or Labour) that the Tories were asked a similar question (in their case, Lib Dems or UKIP.
I must admit I was surprised but from their straw poll there was a very clear (at least 2:1, looked like just under 3:1) majority in favour of the Lib Dems. Many were “better the devil you know”, others were quite openly critical of UKIP. So despite the clear direction of the Tories towards UKIP, it seems that many of their members are not happy with it. Interesting times!
One interesting finding in Ashcroft’s latest poll is that Liberal Democrats would prefer a renewed coalition with the Tories 42 – 36 per cent.
Who are “Liberal Democrats” here? I suspect it means “those few remaining people who are still happy with the Liberal Democrats”. It is hardly a surprising finding given that so many of our former supporters who wouldn’t have taken this line have now dropped their support for the party so no longer count as “Liberal Democrats”.
I described that as the happiest day in my political life: ‘the Lib Dems have tamed the Tory extremists’ I wrote as the Coalition Agreement was published, especially on the EU and human rights.
Well it hasn’t really worked, has it? The Coalition just seems to have given the Tory right an excuse to blame the LibDems for everything and to wave their hands about saying everything would be wonderful if only they had the unlimited power that full majority government would give them. And, in the 2011 Referendum, the “No” campaign supported by all those in the Labour Party who were vocal on this issue as well as almost all the Conservative Party said the same thing, and the people of this country backed them, by two-to-one.
Those Tories who were once our sworn enemies, the big figures of the old days, are now an embattled left-wing fringe of the party. It really had moved incredibly to the extreme right. We really do need to get that message across. It does explain partly why the coalition, which actually has done a lot to tame Tory extremism, still comes across as very right-wing, because the Tories have moved so far to the right that the balance we can achieve realistically with just one sixth of the Coalition’s MPs is way to the right of what the Conservatives were when they last had a majority government.
@ Matthew Huntbach “Who are “Liberal Democrats” here? I suspect it means “those few remaining people who are still happy with the Liberal Democrats”. It is hardly a surprising finding given that so many of our former supporters who wouldn’t have taken this line have now dropped their support for the party so no longer count as “Liberal Democrats”.
That’s exactly what is is, you have less than half the support you used to have. People who say they are Liberal Democrats are no longer representative of those who would have called themselves Liberal Democrats prior to 2010. You must have realised that this would be the consequence of going back on your pledge on student tuition fees, voting for the bedroom tax and all the welfare cuts etc… On the plus side, you got a turn in government albeit without a minister in one of the four positions that matter most (Prime Minister, Home Sec, Foreign Sec or Chancellor) but you had Lib Dem government ministers nevertheless…
Tell me, was it worth it?
Mr Wallace
That’s exactly what is is, you have less than half the support you used to have. People who say they are Liberal Democrats are no longer representative of those who would have called themselves Liberal Democrats prior to 2010.
I am not an official spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, so please don’t address me as if I am. I am not even in support of much of what the party’s leadership says and does. So please give me the courtesy of accepting that, rather than writing in response to me with the words “you” and then an attack on the party as a whole.
As a LD-voter, I confess that I find their attitude to Europe extremely irritating, and something I vote despite rather than for. It is decades past the point at which a referendum should have been had – if not Maastricht, then Lisbon should have certainly necessitated one. A rigorous debate rather than facile, hyperbolic posturing is long overdue, and the LD’s smug satisfaction with the status quo does little to recommend it to the general populace, smacking, as it does, of a political class that ‘thinks it knows better’.
If I look back on the last five years – it seems to me that the weakest-performing department is Vince Cable’s, which I did not expect – Nick Clegg’s Constitutional Affairs brief running a close second. I may loathe the direction that the DWP is going, but it seems to be going somewhere.
I enjoyed Boris’s speech – particularly extolling the living wage, and was glad that Cameron was committed to raising the Personal Allowance. Maybe I should be voting elsewhere…