Sunday 19 September 2010

Lord Ashcroft

The Sunday Telegraph leads on the Ashcroft 133 page book "Minority Verdict: The Conservative Party, the Voters and the 2010 Election", due for publication tomorrow, in which amongst the criticisms levelled are:
"Failing to get its "message" and "brand" across to the voters. Relentless counterproductive attacks on the Labour Party and Gordon Brown. Agreeing to a televised debate of political leaders which enabled the Liberal Democrats to seize the "real change" initiative."
Commenting on the election result, Ashcroft then poses this question:
"The Conservative Party faced a shambolic government, an unpopular Prime Minister, a recession, a huge budget deficit and an overwhelming national desire for change. A year before the election the Conservatives were 20 points ahead in the polls, yet they failed to win an overall majority. Surely this had been an open goal. How could they come so close to missing?"
 In attempting to analyse the reason for Cameron failing to win an outright majority, as is usual with the present day Conservative Party, it is "the subject that dare not speak its name" that is most noticeable by its absence - namely that of Europe.

That one subject cost Cameron outright victory, a subject in which Cameron was exposed as a man whose word meant nothing - and I refer to his broken Sun promise and infamous U turn. Consider that it has been claimed, in a Times article, that:
"16,000 votes extra votes for the Tories distributed in the 19 constituencies in which the party came closest to winning would have spared us a weekend of coalition negotiations and speculation."
 To maintain, as Ashcroft does, that:
"We did not make as much progress as we should have done in transforming the party's brand, and in reassuring former Labour voters that we had changed and were on their side."
is a tad disingenious as the Conservative Party would never 'reassure' convinced Labour voters to vote for them. However, bearing in mind that across party divides and bearing in mind also the undoubted "UKIP effect" - the latter whose vote doubled by hundreds of thousands - there were voters whose overriding consideration was membership of the European Union and that they had never been given the opportunity of casting their vote on that one issue. 

It is therefore beyond any argument that Cameron's two decisions, mentioned above, cost him his victory.

9 comments:

john in cheshire said...

Cameron's deception cost the party my vote. And will continue to do so until the Conservative party regains its senses and pledges to take us out of the EU.

But that's not going to happen, is it?

Anonymous said...

Germnany is the key.
How long the German electorate will put up with heavily subsidising the PIGS ?
Not long I suspect.
Bye bye EU.

Anonymous said...

The various polls indicate that there is widespread dissatisfaction regarding the EU across the three main parties.

All parties have suffered a loss of votes.

It needs only one credible anti-EU party to come to the fore or for the Conservatives to start CONSERVING - our sovereignty for a start.

The Conservatives are not for learning and the established three will discredit and use their useful idiots against any small party.

The only solution lies in an alliance of smaller groups such as the Albion Alliance.

You're doing a great job of exposing their hypocrisy WfW. People I talk to now all know what is going on they just need a focal point, a piece of ground to make their stand.

Witterings from Witney said...

jic, you just illustrate what I was saying - about 'lost' votes.......

Anon (1) You also make a fair point with Germany.

Anon (2) Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. I have to say I am not alone - there are others and it would be unfair were I to single out any one in particular. In respect of a 'focal point' the best hope we have is that UKIP 'get their act together', professionalise themselves, lose their 'idiots' and become a recognisable and 'accepted' opposition.

Anonymous said...

I read the piece by Lord Archer and he was far too kind to the raving idiots who snatched defeat from certain victory. As you note he evaded the elephant in the room altogether as did Cameron. Well apart from Cameron's pre election statement of "not leaving matters there", taken by his supporters as making him a EUrosceptic.

Derek

Woodsy42 said...

"He says: transforming the party's brand, and in reassuring former Labour voters that we had changed and were on their side."

But of course WfW as we know, they did transform it enough to disenfranchise and turn away many traditional right of centre Tory supporters. And they are noticably doing nothing to get them back.

But of course until we get out from under the EU why should they care, that's where their perks come from.

I have every confidence that ultimately the EU will collapse, just as the USSR did and for basically the same reasons. But I'm bloody annoyed that my life, and even more so my children's lives, may be blighted as it runs its course.

Witterings from Witney said...

Woodsy42, good points all round - but lets hope we live to see the fall, which hopefully we can hasten!

Anonymous said...

Much as I would like to think it was the absence of a referendum on the EU I believe it was in fact there was no clear blue water between any of them. they all went for the centre vote and that is what they shared.

Maybe next time the Blues might think outside the red box

Witterings from Witney said...

Anon, there is much in what you say, however it cannot be denied that part of the blue water about which you mention is independence and self-government.