WHAT CLINTON COULD HAVE DONE:

Poll defeat could mean a new name for Tories (Toby Helm, 07/08/2004, Daily Telegraph)

Senior members of Michael Howard's frontbench team believe the Conservative Party will have to consider changing its name as part of a fundamental "rebranding" if it fails to make a big surge at the next general election.

The idea of a realignment of Tory policies, capped by an "image revolution" and a new name, is being discussed by some in the shadow cabinet as a real option unless the Tories gain 70 to 80 seats.

Mr Howard's first nine months has delivered little success at the ballot box

Among the alternative names that Tory modernisers are floating in private are the Democrats, the New Democrats, Progress and Reform Conservatives. [...]

Those who want to place the party more on the centre ground and get rid of its associations with hard-edged Thatcherism believe a change to the Democrats could work with the electorate.

They say it would help to alter perceptions in a dramatic way by inviting a parallel to US politics where the Democrats are to the Left of their Republican rivals.

While acknowledging that they are too Tony Blair's Left would comport with reality, one might expect a putatively conservative party to steal a march to his Right instead of surrendering.

MORE:
Anti-Europe video tears apart Conservatives in prize marginal (Richard Savill, 07/08/2004, Daily Telegraph)

It should be one of the prize marginal seats for the Tories at the next election. But rather than fighting Labour, the Tories are fighting themselves in Falmouth and Camborne, Lord Coe's former seat in Cornwall.
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The row follows the suspension by Central Office of the constituency's leadership for allegedly promoting an anti-European video, distributed by the UK Independence Party. The eight suspended members will put their case to an appeal next month.

-Mr Howard's worst rating is still better than Iain Duncan Smith's best (Anthony King, 30/07/2004, Daily Telegraph)

Conservative supporters have a right to be puzzled. The Conservatives in recent months have changed their leader and their policies, and, by wide margins, voters prefer the Tories to Labour on high-profile issues such as Europe, immigration and law and order.

Yet the Conservatives continue to struggle. They finish third in by-elections. They trail or, at best, pull just ahead in the opinion polls. Whatever they say or do, nothing seems to matter. YouGov's latest survey for The Daily Telegraph goes some way towards providing an explanation. It seems that millions of voters have simply gone off the Tory party. The Tories are no longer taken seriously or seen as relevant.

The Conservatives won 32 per cent of the popular vote at the 1997 general election and 33 per cent in 2001. According to YouGov, they are yet again on 33 per cent. They have made no sustained progress over the past half-decade and are actually worse off now than when Iain Duncan Smith was leader. [...]

With regard to specific issues, last month's YouGov survey showed the Conservatives well ahead of Labour on Europe, crime, taxation and asylum and immigration and more or less level-pegging with Labour on education and public transport. Even on the economy - the Blair Government's strongest suit - Labour's lead over the Tories is slender. At the moment 34 per cent of voters reckon Labour would cope best if Britain were in economic difficulties. The proportion saying the same of the Tories - 30 per cent - is nearly as large.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 7, 2004 10:21 AM