Across the pond

‘Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.’

When I put this question to my shaving mirror this morning, the answer came loud and clear. Xcitybob must end his holiday forthwith. And write a serious political blog. According to the leaks to the media David Cameron for his big speech to the Conservative Party annual conference on Wednesday is going to steal my favourite lines from one of the two best American Presidents of my life-time, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

There is still time for him to have second thoughts. So to save him from making this dreadful mistake, I am rushing out a blog to help him in his declared aim of building up his policies. Because, despite the fact that he is an Old Etonian and a Conservative, David Cameron does not seem to be a bad bloke. And although he would not get my vote for Prime Minister, I think he would be much better as leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition than anyone else visible in the present Conservative Party.

I also have some sympathy for the way in which Cameron is going about his task of saving the Conservative Party from itself. He is, as he says, building his policies as he goes along, like building a house. But the first thing you need in building a house is firm foundations. Cameron is presently building his house on a swamp of confusion.

Main confusion. JFK’s American Democrat values are quite the wrong foundation for the British Conservative Party. JFK, like the other American President I most admire, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was the leader of the American Democratic Party. British politicians, on the left as well as on the right, often misunderstand the American Democrats, as does Cameron. They know it is not Marxist. But they often fail to take into account that it is the party of the trade unions. Both its power and its policies reflect this fact.

Now, if David Cameron wants to remodel the Conservative Party as the party trade unionists should support, he might actually catch a few floating voters. But I doubt he will win the support of those who supply Conservative Party funds. And he clearly has not given much thought about how to get the trade union vote, because he did not bother to turn up at the Trade Union Congress in Brighton, nor send any of his star team.

Brief American History. Roosevelt saved the world from the depression caused by the Hoover Republican policies, by adopting the policies advocated by the British economist, John Maynard Keynes. Public spending fuelled the world recovery and also alleviated the plight of the poor.

JFK modernised the Democratic Party in 1960. By tackling the racist policies of the American Democratic southern wing. By tackling the bad trade unionists, like the corrupt leader of the Teamsters’ Union, Jimmy Hoffa, who was demolished by JFK’s brother, Bobby Kennedy. By engaging the hearts of minds of America’s youth, which still inspires those Americans today, who instead of going all out for earning big money, work for all the many non-governmental organisations which are trying to help the world’s poor.

Cameron does have a shrewd political instinct. He recognises that Tony Blair has lost the hearts of a lot of his own supporters. What he does not realise is that this is because Tony Blair is stuck in time warp. Blair mistakes the present trade union movement for the hate figures of his political youth, like King Arthur Scargill. That is almost as bad as measuring American trade unionism by the likes of Jimmy Hoffa.

The Conservatives can never become the party of the trade unionists. Far too many trade unionists distrust them. In terms of his own survival, I must also point out, that the majority of those who finance the Conservative Party are those who are in favour of non-unionised work forces. Like the dominant Republican Christian right in the US.

So my suggestion to David Cameron is that he should take time out from helping with the washing up to bone up on his own party’s history. And to build his new house on the firm foundations of successful Conservative leaders of the past. I offer him two models.

Benjamin Disraeli. He revitalised the Conservative Party and introduced measures which led to free education for all. Thereby making it possible for young working class lads to rise by working hard, but with skills they would not otherwise have had. He was in favour of what today is called the meritocracy.

Second model, Harold Macmillan. Who made the Conservatives electable again after the debacle of Eden’s Suez blunder. And, of course, Macmillan had an excellent relationship with JFK. Not at all sycophantic, although Macmillan knew the realities of American power. JFK listened to him, because he talked sense.

Both of these Conservative leaders epitomised the essence of British Toryism. It’s ability to adapt to the demands of the times, by adjusting its policies, while remaining firm to its traditions and principles.

Still time to tear up that prepared speech, David. And build your new house on solid foundations.