January 16, 2011
WHO CARES IF WE'RE WINNING, WE'RE IMPURE!:
The Tories couldn’t deliver the goods without the Lib Dems: The Conservative Right is wilfully blind to the fact that it is getting most of what it wants from a Coalition that it hates (Matthew d'Ancona, 1/15/11, The Telegraph)
The Tory Right is still marooned on May 5, 2010, unwilling to confront the consequences of the general election result and wilfully blind to the fact that it is getting most of what it wants from a Coalition it hates. So here, to remind them, is what happened: the Tory party failed to win an outright majority, principally because its “detoxification” was incomplete (the consensus analysis of, for instance, Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley’s The British General Election of 2010, Michael Ashcroft’s Minority Verdict, and the work of Tim Bale of Sussex University).Remarkably, Cameron and Clegg were able to forge a full-blown coalition deal. Even more remarkably, the government founded upon that agreement has already embarked upon a full-tilt programme of spending cuts, dramatic welfare reform, a transformative blueprint for schools, and radical change to the higher education system. Last week, the European Union Bill to impose a referendum lock on future EU treaty changes returned to the Commons. This week, the NHS Bill will launch perhaps the most sweeping changes to the health service since its foundation in 1948 (“I agree with it, but it’s incredibly risky,” frets one normally robust Tory Cabinet minister).
What the Right refuses to accept is that all of this would have been inconceivable without the formation of the Coalition. A minority Tory Government would have achieved next to nothing in its short lifespan. The great paradox of contemporary politics is that the Conservative Party is finally getting the chance to enact profoundly Conservative measures – but only in collaboration with the Lib Dems. To the voters, the spectacle of two parties co-operating is agreeable, although that sentiment is probably waning as the novelty wears off. What matters to the punters is that this extraordinary collaboration delivers the goods: that the country is saved from the economic mess in which Labour left it, and that the pain of the next few years delivers tangible gain before the next election.
For the Right, all this presents an existential crisis, a carnival of introspection. “What about us?” is their self-indulgent wail. To which Cameron’s answer is, as it should be: who cares? It was often said that Gordon Brown wanted to be Labour leader, whereas Tony Blair wanted to be Prime Minister. In his handling of this by-election, Cameron has shown where his own priorities lie.
The Right and Left have no interest in governing, only in ideology.
