The house that David’s building
October 5th, 2006So now we know. The foundations on which David Cameron is building the house of the new Conservative policies rests on foundations constructed by Tony Blair, who is perhaps not surprisingly, a Cameron hero, but it also rests on the foundations laid down in 1948 by Nye Bevan. Which is altogether more surprising. Because as well as being the architect of the NHS, Bevan was the leading spokesman for the Labour left. He voiced the opinions and feelings of the men from the Welsh mining valleys, who in those days still remembered Winston Churchill sending in the troops to deal with a mining strike.
He told the Conservative faithful in Brighton on Wednesday.
‘Tony Blair once explained his priority in three words: education, education, education.
I can do it in three letters.
NHS. ‘
It certainly has a ring to it as a slogan. Can you imagine the health service unions marching marching to Trafalgar chanting: ‘NHS, NHS, NHS’ And all in support of a Conservative leader.
It is worth reading Cameron’s speech in full. Because it shows a different kind of human being than the one portrayed by many of the political commentators, who portray him as the master of spin, referring to his previous job as a public relations man.
Below is a long extract from what he said about the NHS.
‘I believe that the creation of the NHS is one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century.
It is founded on the noble but simple ideal that no person should ever have to worry about their healthcare.
But it’s about more than that.
The NHS is an expression of our values as a nation.
It is a symbol of collective will, of social solidarity.
That is why the British people, of all political parties and of none, are so proud of it, and so attached to it.
I have always believed this.
But when your family relies on the NHS all the time – day after day, night after night – you really know just how precious it is.
I know the problems.
Turning up at A&E and the children’s one is closed.
Waiting for the doctor when you’re desperate with worry.
Waiting for the scan that is so desperately need.
It can be incredibly frustrating.
But more often than not, it is an inspiration – thanks to the people who work in the NHS.
The nurses who do everything to make you comfortable.
The doctors who desperately want to get to the truth.
And the army of support staff who get forgotten so often but who make such a difference to all of us.
For me, it’s not a question of saying the NHS is “safe in my hands.”
My family is so often in the hands of the NHS.
And I want them to be safe there.’
This has the ring of personal conviction about it. He is speaking, with the voice of a father, of his own direct experience of the NHS. He is equally passionate about green policies, the environment and the need for urgent action on climate change.
He is also honest about what he likes about Blairite policies. He approves of what Blair has done in education and implicitly promises the electorate more of the same. He approves of Blair’s policies on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and against terror, with one or two minor exceptions, like identity cards. This is not a cynical bid for the middle ground. The opinion polls show that the Iraq war is distinctly unpopular with the electorate.
On the domestic front the situation is even more clear. The workers in the NHS, whom Cameron praises so highly, are upset because of the increasing privatisation of health care provision, and the emphasis on introducing criteria based on profit and managerial power. The workers in the educational sector are upset for similar reasons. They don’t think trust schools, open to bidding by all-powerful multi-national companies, like Microsoft, are good for education. In the university sector, teachers fear that the new managerialism and the emphasis on profit and private fund-raising is threatening the quality of a university system which is the envy of the world and a substantial earner of foreign exchange.
So the important questions remain. Just how is Cameron going to achieve improvements in these public services? And how is he going to do something about climate change?
There is one sentence in his speech which I have not seen highlighted elsewhere. Listing his priorities he includes:
‘Deregulate our employers and wealth-creators.’
The accelerating pace of climate change cannot be prevented by the action of individual human beings. It requires more regulation, not less regulation, of the employers and wealth-creators. Not because multi-national companies are wicked, but because they are legal entities mandated to make the biggest profit for their shareholders. No director of Esso could recommend sealing up their oil wells and going into the wind turbine business.
Individual action is by comparison puny and in many cases impossible. Even Boris Johnson can only take one child on the back of his bike. For many single parent mothers with three kids (for whom Cameron shows great sympathy) the only viable option for getting the kids to school is a car.
There is one section of Cameron’s speech which shows a refreshing change from Blairism.
‘For too long, the big political decisions in this country have been made in the wrong place.
Not round the Cabinet table, where they should be.
But on the sofa in Tony Blair’s office.
No notes are taken.
No-one knows who’s accountable.
No-one takes the blame when things go wrong.
That arrogant style of government must come to an end.
I will restore the proper processes of government.
That means building a strong team, and leading them.
I want to be Prime Minister of this country.
Not a President.’
Like most of the rest of what Cameron says I think this comes from personal conviction.
But it does pose real problems for him. His policies will have to take into account the quite strong views of his colleagues into account. And they include people like Oliver Letwin, whose views I know very well because he used to canvas my own street when it was part of the old St Pancras North constituency. And behind them he will have to take into account the views of those who fund the Conservative Party.
I wish him well. But I do think he has got an even more difficult job than the next leader of the Labour Party.