Media
They won, but they're not rejoicing
Published 08 May 2008
Right-wing commentators greeted Tory election success with doubt and anxiety. Isn't this is the outcome they were hoping for?
You would think they'd be happy. For the first time in 16 years, their party does well in an election, capturing hundreds of council seats across England and Wales and sweeping to power in London's City Hall, and yet the right-wing columnists still can't see the silver lining for the cloud.
A grim Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail reminded Tories that they had never won a general election with less than 40 per cent of the London vote, and Boris Johnson polled only 37 per cent. As for the rest of the country, she insisted it was the collapse in Labour's vote, and nothing else, that handed victories to the Conservatives.
Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday made a similar point, while Simon Heffer in the Daily Telegraph dismissed the supposed Tory breakthrough as "winning a council or three in the north of England". Heffer declared: "The real significance of this election is the 65 per cent who didn't bother to vote . . . An opposition that wants to become a government needs to tap into, and mobilise, that vast disconnected group. For all the rejoicing in Tory Central Office, they shouldn't kid themselves that they have remotely done that yet."
I know, I know: Phillips, Hitchens and Heffer aren't exactly the Conservative mainstream. (Heffer loathes the party leader so much that he still refers to him only as "Dave", while Hitchens favours "Mr Phoney Blameron".)
But it wasn't just the hardcore Thatcherites, the people who believe the country has been going downhill ever since the workhouses closed, who were having trouble rejoicing. That point about the Tories needing 40 per cent in London also surfaced in a Sunday Times leader, and Trevor Kavanagh in the Sun, while he declared that Cameron was "cemented in as our next prime minister", could not help lamenting the Tory leader's failure to inspire and his supposed devotion to political correctness.
There was anxiety, too, in a Daily Telegraph leader that said: "It might seem a harsh observation, but this is a dangerous moment for the Conservatives. People will now start to pay attention to what they have to say . . ."
You could, if you chose, attribute all this to the Machiavellian agendas of proprietors and editors (and certainly the leader columns of the Sun and the Mail continue to amaze by offering Gordon Brown fresh chances to prove himself worthy of their support), but that would be a mistake. This mood is genuine, not fake.
There is no way around it: the conservative press is less than happy today because it does not like or trust David Cameron, even after he has delivered them their first piece of good electoral news since 1992. The news pages and the political correspondents may suggest jubilation and optimism, but that is not the view at the hearts of these papers.
This is no more than honesty demands. The right-wing papers despised Cameron when he was a failure, so it is fitting that they should be embarrassed about sharing the champagne now that he appears to be a success.
It is easy to forget that as recently as last summer, after Cameron's candidates finished third in by-elections in Sedgefield and Ealing Southall, these papers berated him for his hoodie-hugging, Rwanda-visiting, windmill-on-the-roof wetness. Amanda Platell in the Mail was typical in ranting about him "poncing around the world like a publicity-seeking pop star".
He may look a winner now, but he is not their man. He has not done it the way they wanted. He has had it too easy. And they are having trouble coming to terms with their lack of control.
We keep being told that current events mirror those of 1995, when John Major's Conservatives were crushed in local elections, pointing the way towards the 1997 landslide. The mirror may be truer than we imagine, for back then who on the left liked or trusted Tony Blair?
Perhaps pleasing the voters in modern politics carries a requirement of displeasing your own party's natural supporters. If David Cameron really is a dead cert to become our next prime minister, that may be our best consolation: when he finds himself in power, electoral calculation may constantly oblige him to do non-Conservative things.
Smutty pictures, anyone?
Weren't you shocked by those almost-nude Vanity Fair pictures of the 15-year-old American actress Miley Cyrus? I know I was when I saw the reports in the Sun, Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Mail, Mirror and others - reports helpfully illustrated in most cases by one of the offending images.
I might have been even more shocked if I had had any idea who she was, but my newspaper database suggests that few of us had heard of her; indeed, she had a lower press profile in this country than the average MEP. But we know the name now. Give that PR company an award.
Brian Cathcart is professor of journalism at Kingston University
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
