Is Cameron a Heath or a Thatcher?

Fraser Nelson says that electoral victory is not enough. To be a great Tory prime minister, David Cameron must be bold enough to abandon Labour’s failed agenda entirely and implement his own

Winning office is not the same as winning power. To get the keys to No. 10, a politician needs to be skilled in the arts of electoral combat. But to take power, a prime minister needs an agenda. Without one, he is a slave to his predecessors. The last two Tory leaders who took over from Labour promising change fared differently. Ted Heath, in 1970, was forced into a U-turn and lost power after four years. Lady Thatcher had her own agenda, and transformed the country. The question being raised in Westminster now is which of these two models Mr Cameron is likely to follow. Is he a Heath or a Thatcher?

To look at the Tory policies so far, it is hard to see any great vision for society. In the draft Tory manifesto, one sees several Labour ideas inserted like pagan offerings to appease a god of war. We find Labour’s commitment to tax the richest at 50p. A pledge to protect the bloated NHS budget. We see Lord Stern, a Labour peer, invited to advise the Tories on climate change. We find a pledge to increase foreign aid spending by some £5 billion — while cutting the military budget by about the same amount. At a time of war.

If these are to be implemented, then it is depressingly hard to work out what will be Tory about the next Tory government. The spending priorities will be roughly along Labour lines, the NHS will face less reform than it did under Tony Blair. The spending commitments given thus far make it hard to see how the Tories could cut the deficit very much faster than Labour, as they say.