Culture

The audacity of Dave

November 19, 2008
The old and new faces of change?
The old and new faces of change?

In our latest lead review, Daily Mail political columnist Peter Oborne takes a second look at Dylan Jones's much-maligned book of interviews with the Tory leader, Cameron on Cameron, and at Douglas Carswell & Daniel Hannan's manifesto for Cameron's Tories, The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain. The Cameron that emerges from Oborne's reading is far from the vacuous PR-man of popular criticism, although he is certainly a toff, a profoundly ambitious man, and a ruthless leader when he needs to be. The future of our country, he suggests, may be in the hands of a man with a very particular vision of conservatism, and of "a tradition of sceptical political enquiry that can be traced back to the origins of the Conservative party in the late 18th century."

As to whether Cameron can or will deliver on such a vision—well, that remains to be seen. If Cameron's core beliefs are followed to their logical conclusion, however, Oborne suggests that we could be in for some profound changes in the way the UK is governed. At the least, it seems, we will be in for battles rather than blandishments.