Alan Johnson is the Labour leader that Cameron’s Conservatives fear
I got the shock of my life the other day. Recording a programme called What Is Right? for Radio Four, Norman Tebbit, that pitiless scourge of touchy-feely tree-hugging modernisers, went out of his way to agree with what I had said. Three times. It was quite unnerving, not to mention flattering. But I do not kid myself about my role in this. The Thatcherite war-horse’s compliments were not directed at me, but at the man who has dragged the Conservative party from third-time also-ran to pole position in under six months.
In politics, no argument is as persuasive as electoral success. Whatever gripes Norman Tebbit may have, he recognises that what David Cameron is doing is working. And he is both loyal and pragmatic enough to realise that he’d prefer to see Britain governed by a liberal Conservative than by no Conservative at all.
In the run-up to the last general election and in its immediate aftermath, various small groups of Tory modernisers met on a regular basis to discuss how to persuade the Conservative party of the case for change. It was a dispiriting exercise. While Michael Howard had restored a vital sense of discipline and professionalism to the party, we knew that so far we had made little headway in persuading our fellow Conservatives of the merits of our arguments.
Yet, little more than a year later, David Cameron has put in place all of the key elements of modernisation: strong support for universal tax-funded public services, subordination of tax cuts to economic stability, greater emphasis on social justice, mild distancing from big business, and reform of candidate selection. And to crown it all he has achieved something none of us could ever have anticipated — a passionate commitment to the environment.
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