Where is the love for Tory backbenchers?
Posted on July 7, 2010It’s a story we all recognise. A disaffected gang start causing trouble – smashing things up, daubing graffiti, hanging around threateningly on street corners.
Their motivation? Boredom, rejection, and the feeling that they have been left behind while others are getting ahead.
This isn’t a case study by Iain Duncan Smith or a socially just Guardian article, though. These aren’t gangland hoodies. They’re backbench Tory MPs.
From David Davis’ overheard remarks the other day, to the proposed founding of the Brokeback Club and even the gathering pace of the campaign to move the date of the AV referendum, the blues’ backbenches are increasingly on the warpath.
Why?
Talk to backbenchers and you’ll hear the same concerns time and again. They feel left out in the cold. The leadership doesn’t understand them or even dislikes “the Right” innately. Worst of all, they feel the Lib Dems are valued more than them.
Contrary to the common assumption this is not simply an ideological dispute. Many of these same MPs have been content to follow David Cameron’s leadership for the last three years despite plenty of large ideological divisions.
No, this is about respect, pride and the workings of the Government. Many backbenchers are left out, sidelined and (intentionally or unintentionally) snubbed.
The irony is that most of these problems could be avoided by applying to the Conservative Party itself many of the principles its leadership want to apply to the nation.
Here’s David Cameron in the Guardian last year presenting the localist agenda:
“If people know that their actions can make a real difference to their local communities, they’re far more motivated to get involved – and civic pride is revived. If local government is both more powerful and more accountable, we can start to restore the trust that’s been lost in our political system. It’s for these practical reasons that I am a confirmed localist, committed to turning Britain’s pyramid of power on its head.”
And yet if you so much as whisper the question “how centralised is the Party?” to a backbench MP, they’ll talk your ear off about quite how much power lies at the top. (Michael Crick has a handy list of centralising moves within the Conservative Party here.)
Another famous cornerstone of the leadership’s philosophy is understanding the deeper causes of antisocial behaviour and disaffection. Here’s a quote from the “hug a hoodie” speech:
“So when you see a child walking down the road, hoodie up, head down, moody, swaggering, dominating the pavement – think what has brought that child to that moment. If the first thing we have to do is understand what’s gone wrong, the second thing is to realise that putting things right is not just about law enforcement. It’s about the quality of the work we do with young people. It’s about relationships. It’s about trust.”
The same, fundamentally, goes for Conservative MPs.
Admittedly, they’re not happy slapping people in Central Lobby, though I can think of a few who might be tempted. But disaffection and distrust in politics is corrosive, something Blair and Brown proved in spades.
It’s not too late to fix this. These cracks don’t yet have the depth or permanence of those between John Major and “the Bastards“.
David Cameron once laid out a simple prescription for hoodies, that he now needs to apply to his own MPs:
“It is about love.”
Tags: backbenchers, Blair, Conservatives, David Cameron, David Davis, Gordon Brown, Guardian, Hug a Hoodie, Localism, Parliament, Politics, Westminster
Categories: Politics, Westminster
Lets hope they stay disaffected and then stand for UKIP when the ConDems/Libcons form.
Those second preference votes would be hoovered up by ex tory candidates and would help give Farrage some credible support at the head of the party.
28.07.2010 11:20
It’s how political collapse occurs, not with a bang, but with a mob of whimpering dozies.
28.07.2010 17:26
Very interesting article, thanks. Keep up the good work.
28.07.2010 21:18
Cameron cold shoulders ‘backwoodsmen’ as
1) His new best friends are the Lib Dems.
2) Even though disaffected Tory MPs probably outnumber ALL Lib Dems, their opinions/values probably are shared by fewer people in the Tory Party than the Lib Dems’ values are shared with the majority of all non-Tory voters.
3) Cameron has already shown his intention to restrict backbench opinion with the attempted takeover of the 1922 Committee.
Suspect that UKIP/other non-aligned conservative parties will ultimately benefit – especially as Cleggeron has yet to bite the spending bullet, and the people has yet to forgive them.
30.07.2010 06:21