Tory Conference: An Anxious Moment

Any delegate arriving for the Tory Party Conference in Birmingham, who is not seriously worried about the electoral prospects of their party, is a fool.

Not only are things not going according to the Tory plan on the economy, for whatever reason, which would be bad enough but arguably outside the government’s control. The scale of blunders and unfortunate sayings reveal a strangely inept party led by people with little idea of what has impact where. There is a long list of policy derailments, too wearisome to review here, but it began with a muddle over NHS reforms, picked up steam at a confused Budget laced with U turns and has now thundered on with dysfunction and chaos and the Department of Transport.

Unfortunately this is not all. Ministers have been saying unwise and offensive things. Mitchell and the plebs controversy and now, yes just today, Hunt, Secretary of State for Health no less, tells us he favours abortion at twelve weeks maximum. Not only is this likely to offend the majority of women in all walks of life, but flies in the face of the progressive and compassionate advances in thinking, treatment and therapy achieved over several decades. There is no chance that this misguided nonsense will become policy, not least because Downing Street has already issued a terse rebuttal and it would never pass through the House of Commons anyway. But the damage to the party’s image among a huge and vital section of progressive voters will be immense.

It does not end there. Two weeks ago, while acknowledging Labour was ahead mid-term in the polls, Tory grandees pointed to Ed Miliband and chuckled. Well, no longer. Ed’s triumph in Manchester has transformed the mood of Labour and changed the dynamic of politics. Meanwhile Cameron no longer enjoys that universal acclaim any leader needs from a party if it is going to win. They will cheer him of course, but many of the cheers will be hollow and tinged with anxiety.

Finally, if that were not enough, there looms in the shadows a dishevelled and ungainly vote winner who can wow the crowds and inspire the activists. All eyes on Boris.

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