Britannia Radio

This is a clear and well-merited warning to the Tories, even if 
slightly over-the-top and a bit behind the times too.

We all wait to see its policies set out even though the critical 
economic ones cannot be detailed in the very centre of the economic 
storm.  We particularly have every right to  expect that a mere two 
months before the European elections the manifesto should have been 
out for all to consider.
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WALL STREET JOURNAL 10.4.09
The Tories Are No Example for the GOP
Beating a tired opponent doesn't vindicate an incoherent ideology, 
says Kimberley Strassel.
. By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

London
British conservatives are once again on the rise. American 
conservatives: Don't be fooled.

Since last year's electoral wipeout, the Republican Party has been in 
a debate over how to remake itself. Some have pointed to Britain's 
Conservative Party, which is today poised -- after 12 long years -- 
to regain power.

Conservative Party leader David Cameron, we are told, has crafted a 
"modern conservatism" which is well past all that Thatcherite talk of 
free markets, tax cuts and individual freedom. This conservatism is 
caring and recognizes the role of government; it connects with 
citizens and worries about day care and global warming. If only the 
GOP would emulate its British cousins, so the argument goes, it might 
forge that lasting conservative majority.

It's true the Cameroons (as they are referred to by disaffected 
Tories) are on track to win next year's general election. It is also 
true that this has little to do with the non-philosophy the Cameroons 
have been spinning to the public. The next election will instead be a 
referendum on a worn-out Labour movement. If Conservatives win, it 
will be because the party has made itself less offensive to the 
electorate than those currently in charge. And that, American 
friends, is no way to rebuild a party.

It's not that the Tories don't offer lessons, in particular what not 
to do after a big defeat. The Conservatives were bounced in 1997 
after the British public wearied of a party more redolent of 
corruption than the Thatcher revolution. (Sound familiar?) It chose a 
young, charismatic politician named Tony Blair who promised change 
and argued the nation could have it all -- a strong, free-market 
economy and a big, caring government. (Also sound familiar?)

The initial conservative response was to try to "reconnect" with the 
British people, though not via serious policy discussions. Leader 
William Hague appeared at a theme park wearing a baseball cap, hoping 
to appeal to younger voters.

To the extent the party did engage in policy debates, it was in the 
context of factions warring with each other over issues such as 
support for the European Union. It failed to take a hard line on the 
corruption that hurt the party. As it floundered, it increasingly 
stoked populist passions, in particular anti-immigration fervor or 
opposition to the Iraq War.

Mr. Cameron came to power in 2005, promising to transform the party. 
What he did was indulge a particular British paranoia that Tories are 
viewed as the party that doesn't care.

Thus Mr. Cameron drafted advertising guru Steve Hilton to 
"decontaminate" its image. The Conservative leader purged pinstriped 
members, replacing them with minority and women candidates. He 
instructed the party to do "social action" projects (say, helping 
renovate youth centers), to show it cared about ordinary Britons. He 
flew to a remote island, where he was pictured on a dog sled, to show 
his worry about global warming.

As for political philosophy, the Cameroons describe their new agenda 
as one of promoting "social revival," the idea that government should 
attend to people's general well-being rather than their wealth. This 
has required them to embrace government -- and anything else they 
think the public might like.

Much of the Tories' "modern conservatism" consists of reassuring 
voters about what it won't do. It won't dismantle a failing national 
health-care system. It won't disavow failing public schools. It won't 
resist higher tax rates on the "rich." Beyond this bold agreement 
with the status quo, the party has refused to articulate its own 
agenda, lest any part go down badly with voters.

"Mr. Cameron's conservatives have learned the Blair lesson of focus 
groups all too well," says James Delingpole, British author of 
"Welcome to Obamaland." "What you are about to have elected in this 
country is not a party of political principle but of political 
opportunism."

Mr. Cameron has been at this revamp for years, but only recently did 
Conservatives start to gain traction. This coincided closely with 
growing public anger with the Labour Party and its new leader, Gordon 
Brown.

Polls show the public is furious with Labour's handling of the 
financial crisis, which also helped expose a dozen years of 
unrestrained Labor spending. The party has been hit with an 
embarrassing scandal tied to parliamentarians' perks. Mr. Brown, in 
his nearly two years as prime minister, has enraged voters with tax 
hikes and by reneging on a promise to hold early elections. Mr. 
Cameron has carefully avoided giving them a reason to dislike the 
alternative.

Many Conservatives here fear Mr. Cameron will become prime minister, 
only to be quickly exposed as a poll-driven "heir to Blair" who 
treads water a few years and then loses. What every American should 
understand is that this is not a test of "modern conservatism." It's 
a test only of whether an opposition that voices no coherent ideology 
can succeed when the ruling party stumbles.