ConservativeHome's Local Government Blog

Hardly a major surprise given that Cameron has moved the Party so clearly to the Left since he became leader. How about Conservatives returning to the Conservative Party. Now THAT would be news.

The only problem then would be that the party would be unelectable!

Now now children. Play nicely.

Cameron has helped neutralise our unpleasant image (created it has to be said by the parliamentary party). His positioning is to be welcomed as it has contributed to the implosion of the Lib Dems and seemingly endless defections! Well done! Speaks volumes about the shallow nature of Lib Dem commitment of course!

That said Jack, your comments are harsh also. The issue has been less about our policies and simply what (new) Labour had become under Blair combined with our degeneration into sleaze after 18 years in government.

I do hope the logical fallacy that because we didn't win in 1997, 2001 and 2005 it must have been purely because of what we were saying, will soon be put to bed.

It's rubbish.

As more people gravitate towards the centre ground it just goes to show that the era of ideology and the age of confrontation is over. People who are serious about politics want to be able to effect change and that can only be done through consensus occupying the middle ground, which provides a base where all shades of political opinion can work together for the common good.

I wouldn't say that Cameron's Conservatives are left wing, Mark.

Not when they've shown that they've got the guts to fight for fundamental Conservative values like the freedom of the individual and the rule of law.

That's one of the reasons I'm proud to have come on board. With the socialists gleefully using terrorism as an excuse to destroy our democracy, I reckon it's time to stand up and be counted.

I would suggest that, apart from those who are crossing due to sinking ship syndrome, many of the defections are from honest people who have had enough of the cynical amorality of the other two major (shortly to become minor) parties. DC has done a job on making the party acceptable to the public. He personally has still to win and retain the trust of the general electorate ,as the "Heir to Blair" tag is now working against him. "I don't want another bloody Blair", I hear increasingly frequently. Sacking those of his party who tell uncomfortable truths, as with the Mercer affair, does not redound to his glory, and neither does chosing all his political confidantes from one section of society. In his favour is that he's still got two years to fine-tune his political and management skills. I hope he takes the opportunity, so that he won't be a one term wonder, and I can sink into my dotage knowing that we will continue to have a pragmatic goverment which will put the UK before party political advantage.

The address given for info on local election results is wrong. Please can anyone tell us how to get all the latest results for even the smallest local election. There must be somwhere on the web for people like me who just love results!
Especially if people of integrity are winning against the political elite.

Oh, Rob. I understand you deserting a sinking ship, certainly. But as someone whose son has served in Afghanistan, I am taking no lectures on the issue of terrorism.

Whilst the EU sets 85 % of the laws and we can do nothing about it, Conservative MPs and MEPs continue to be exposed as having their snouts in the trough and no-one is committing to end the high tax politically correct concensus in the UK, is it any wonder that traditional Conservatives are staying at home?

Firstly, hats off to your son, Mark.

Secondly, as somebody who was once a bus ticket away from a bomb in Tel Aviv, I can understand how frightened a lot of people are of terrorists.

That's why the Conservative leadership's handling of security policy has been so admirable. They've shown both cool heads and true character.

As for Europe, your 'traditional Conservatives' better get out and vote, or it will be the USE for all of us !

"a pragmatic goverment which will put the UK before party political advantage"

Grumpy Old Man, this is what our country has always needed and never had. Like yourself my great hope for the 21st century is that it will herald the end of the political era and the divisions causes by parties and cliques.

It has always saddened me to see so many people of great talent, on all sides of the house, end up chopping at each other, when really all should be working together to give us the type of national government we need. After all most of these people started political life with one aim in mind, to work for a better society, yet end up in a club for backbiters. Let us hope that a Cameron government might be the first step in creating a new political consensus in Britain.

What a traitor.

I do like Rob's comment about how Labour are going about governing and the need, therefore, to stand up and be counted.

However, all I can say is that I thought that by 1999 and when I said it even committed Conservatives looked patronisingly puzzeled. This is one reason that I think David Davis might really do damage to Labour even though we should have all been as agitated as him years ago.

Now Rob - exactly where is Wirral South on the list of LD targets and on the list of Tiory targets ? Methinks rats and sinking ship are very applicable here.

The Tories are welcome to Rob Earl. Obviously an effective campaigner given the position of the LDs in Wirral South.....not

Welcome Rob - glad to have you on board!

Thanks Sally. The Wirral South people have been really welcoming to my wife and I too, and I'm really looking forward to working with them. Even the socials sound like quite good fun !

'. . . all I can say is that I thought that by 1999 and when I said it even committed Conservatives looked patronisingly puzzeled.'

David, I think that it took a lot of people a long time to see this Labour government for what it is.

It probably shouldn't have done. 'New' Labour's attacks on freedom and the rule of law are based on the standard socialist belief that people are no more than peons of the state.

That's why I'm such a big fan of David Davis - he's really shown the extent of the clear blue water between the Conservatives and Labour.