‘The Tories must be ruthless’

In his first interview since the election, Lynton Crosby tells Alice Thomson what he has enjoyed about living in Britain and running Michael Howard’s campaign

He is the Wizard of Oz. During the election campaign he used to stand behind the curtains at press conferences directing operations. He never talked to journalists and no one ever saw him on television but everyone assumed that the Tories’ Australian campaign manager, Lynton Crosby, was pulling all the levers. He was credited with many great and evil powers, with revitalising the Tory party, with demonising asylum-seekers, with forcing Gordon Brown to hold hands with Tony Blair. All three parties were afraid of him.

He certainly showed the Tory lions, scarecrows and tin men that they had a brain, and helped them to be brave. The party proved it had a heart again when it mourned the loss of Michael Howard (Dorothy), who decided to go back to Kansas.