Tory election campaign under scrutiny
Former Conservative Party co-chairman Lord Saatchi has delivered a barbed apology for the general election campaign.
Lord Saatchi said the Tories failed to proffer a single, memorable “iconic” policy to voters.
He contends the party would have had more chances of winning if it had articulated tougher taxation policies supported by a wide-ranging and more philosophical worldview.
Critics said the self-critical apology was an indirect dig at Mr Howard.
.In a Centre for Policy Studies pamphlet, the peer blames himself for missing his “once-in-a-lifetime chance to banish the repulsive gloom of a decade of electoral unpopularity”.
The peer said the party missed the chance to deliver “a clear sense of purpose” to the British people.
Mr Saatchi is also critical of senior Tories for obsessing needlessly over opinion polls, focus groups and treating the public as “moronic”.
“I did not succeed in overturning the fiction of the focus groups, which can tell you what people are thinking but not what you should be thinking,” he says.
“This arises from the mistaken premise that the public, being moronic, can only appreciate a message if it is delivered by Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt.
“Whereas the reality is that elections are an intellectual battle and the winner is the one with the best arguments, not the prettiest face.”
