Tories forced to regroup in attempt to snuff out Nick Clegg surge
Hastily recorded TV broadcast redirects fire away from Labour
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 April 2010 23.20 BST
David Cameron, speaking at a business centre in Kennington, south London, has been told by senior Tories that his ‘big society’ message is failing to connect with voters Photograph: David Levene
Amid mounting internal criticism of the leadership's handling of the general election campaign, Cameron attempted to turn the tables on Nick Clegg by saying that only the Tories can embrace change.
Taking a leaf out of Clegg's book, Cameron looked directly into the camera to admit that last Thursday's leaders' television debate had transformed the general election.
"So we have had the first TV debate and, yes, it has really shaken up this election campaign," Cameron said in the film, which was recorded in the back garden of his London home on Sunday afternoon.
"It's got people looking at the parties in a way they weren't before. In many ways I am not surprised. People are desperate for change and they're looking for anything different or new. So what does it really take to change a country?"
The broadcast, which replaced a film attacking Labour, then depicts Cameron as the agent of change by showing videos of his widely praised response to last year's expenses scandal. Without mentioning Clegg or the Lib Dems, Cameron made an appeal to the party's natural supporters by pledging to "smash apart the old politician-knows-best syndrome" through his "big society" idea of presiding over the biggest devolution of power in a generation.
Cameron then delivered his main message, outlined to the Guardian earlier, in response to Clegg's strong performance: that a vote for anyone other than the Conservatives would not lead to change because it could leave Gordon Brown in Downing Street.
"The only way we are going to get that change is through a clear, decisive result at this election," he said. "Any other result would lead to more indecision and more of the old politics. We might even be left stuck with what we've got now."
Tory sources said tonight's broadcast was not a panic response to the Lib Dems' success and that it marked a change in tactics rather than a change in strategy. But other Tories voiced fears that Cameron's entire election strategy – that he is the only agent of change – has been struck a devastating blow by Clegg's success.
Internal Tory criticism focused on two areas. First, that Cameron made a "catastrophic error" in pressing for the TV debates; this was compounded when he agreed to give Clegg equal billing. Second, that the strategy of focusing on the "big society" is failing to connect with voters.
"I really do not see how we can win a Commons majority now," one senior Tory said. "The big society, which is great for governing the country, is no good as an election strategy. It needs to be dumped because nobody understands it on the doorstep. We need to spell out in specific terms what we plan to do. Let's talk about our plans for cancer drugs."
Sources say there have been a series of anxious meetings at Tory HQ. Cameron told his inner circle on Friday, the day after the television debate, that there was no need to change tactics. But as the Lib Dems surged ahead in polls over the weekend, key figures wrote notes to Cameron urging a rethink.
Cameron, who indicated to the Guardian that he was reluctant to attack the Lib Dems, changed tack today. In a question and answer question with sixth-form students at Varndean College in Brighton, he compared the sums in their manifesto to a sudoku puzzle.
"It's all very well to say 'I've got numbers at the back of my manifesto'," Cameron said. "I mean, there's numbers in a sudoku but it doesn't mean it all adds up. They are saying the first £10,000 of your income, you shouldn't pay any tax on at all. That is a beautiful idea, it is a great idea. How do you pay for it? It is £17bn. We have this enormous deficit, we need to reduce the deficit. You can't go round making promises like that."
His remarks came as Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative chairman, urged the party to step up its attacks on Clegg. Tebbit urged the Tories on Radio 4's World at One "not to hang around because there is a Clegg bubble and the imperative is to puncture the bubble before the 6 May – the 7th would be too late".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/19/tories-nick-clegg-david-cameron
- guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
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