David Cameron has been described as "cartoonish" and a "confused social democrat" by the men who plucked his "philosopher-king" Philip Blond from obscurity.
The men who plucked Cameron’s “philosopher-king“, Philip Blond, from obscurity have rounded on the Tory leader for the “cartoonish depiction of the state” in his party conference speech and for being a “confused social democrat”.
Demos Director Richard Reeves and Chair of Trustees Philip Collins have used their sharp pens in Prospect to criticise David Cameron’s approach to tackling inequality. In the current edition, out today, they write:
“Cameron’s new ‘egalitarian’ platform is full of holes…
“He is signing himself up to Labour-style poverty and inequality measures, even as he rejects Labour-style redistribution. In other words, he is setting his own big trap, and trotting gamely towards it.”
Reeves took over at Demos in September 2008 and quickly launched their Progressive Conservatism project at an event which featured speeches from both David Cameron and Philip Blond. Blond left Demos in June citing “political and philosophical differences” to set up his own think tank ResPublica but the programme continued under the leadership of former Conservative party policy advisor Jonty Olliff-Cooper. Philip Collins is a former speech writer to Tony Blair who fell out of favour with the Government after the publication of a June 2008 article for Prospect titled ‘Liberalise or die‘.
The article in the current edition of Prospect goes on to say:
“the best counter to Cameron did come from Labour’s Liam Byrne, whose speech on the ‘smarter state’ to the Institute for Government in November argued that countries with ‘big’ civil societies almost never had smaller states. Even within the US, liberal Minnesota has higher spending, and more civic engagement, than conservative Mississippi.”
This blog has previously outlined the problems with David Cameron’s selective approach to poverty and inequality.
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25 Responses to ““Cartoonish” Cameron the “confused social democrat””
Swagata
No one seems to know who Cameron is. An old-school patrician one-nation Tory, a free-market Thatcherite or a clone of New Labour’s Blair who says different things to different audiences?
But the piece above in Prospect rings loud with the sound of axe-grinding from Demos, they seem upset that Blond left them and is now getting all the attention from the Conservatives. Maybe Respublica will get some juicy “research” contracts under a Cameron government instead of Demos?
The sad fact is that whilst Cameron has a “selective approach to poverty and inequality”, so does the government. It slashed capital gains tax to boost the private equity industry, as the TUC famously pointed out an asset stripper pays less in income tax than his cleaner thanks to Gordon Brown (bankrolled in his leadership bid by Sir Ronald Cohen, the head of one of the UK’s largest takeover houses). Income inequality in Britain is at an all-time high since records began in 1961.
Anon E Mouse
Cameron is too much like Blair for my liking. Both public school educated people who have never done a single days real work in their lives. Same with Brown and Co.
When will the public in this country stop supporting these career politicians from all sides of politics?
When will they elect people who have actually done some work outside the Westminster bubble?
Liz
Anon – if I recall correctly from previous posts, you admitted that you voted for Blair each time – did you have a different view of him them?
Roger
Unlike the Tories I have not seen any analysis of how many Labour cabinet members were privately educated.
Certainly Darling (Loreto), Harman (St Pauls) and Balls (Nottingham High – a mere day school) were.
The lack of any other examples cited in the Tory press suggests that there are not that many more.
A new report from Plymouth University academics (AFAICS not available online) suggests that in 2010 the percentage of successful new Labour entrants to Parliament from private schools will be 14% – which is not exactly a majority – and I suspect that if there is a Tory landslide it will be rather less.
As for the Tories I actually find the state school contingent in the shadow cabinet (Grant Shapps for instance) even more terrifying than the Old Etonians – who as children of privilege might prove marginally less ideologically fixated on free markets.
Anon E Mouse
Roger – The top list is privately educated Labour MP’s and below are Grammar educated – the schools Labour hate so much.
I can accept that these people had no choice where they were educated but if they themselves also send their own kids it’s true double standards.
Ed Balls (Morley and Outwood)
Hugh Bayley (City of York)
Hilary Benn (Leeds Central)
Bob Blizzard (Waveney)
Chris Bryant (Rhondda)
Stephen Byers (North Tyneside)
Charles Clarke (Norwich South)
Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley)
Jim Cousins (Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central)
Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West)
Quentin Davies (Grantham and Stamford)
Louise Ellman (Liverpool Riverside)
Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire)
Mark Fisher (Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Barry Gardiner (Brent North)
Linda Gilroy (Plymouth Sutton)
Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Peter Hain (Neath)
Patrick Hall (Bedford and Kempston)
Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East)
Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham)
John Healey (Wentworth)
Margaret Hodge (Barking)
Geoff Hoon (Ashfield)
Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley)
Tessa Jowell (Dulwich and West Norwood)
Sally Keeble (Northampton North)
Ruth Kelly (Bolton West)
Jim Knight (South Dorset)
Ivan Lewis (South Bury)
Martin Linton (Battersea)
Ian Lucas (Wrexham)
Denis MacShane (Rotherham)
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough)
Judy Mallaber (Amber Valley)
John Mann (Bassetlaw)
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West)
Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South)
Bob Marshall-Andrews (Medway)
Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton)
Chris Mole (Ipswich)
Julie Morgan (Cardiff North)
Doug Naysmith (Bristol North West)
Nick Palmer (Broxtowe)
Gordon Prentice (Pendle)
James Purnell (Stalybridge and Hyde)
Nick Raynsford (Greenwich and Woolwich)
Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West)
Andrew Slaughter (Ealing, Acton and Shepherd’s Bush)
John Spellar (Warley)
Phyllis Starkey (Milton Keynes South West)
Howard Stoate (Dartford)
Gavin Strang (Edinburgh East)
Mark Todd (South Derbyshire)
Kitty Ussher (Burnley)
Keith Vaz (Leicester East)
Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North)
Michael Wills (Swindon North)
Rosie Winterton (Doncaster Central)
Shaun Woodward (St Helens South)
And Grammar school educated – the schools Labour hate so much:
Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Nick Ainger (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire)
Graham Allen (Nottingham North)
David Anderson (Blaydon)
Janet Anderson (Rossendale and Darwen)
Hilary Armstrong (North West Durham)
Charlotte Atkins (Staffordshire Moorlands)
John Austin (Erith and Thamesmead)
Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West)
Vera Baird (Redcar)
Margaret Beckett (Derby South)
Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough)
Roger Berry (Kingswood)
Liz Blackman (Erewash)
Hazel Blears (Salford)
David Borrow (South Ribble)
Karen Buck (Regent’s Park and Kensington North)
Richard Burden (Birmingham Northfield)
Colin Burgon (Elmet)
Alan Campbell (Tynemouth)
Martin Caton (Gower)
Colin Challen (Morley and Rothwell)
Ben Chapman (Wirral South)
David Chaytor (Bury North)
Paul Clark (Gillingham)
Vernon Coaker (Gedling)
Ann Coffey (Stockport)
Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire)
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North)
David Crausby (Bolton North East)
Tony Cunningham (Workington)
Janet Dean (Burton)
Andrew Dismore (Hendon)
Frank Dobson (Holborn and St. Pancras)
Jeffrey Ennis (Barnsley East and Mexborough)
Bill Etherington (Sunderland North)
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Frank Field (Birkenhead)
Michael Foster (Hastings and Rye)
Hywel Francis (Aberavon)
Bruce George (Walsall South)
Neil Gerrard (Walthamstow)
Mark Hendrick (Preston)
John Heppell (Nottingham East)
Stephen Hesford (Wirral West)
Patricia Hewitt (Leicester West)
Keith Hill (Streatham)
Kate Hoey (Vauxhall)
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North)
Kim Howells (Pontypridd)
Beverley Hughes (Stretford and Urmston)
John Hutton (Barrow and Furness)
Eric Illsley (Barnsley Central)
Glenda Jackson (Hampstead and Highgate)
Alan Johnson (Hull West and Hessle)
Diana Johnson (Hull North)
Martyn Jones (Clwyd South)
Gerald Kaufman (Manchester Gorton)
Barbara Keeley (Worsley)
Alan Keen (Feltham and Heston)
Stephen Ladyman (South Thanet)
Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central)
Andrew MacKinlay (Thurrock)
Christine McCafferty (Calder Valley)
Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Portsmouth North)
John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington)
Tony McNulty (Harrow East)
Alun Michael (Cardiff South and Penarth)
Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby)
Madeleine Moon (Bridgend)
Kali Mountford (Colne Valley)
Denis Murphy (Wansbeck)
Edward O’Hara (Knowsley South)
James Plaskitt (Warwick and Leamington)
Greg Pope (Hyndburn)
Stephen Pound (Ealing North)
Joan Ruddock (Lewisham Deptford)
Christine Russell (City of Chester)
Martin Salter (Reading West)
Alison Seabeck (Plymouth Devonport)
Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield)
Siôn Simon (Birmingham Erdington)
Alan Simpson (Nottingham South)
Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)
Andrew Smith (Oxford East)
John Smith (Vale of Glamorgan)
Peter Soulsby (Leicester South)
Helen Southworth (Warrington South)
Jack Straw (Blackburn)
Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford South)
David Taylor (North West Leicestershire)
Stephen Timms (East Ham)
Paddy Tipping (Sherwood)
Jon Trickett (Hemsworth)
Des Turner (Brighton Kemptown)
Neil Turner (Wigan)
Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North)
Alan Whitehead (Southampton Test)
Alan Williams (Swansea West)
Mike Wood (Batley and Spen)
Phil Woolas (Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Tony Wright (Cannock Chase)
Derek Wyatt (Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
And people wonder why Labour are despised so much in the country…