Has somebody stolen the Tory Party? A stranger walking around here would have no idea
that its their conference. The word “Conservative” or “Tory” is nowhere to be seen. Just a slogan, “Together in the national interest” – a form of words that
Cameron has repeatedly used to describe the coalition. As I say in my News of the World column today, Cameron will this week perform the
impossible – to de-Tory the Tory conference and make them love it.
There is plenty Tory red meat being served: welfare reform, school reform. It wouldn’t susprise me if an announcement on keeping Trident is made this week. So the activists are happy. They also know that there is less than three weeks to the spending review and the battle that accompanies it, so they are in loyalty mode.
This isn’t the Tory conference – in the way that Clegg revved up his base in a LibDem conference.
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