Conservative conference

The Conservative Party conference was all really about one thing. The rebranding of the Conservative Party under Cameron. I seem to be one of few outside of the Conservative’s who think the lack of policies isn’t a problem, at least at the moment. I would much rather time is taken over policies rather than just rushing out something that will look good as a headline.

This was essentially what Cameron tried to put across in his speech(s). I have to say though I was somewhat disappointed with his performance’s on the platform. It may be because I was so impressed with his speech last year that I was expecting similar this year. However this year I felt it lacked that drive that made you listen to what he was saying, unless of course that was the plan?

I still think Cameron has a long way to go before his party fully believe in what he is doing. You could see it during his speech, as the crowd didn’t look overly enthusiastic. Perhaps they were spending more time trying to work out what dessert island the back ground setting was from? The real question will be, how long the party is willing to follow what Cameron is doing? I personally think he’s doing a good job and politics will be far more interesting if the party allows him to do it his way. I’m not so sure that will happen though. I'm not saying they will replace him as leader, but force him to deviate from his plans and declare policies sooner.

The real star of the conference however was not Cameron but good old Boris Johnson. First came his dig at Jamie Oliver, which he denies claiming he was misquoted. Then came his backing of mums who were selling pies through school gates. I have to say Boris wouldn’t be Boris without these sort of statements. I don’t think he’s caused any harm saying (or allegedly saying) what he has. I know for sure that if I lived in Boris’ constituency, I would vote for him every time.

Overall I think the Conservatives have had a good conference. Ok so elements of the party are pushing for a tax cutting agenda and there’s criticisms over the lack of policy but I think Cameron is doing the right thing. He has the ability now to play the long game and gradually put out policies when he needs to, keeping him ahead in the polls. It’s all about the votes and gaining that middle ground from Labour and I think Cameron knows his game.

Conference score 7/10

Update (Sun 8th): The ICM poll in today's Suday Telegraph shows the Conservatives have increased their lead over Labour to 6%. This is clearly down the the party conference and shows the effect they should have on the poll ratings. So it was only the Lib Dem conference that made no difference to their poll rating.