Reform the religion

A party striving to make the huge leap from opposition to office must speak with one voice, maintain scrupulous clarity and ensure iron discipline. It must reassure the voters relentlessly, persuading them at every available opportunity that it has changed and that it grasps why it has been defeated in prior general elections. Yet a party that aspires to save the country from economic crisis and to transform its public services must also be prepared to think the unthinkable, and to take deeply unpopular measures.

This is the dilemma facing David Cameron, neatly encapsulated in the controversy over the NHS and the remarks made in America by the Tory MEP, Daniel Hannan, about the shortcomings of the British healthcare system. Invited to respond to those in the US who would like to import a version of the NHS, Mr Hannan said that he ‘wouldn’t wish it on anybody’ — particularly the queuing, rationing and bureaucracy that are intrinsic to a nationalised, socialised system of healthcare.