Ouch! Someone doesn’t like Steve Hilton

The latest edition of Standpoint casts David Cameron’s top adviser Steve Hilton into its “Overrated” column:

Between David Cameron’s election as leader and his hoped-for entry into 10 Downing Street, Steve Hilton will have cost the Conservative party at least a million pounds. Despite vast debts, the Tories are reported to be paying their chief strategist an unprecedented £270,000-a- year salary.* Yet, apart from having helped to make Cameron leader, Hilton has no other notable political successes to his name. In the disastrous 1997 and 2005 general election campaigns, Michael Portillo’s two failed leadership bids, and Steve Norris’s two doomed efforts to become London mayor, Hilton has been there, not always in charge, but always on the losing side. So why does Cameron have such faith in him?

I’m not really giving away the end of the article if I let you know that the author doesn’t think there is a good answer to this question.

* An ironic contrast you might think with Conservative MP Eric Pickles’s criticism of other people, with larger responsibilities and bigger budgets than Steve Hilton, who get paid far less than Steve Hilton. One difference though: the people Eric Pickles criticises aren’t Conservative Party members.

Read more by or more about , , or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

4 Comments

  • Martin Land 29th Jan '09 - 5:39pm

    Nice to see that others, elsewhere, are also sceptical about soi-disant election gurus.

    Iain, having lost by 10606 last time, I assume you won’t be trying for Steve’s job when it comes up?

    It’s so comforting to know that Steve is in charge. By the way isn’t he under the supervision of none other than – George Osbourne? The blind leading the blind?

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Mick Taylor
    @SimonR. I do have a PhD in economics and peer reviewed published papers and I do challenge the whole orthodox approach to economics practised par excellence by...
  • Andy Daer
    @Hina, you might not have got the responses your expected, but I hope you will take heart from those of us who think racism is on the retreat n this country. T...
  • Simon R
    @Steve: Ah, so you want to challenge the whole academic discipline of economics, and all the couple of hundred years of research by many thousands of people tha...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Alas, I beg to differ concerning the validity of current orthodox economics theory, practice and teaching. One objective test of current "Economics" is the ...
  • John Waller
    Patrick Cockburn today writes: ‘Israel’s wars in Iran and Gaza are poisoning the political waters of the Middle East even more than the US-led invasion of I...