“Compassionate Conservatism”, to most readers of this article, would seem a simple contradiction in terms. Any lingering memories of a different Conservatism, defined by politicians from another era – such as Alick Buchanan-Smith or Rab Butler – will likely have been snuffed out by the summer onslaught on our airwaves by Ann Widdecombe.
There have been enough straws in the summer wind, however, to suggest that certain other prominent Conservatives are keen to make the concept of “compassionate Conservatism” as familiar in the years to come as Thatcherism was in years past.
Surely the most bizarre sight of recent weeks – the solar eclipse notwithstanding – was Michael Portillo being complimentary in print about public service and public sector workers. His comments came in an article he penned after spending three days working as a volunteer porter in an NHS hospital. It was as if the old joke about putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank had occurred literally.
Portillo’s disconcertingly irony-free article was the most brazen attempt yet to rid the Conservatives of the mantle of being “cruel but efficient” and instead reposition them in the minds of the electorate as a party comfortable with more caring ideals. His voluntary revelations about his private life may or may not be of a piece with these broader policy shifts and reflect another attempt to alter his appeal. Only time will tell whether “compassionate Conservatism” represents a new strategy for the right or merely a new slogan, but as the parties begin to frame their approaches to the next general election, it will be an important question for Labour.
As with so much in politics, the origins of compassionate Conservatism lie in the United States, where the term was coined by George W Bush. So intrigued was William Hague by the likely Republican nominee’s rhetoric that he has already made the pilgrimage to the Texan governor’s mansion in Austin.
Yet only last year, Bush Jr campaigned across Texas for re- election in a bus that could have been borrowed from Labour’s Millbank HQ – since the words “Rights” and “Responsibilities” were emblazoned in big letters down each side. It was an early sign of what is fast becoming one of the most compelling features of the race for the presidency – the attempt of the Republicans to co-opt the language of the Clinton-style new Democrats.
This shift of rhetoric suggests an equally significant shift of strategy by the right. As the former presidential strategist Dick Morris counselled American politicians recently: “Where an opponent has a clear area of superiority, it is best to bypass it by ‘hugging’ your adversary on that particular issue so there is no distance between your position and his.”
The Republicans seem to have taken Morris’s advice to heart. They are painfully aware that sustained economic growth is allowing many American voters to focus on “social-value issues”. It is the Democrats’ positions on issues such as family leave, education and race that command the widest popular support.
Bush’s pronouncements to date suggest his commitment to closing that gap. When the details of his policies finally emerge, the credibility of his new rhetoric will be sorely tested but, for the moment, the polls suggest that the strategy is working for him.
So over the coming months in Britain expect to hear a lot more Portillo-like pronouncements from the Conservatives seeking to show their commitment to the NHS and education. Equally, watch for the Tories trying to move closer to Labour on the economy by ditching their opposition to an independent Bank of England.
Tory strategists seem determined to try and define the battleground for the coming election as Europe and taxation. Labour’s strategic challenge is to continue to define and advance a distinctive left-of-centre project encompassing economic, social and constitutional modernisation which commands popular support – and so leaves the Tories once again out of touch and out of power.
The dividing lines must be as clear at the next election as they were at the last. Now is not the time to show Conservatism any compassion.
The writer is MP for Paisley South
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