Politics – Cameron has Blown the Election, on Day 1?

Cameron has scored an own goal

It is always nice when people agree with you, even if it is the Torygraph, Here is what they say about Cameron and his election priorities.

“Just what are the Conservatives’ election priorities? If you go to the Conservatives’ website, you’ll find this list on the homepage:
• Income tax cut for 30m people
• Benefits capped
• An in/out EU referendum in 2017
• Getting immigration under control
• The deficit eliminated
• Strong and stable leadership
Today, David Cameron is giving a speech outlining the central themes for the Conservative election campaign:
• Deficit
• Jobs
• Taxes
• Home ownership
• Education
• Retirement
You will, I’m sure, quickly spot some rather significant differences. The biggest is that neither immigration nor an EU referendum are on the new Conservative list. Labour, meanwhile, is noting that the NHS isn’t there either.”
It seems that Cameron and his aides have decide to play to their strengths, but to my (albeit biased eye) they are few. They lag behind UKIP on immigration, better to ignore it. They lag behind Labour on the NHS, much better to ignore it.
The really interesting thing is Europe. He knows that he can not deliver on a re-negotiated treaty. There is no appetite for it anywhere else other than Cameron’s fevered imagination. The dilemma for Cameron is whether to fight UKIP on immigration, or not. The truth is that UKIP are peddling dangerous lies. The immigrants from Europe enjoy a much lower unemployment rate in the UK than indigenous UK citizens. In other words, they work harder, for less, that the average Brit. In politics the truth matters little. The Tories, and Cameron lose on this issue.
Cameron can afford to lose on the NHS. After all the people who care about the NHS, above all, are likely to be Labour leaning voters. The problem is those pesky UKIP transfer voters. If they are going to vote Labour anyway then do not expend any energy on them. But, Tory to UKIP voters. Surely Cameron has to fight to save them?

The problem is that anything that the Boy Cameron has to say about immigration will come across as UKIP-lite. Being out of power, and a party made up of one issue nutters, UKIP can make outrageous promises, and they do. – But they don’t talk about legalising guns too much – why should they?
Cameron is on a hiding to nothing. He vowed to reduce immigration to “tens of thousands” it stands at more than 200,000. It is like the deficit. It is a stubborn problem that will not go away, no matter how he dresses it up. Cameron is just so lucky that he up against the UN-photogenic Milliband
In any event some of his “loyal friends” are beginning (beginning?) to position themselves for the inevitable blood-letting should/when Cameron loses the election. (Perhaps we should think about what “loses” means, no majority, no majority and forced into another coalition?) The usual suspects are there Boris, Theresa, but how about Owen Paterson? (Who he? More to follow)
That traditional friend of Cameron and the Tories the Sun is particularly hostile today: “If he won’t address the issue of immigration, you have to wonder if he really wants to win.”
With friends like that………………

Tags: Labour party, Politics, Tory Party, UKIP