Cameron concedes Tory ‘opportunism’
The Conservatives have been guilty of opportunism in opposing government policies simply for the sake of opposition, the shadow education secretary has conceded.
Stepping up his bid for Conservative party leadership, David Cameron said the party had veered away from its true ideological path in opposing measures such as tuition fees and foundation hospitals.
“I think we have had a problem, if you like, that often Tony Blair has said, and very occasionally he has done, Conservative things and sometimes we have struck a discordant note because we have been looking for reasons to oppose them,” he told GMTV’s Sunday Programme.
Instead, he said, it was much better to stick to your principles and on each individual issue ask yourself the question: “Is this a measure that is in the long-term interests of the country?
“Is it something that will help deliver the dynamic economy that we all want, will it deliver a decent society that we want to see in this country, does it accord with Conservative principles?”
He added: “And if it ticks all those boxes then you should support it.”
The MP for Witney downplayed suggestions that such line of reasoning would exacerbate the convergence of ideological thinking, which has led to a point where the electorate could not distinguish between the three main parties.
“There are plenty of things that we do disagree about but I didn’t go into politics to just disagree with people or position myself in some way against other people,” Mr Cameron said.
“I went into politics to do the right thing, to get things done for this country. So if you agree with something, you should say so and people would actually welcome that.”
Mr Cameron’s theme will be built upon by his political friend and ally, shadow chancellor
George Osborne, at a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies tomorrow evening.
