Abracadabrah<br><br><i> I create as I speak</i>: So David Cameron is the Next Head of the Conservative Party in Britain

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

So David Cameron is the Next Head of the Conservative Party in Britain

Here are some (amusing) perspectives on the man (unless of course you are British, in which case this might be a tad more serious).

This from the BBC, quoting Jeff Randall, a senior executive at the Daily Telegraph:

"In my experience, Cameron never gave a straight answer when dissemblance was a plausible alternative, which probably makes him perfectly suited for the role he now seeks: the next Tony Blair," Mr Randall wrote.

And from Gerard Baker writing in the Weekly Standard:

But the idea of Cameron as a flack on the make seems a tad unfair. Instead another figure comes to mind. Cameron's rapid ascent from obscurity, the near universal conviction of the media and the pundits that he is the man for the job, and his studiedly vague approach to a governing platform call to mind another man anointed as the great saviour of conservative politics a few decades ago.

When George Romney's presidential ambitions were at their peak in 1968, one astute observer commented, "The problem with George is that - deep down - he's shallow."

Both articles provide some biographical information on a man that none of us had heard of until a few months ago. One can only hope, however, that he provides better leadership on the War in Iraq than the extremely politically self serving, convenient and offputting approach adopted by Michael Howard. Perhaps the fact that his campaign for Tory leadership was modeled on that of George Bush, according to the Baker article, might speak to a different sensibility about the War. Though apparently Cameron himself and his advisers are also modeling his approach to that of Blair, who took control of Labour and eventually won the position of Prime Minister by moving to the Center. No doubt this move to the center of Cameron's will work better once Gordon Brown takes over. Since without Blair at the helm, it looks like the "third way" route, utilized by Blair, will not be a lasting Labour initiative.

I'm still hankering after William Hague, myself, however. He was so much fun to watch at Question Time, in the little snippets we get on C Span. If only American politicians could argue like that.

[Hat Tip: Clive Davis on the latter quote]