ConHome: David Cameron will enjoy this morning’s newspapers

Prime Minister David Cameron delivered what is being hailed not only as a great speech, but easily his best speech since he became Prime Minister in May 2010. You can see (picture below) some of the love that the London papers (left, right and center), have heaped upon the Prime Minister in the aftermath. Britons will now have the opportunity to vote themselves out of the European Union.

Conservative Home is a great website that I really enjoy. I wanted to post in its entirety, this entry by Tim Montgomerie, as he hits upon the highlights in the coverage of David Cameron’s historic day.

 

David Cameron will enjoy this morning’s newspapers

By Tim Montgomerie

Yesterday I argued that Cameron’s Europe speech would bring four benefits to the Conservative Party. One of those benefits was a better relationship with the centre right press. There’s plenty of evidence of that this morning. Here are key quotes from Britain’s five centre right/ Eurosceptic newspapers:

• Daily Mail: “This was an historic day, which could yet mark a turning point in this country’s relationship with the EU. For the first time in the 25 years since Margaret Thatcher’s Bruges speech, a British Prime Minister openly called into question the founders’ ambition to forge an ‘ever closer union’ among the peoples of Europe.”

• The Telegraph: “Many of the arguments in yesterday’s speech were made in another keynote address, delivered by Margaret Thatcher in Bruges in 1988. She, too, bemoaned Europe’s insularity, its lack of accountability, its drift towards federalism, all of which have accelerated since. What even she did not offer, however, was to let the people decide whether they wanted to stay in. In proposing that they should, Mr Cameron has taken an audacious and momentous step, and one deserving of the highest praise.”

• The Express: “This newspaper has had its criticisms of the Prime Minister and would much prefer the in/out referendum to take place before the next election rather than two years after it. But nobody should deny that yesterday David Cameron did something genuinely bold. The question that many non-aligned voters will be asking themselves between now and polling day is why on earth they should trade in a Prime Minister who has shown high-level leadership qualities for an Opposition leader who has not? The fact is that Miliband isn’t even up to the job he’s got, let alone the post he aspires to fill.”

• The Sun: “WHO should decide Britain’s future in Europe? David Cameron finally answered the question yesterday and promised us a referendum. He was immediately condemned by Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Europhile grandees like Tony Blair. They do not want the people to have their say. It wouldn’t be in the national interest, they claim. But the truth is they do not trust us to come up with the “right” answer. Mr Cameron, by contrast, said the people must decide.”

• The Times (£): “Mr Cameron is correct that the EU has become bloated and inflexible in a global marketplace where the penalties for such failings have grown, and that newly emerging nations will leave the European economies behind unless there is change. This was a speech with Europe’s interests at heart, not only Britain’s; and framing his argument in such a way gives the Prime Minister a chance of building an alliance inside the EU.”

It is worth noting that the Tory operation has had a good few days. At the weekend the PM looked more tired than I’d ever seen him look before. The Algerian crisis had taken its toll. It must have taken its toll on the Downing Street and Foreign Office staff too. Despite this, an operation that is often attacked has performed brilliantly well. It’s not just the welcome in the press – for which the PM’s much-maligned Director of Communications, Craig Oliver, deserves proper credit. There’s the constructive reaction from European leaders – notably Angela Merkel. There’s the letter in today’s Times (£) from a large number of very senior business leaders, welcoming the PM’s approach. All of this reflects a lot of behind-the-scenes work.

What couldn’t have been anticipated was Ed Miliband’s very clumsy reaction. He gets ridiculed in the press this morning and rightly so. Thank you Ed. Your contribution was the icing on the cake.

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Campaign In Britain For Conservative Future

I am always a junkie for a campaign. When a good, movement oriented campaign comes along, I get even more intrigued.

While U.S. politics is in the governing season, across the pond things are more interesting for campaign junkies. There is a lot of talk about the coalition formed government in Great Britain. The coalition faces its next election in 2015, so they have roughly 2 1/2 years left to make their case for more time, or to fumble completely and give Labour a victory. In the run up to 2015, and looking at the conservative movement in Britain beyond 2015, it is always necessary to look beyond the current leadership in the Tory party and think about what is next, and who is next.

Prime Minister David Cameron currently sits at the helm of the Tory party. There are many that might be perceived as next in line, among them, George Osborne, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Theresa May.

But what about that next generation of leaders? Those working their way through the ranks, some just getting their start. To that end, Conservative Future is an organization similar to the Young Republicans (YRs) here in the States, but where the YRs is for people 18 to 40 years of age, Conservative Future is for those under 30. Conservative Future will hold leadership elections this March, and this election is getting interesting.

Paul Holmes and Charlotte Argyle have teamed up to run together as a leadership ticket in the March election. This 24 and 28 year old respectively, make up an impressive team for National Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

To show that even races like this can get negative, witness this anti-Holmes flier being distributed around:

Pretty weak in my opinion, but also very typical. At this point, the Holmes/Argyle campaign has remained positive, focusing on positive ideas and moving forward toward a real vision and real goals. Having paid attention to this contest for a while, I suspect that the Holmes/Argyle team will stay above the fray and not go negative at any point.

This campaign will be interesting to watch. We (those of us that follow politics) will be hearing these names for years to come. Whether the Holmes/Argyle team wins or one of the other campaigns, the future of the Tory movement is on full display and it is worth paying attention to right now.

For those inclined, the Holmes/Argyle team has posted a manifesto that is worth looking over. This is the equivalent of position papers here in the States.

UK: The Lib Dems and the cruel dilemma of coalition politics

This is a well written piece from conservative MP John Redwood.

The Lib Dems have a big problem with Coalition politics. They are the one party that believes coalition government can be better than majority party government. They are the one party of the top three that know they will need a coalition in future if they are to be in government again. Despite this, they cannot help themselves from constantly criticising the Coalition government from without. Some of their Ministers are endlessly making proposals they know Conservatives cannot accept from outside the government despite being members of it.

As someone who is sceptical of coalition this neither surprises me nor dismays me. However, I do not want it to get in the way of doing things now that would help turn our economy round. Surely for at least the first three years of the planned five year coalition Lib Dem Ministers should concentrate on doing the things that Conservatives and Lib Dems agreee about? The aim should be to stress the advantages of the polices that both parties can accept, not to stress the frustrations that Lib Dem Ministers feel with things the Conservatives will not accept. The aim should be to find more things that both parties can happily do together.

There are many Conservatives today like me who want to see more freedom for UK citizens. We feel the state has grown too big and bossy. We want a government which trusts more of the people more of the time. We want a government with the confidence to repeal some of the excessive number of laws and rules we have, and to cut back on the number of things the state interferes with at considerable cost. I thought there was meant to be a strong strand of liberalism within the Lib Dems. Can’t we have some more of this?

Read the rest of the piece here.