DAVID CAMERON’S first speech as prime minister to the Tory Party conference yesterday had a curiously old-fashioned feel to it. His repeated references to his “Big Society” election mantra and exhortations to citizens to “join up”, to embrace charity work, social enterprises, volunteerism, and civic responsibility had the distinctly un-Thatcherite tone of a revived One Nation Toryism.
Although he paid tribute to her as Britain’s “greatest peacetime prime minister” to roars of approval, his emphasis, as the slogan at the back of the stage put it “Together in the national interest”, was both a hymn to the idea of “society” and to the newly discovered virtues of coalition.
One got the sense that Mr Cameron’s comfort with Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats reflects more than just gratitude for what Albert Reynolds called a “temporary little arrangement”. The fact of coalition, of the electorate’s “decision” not to give anyone a majority, allowed him to talk Obama-like of moving beyond partisan politics – on May 6th “the country wanted leadership, not partisanship”, he told delegates. He may believe it but his party may not be in the same political place. In truth, however, the dynamics of coalition compromise allows the prime minister to govern from the centre of politics where he is more comfortable, without falling hostage to the more dogmatic hard right that dominates his parliamentary party.
There were the usual bows to Tory sacred cows – the tribute to the bravery of soldiers, the litany of Labour crimes, the indissolubility of the Union, a shopping list of achievements “in only five months”, and a blast at the unemployed “living off the hard work of others”. But it was not a typical party speech, not well-delivered but it may have a significant resonance in the long-term. It remains to be seen whether his assessment of the new politics in Britain will be borne out. “I think you can see social change is where this coalition has its beating, radical heart,” he said to a notable silence.
To a great extent his thunder had already been stolen by chancellor George Osborne’s dramatic announcement on Monday that he intends to save £1 billion by abolishing child benefit for 1.2 million higher-income families – for those with three children, a loss of almost £2,500 a year. The move, an attempt to pre-empt opposition to cutbacks by presenting them as economically progressive, astutely wrong-footed Labour which accepts the necessity for cuts, and says it will back “fair” measures, but which will be torn by the need to defend its core value, welfare universalism. It is a difficult wicket to defend by championing middle-class parents well able to take the pain.
Mr Cameron clearly wants to grasp his opportunity and lead from the front. It is not clear that his party is in step with him. It would seem that he aspires to changing British politics, be it out of necessity or conviction. It will be interesting to see when he is confronted by a more Left-leaning leader of the Labour Party, whether or no this judgment will be more representative of the British public.