UK - David Cameron and the demise of Conservatism
Many comparisons have been made between Cameron and prime minister Tony Blair. Here is one that seems to have escaped the notice of most commentators. We now effectively have a non-Tory leading the Conservative Party, to go with our non-Labourite leader of the Labour Party. We have noted before on spiked that Cameron won the Tory leadership contest as the blank slate candidate (see David Cameron: A blank slate, by Josie Appleton). Despite all the guff about his youth, he is on the cusp of 40, and has achieved the quite remarkable distinction for a politician of his age of never having made his mark on any issue. Since being confirmed as Conservative leader this month, Cameron has energetically set about showing the public what he is not - ie, that he is not a racist or homophobe, or a free marketeer, or a rugged individualist, or an opponent of many New Labour reforms. That he is not Margaret Thatcher ('There is such a thing as society') or any of the other four Tory leaders who have come after her. In short, in any terms that could be recognisable from the past decades of Tory politics, he is not a Conservative.
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