How far will Cameron draw the political parallels?
7:21pm Friday, 19th October 2007
While attention has been focused on The Royal Academy in Stockholm the past couple of days for the Nobel prizes, David Cameron should note that there are some even more interesting things going on over in the Riksdag.
The main criticism that Cameron has been unable to shake off is that he is all presentational spin over policy substance. To overcome this perception, he must start to produce policies which make people think he would be a good Prime Minister, who is willing to make unpopular decisions in spite of the political climate. In this case, it may be time to move away from his kindred political spirit – Fredrik Reinfeldt.
It has been widely acknowledged that there are clear similarities between current Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and David Cameron in heaving their parties towards the political centre ground and re-branding them in order to pursue electoral success after many years in opposition. With Reinfeldt having had the Prime Ministerial slippers on for over a year, the issue that should now be considered is what happens once the election bunting has been taken down – that is, just how far can these parallels be drawn?
As an excellent recent article in The Economist highlighted, Reinfeldt has not had quite the impact that he promised to the Swedish electorate, and opinions of him and his leadership are not as they were. Like Goran Persson before him though, Reinfeldt has had the hearty growth of the economy to partly conceal his so far unambitious policy agenda. This current situation could be partly explained by the electoral whirl of last September, when the Swedish electorate did not fully consider what would happen after the transition of Governments, and they were therefore given no hint by Allians (Reinfeldt’s four party coalition).
One question that arises from this then, is that of what would David Cameron have in his policy arsenal if his own popularity faded? This may come into particularly sharp focus should there be a downturn in the British economy – whether it had anything to do with the Conservatives or not – and people are looking for leadership and answers from a man who has so far only shown his skills as a persuader and agitator for change.
If the current machinations in Sweden show anything, it is that if Cameron wants to be a successful Prime Minister and not just a successful Conservative politician, then he must be able to show that he can be creative, responsive and most of all brave in his policy formulation – and move away from producing policies designed simply to win more votes. In the aftermath of the Tories’ headline-grabbing policy on inheritance tax, Cameron will have to prove that he can lead his party in a way that shows they are ready for governing and not just electioneering.
The main criticism that Cameron has been unable to shake off is that he is all presentational spin over policy substance. To overcome this perception, he must start to produce policies which make people think he would be a good Prime Minister, who is willing to make unpopular decisions in spite of the political climate. In this case, it may be time to move away from his kindred political spirit – Fredrik Reinfeldt.
It has been widely acknowledged that there are clear similarities between current Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and David Cameron in heaving their parties towards the political centre ground and re-branding them in order to pursue electoral success after many years in opposition. With Reinfeldt having had the Prime Ministerial slippers on for over a year, the issue that should now be considered is what happens once the election bunting has been taken down – that is, just how far can these parallels be drawn?
As an excellent recent article in The Economist highlighted, Reinfeldt has not had quite the impact that he promised to the Swedish electorate, and opinions of him and his leadership are not as they were. Like Goran Persson before him though, Reinfeldt has had the hearty growth of the economy to partly conceal his so far unambitious policy agenda. This current situation could be partly explained by the electoral whirl of last September, when the Swedish electorate did not fully consider what would happen after the transition of Governments, and they were therefore given no hint by Allians (Reinfeldt’s four party coalition).
One question that arises from this then, is that of what would David Cameron have in his policy arsenal if his own popularity faded? This may come into particularly sharp focus should there be a downturn in the British economy – whether it had anything to do with the Conservatives or not – and people are looking for leadership and answers from a man who has so far only shown his skills as a persuader and agitator for change.
If the current machinations in Sweden show anything, it is that if Cameron wants to be a successful Prime Minister and not just a successful Conservative politician, then he must be able to show that he can be creative, responsive and most of all brave in his policy formulation – and move away from producing policies designed simply to win more votes. In the aftermath of the Tories’ headline-grabbing policy on inheritance tax, Cameron will have to prove that he can lead his party in a way that shows they are ready for governing and not just electioneering.
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