{"id":21579,"date":"2015-10-08T12:56:41","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T11:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/?p=21579"},"modified":"2021-01-13T10:42:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T10:42:34","slug":"this-is-as-good-as-its-going-to-get-for-cameron-and-he-knows-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2015\/10\/08\/this-is-as-good-as-its-going-to-get-for-cameron-and-he-knows-it\/","title":{"rendered":"This is as good as it&#8217;s going to get for Cameron \u2013 and he knows it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><i>Dave is digging a big hole which he will fall into.<br \/>\n<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><!-- GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2015\/oct\/07\/this-is-as-good-as-its-going-to-get-for-cameron-and-he-knows-it\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=140%2C45\" alt=\"Powered by Guardian.co.uk\" width=\"140\" height=\"45\" \/>This article titled &#8220;This is as good as it&#8217;s going to get for Cameron \u2013 and he knows it&#8221; was written by Polly Toynbee, for The Guardian on Wednesday 7th October 2015 17.41 UTC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Things will never get better for David Cameron. That triumphal speech was his apex, the acme, the zenith of his career. How he gloried in that exit poll victory moment: \u201cThere was a moment when I thought I had died and gone to heaven.\u201d This is as good as it gets.<\/p>\n<p>Secretly he must wonder if he should quit right now in this ascendant, all-conquering moment. For his \u201cnational crusade\u201d in a \u201cturnaround decade\u201d of \u201csocial reform\u201d is a delusion, as his map marches the country in the opposite direction. Wherever he imagines the common ground or centre ground to be, he has no compass nor any intention of going there. The disconnect, the cognitive dissonance, between <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2015\/oct\/07\/david-cameron-accuses-jeremy-corbyn-of-britain-hating-ideology\">the words in his speech<\/a> and his actions past and planned made for a dizzying acrobatic performance. Talk left, walk right. Listen to what he says, don\u2019t look down at what he does.<\/p>\n<p>Here was a reprise of \u201clet the sun shine in\u201d early Cameron, the hoodie-hugging, greenest ever, poverty-angst leader of what he again calls his \u201cone nation, moderate, compassionate Conservative party\u201d. He gives a stellar platform performance \u2013 but we now know to check the silver. None of his plans point to \u201cgreat social reforms\u201d. Next month\u2019s spending review will reveal all we need to know about his true direction. Follow the money, not the words.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">  <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/ng-interactive\/2015\/oct\/07\/david-cameron-speech-at-tory-conference-what-he-said-and-what-he-meant\">David Cameron speech at Tory conference: what he said \u2013 and what he meant<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Cameron\u2019s \u201call-out assault on poverty\u201d was an all-out assault on reality too. Crocodile tears for the \u201cscourge of poverty\u201d and \u201cthe brick wall of opportunity\u201d hardly tallies with monumental \u00a312bn benefit cuts taking from the poorest. All week he has smiled and faced down facts in interviews challenging the \u00a31,000 in tax credits taken from three million \u201chard-working\u201d families. How calmly he asserts that higher wages will compensate, though he knows it barely covers a quarter of each household\u2019s loss. Within hours the Resolution Foundation showed that on top of the extra 700,000 children in poverty the IFS predicts, this summer\u2019s budget alone throws another 200,000 households into penury \u2013 all of them families in work. But Cameron never blenches.<\/p>\n<p>Does language matter more than deeds in politics? Can clever words entirely obscure deeds? Initial reaction to his speech suggests it works, at first. Look at the wild talk of his moving on to the centre ground, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2015\/oct\/07\/david-cameron-attacks-jeremy-corbyn-conservative-conference\">his tanks on Labour lawns<\/a>. But in the end reality bites. That\u2019s why nothing will ever be better than this for Cameron. Voters will find Cameron\u2019s \u201cparty of working people\u201d is an illusion. \u201cThe NHS safe because of us\u201d was just one of his boasts unwinding as he spoke.<\/p>\n<p>What does he really believe? Is he an ideologue, a pragmatist or an opportunist? Unlike Margaret Thatcher, he\u2019s no theorist with a battered copy of Hayek in his pocket. But his Tory generation inhaled from political infancy that unquestioning fixation that the state must wither, all forms of welfare be cut and public spending shrivel. By all his choices, we know Cameron is a fundamentalist \u2013 but how well his silver tongue disguises that from a nation unprepared for what his government has in store. A state at 35% of GDP is nowhere in his prospectus \u2013 and he will be gone before the country finds out what that really means.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">  <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2015\/oct\/07\/ten-things-conservative-party-conference\">Ten things we&#8217;ve learned from the Conservative party conference<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In his early days, Cameron kept Harold Macmillan\u2019s photo on his desk to signify his moderation, consensus and compassion. But he\u2019s no Macmillan. That Tory prime minister\u2019s contribution to the welfare state was 350,000 new council homes built every year. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/money\/2015\/oct\/07\/starter-homes-will-stymie-social-mobility\">Cameron makes housing his flagship<\/a> \u2013 but look at the difference. His legacy effectively ends social housing, though few will realise that\u2019s what his \u201cdramatic shift in housing policy\u201d means. He promises to move \u201cgeneration rent to generation buy\u201d in new starter homes, but who exactly? Shelter says it\u2019s only a few of the top third of earners. <\/p>\n<p>His scheme gets private developers to build homes for sale, but only for those with a \u00a3100,000 deposit in London, \u00a340,000 outside. These aren\u2019t for the nurses, police and teachers who need them, let alone for the council house queues or the homeless. Average earners will be priced out in 58% of local authorities: Londoners need to be earning \u00a370,000, or \u00a350,000 earners elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>This reverses <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2013\/mar\/10\/ask-macmillan-we-need-new-houses\">Macmillan\u2019s era of social housing<\/a> because to build them Cameron is abolishing affordable homes schemes, releasing developers from section 106 levies that paid for councils to build for cheaper homes. Add in his right to buy for housing association tenants and his forcing councils to sell off their vacant homes and that loses hundreds of thousands of social homes. His own Kensington and Chelsea will put 97% of council properties up for sale as they come vacant. No hope for most of the 5 million renters. \u201cSecurity\u201d is Cameron\u2019s current watchword \u2013 \u201cfor families, for the country\u201d \u2013 but there is no security for families forever on short private leases.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">  <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2015\/oct\/08\/contrast-egg-throwing-with-tory-personal-attacks\">Contrast egg-throwing with Tory personal attacks | Letters<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Social mobility, he said, is the lowest in the developed world. But the answer is \u201cequality of opportunity, as opposed to equality of outcome\u201d. That\u2019s an old Conservative trope, conveniently denying any need for redistribution. How reasonable equal opportunity sounds: few want some soviet equaliser regardless of merit or effort. Eloquent in acknowledging some start far behind, he promises \u201ceveryone having the same shot\u201d, but what\u2019s missing is any recognition that there\u2019s no fair shot for those start out too poor to live the same lives as their school mates. Education is the answer, he says, but he must know how few who start school without a decent home or income ever catch up with the rest. Behind the golden upbeat tones, he relies on people not knowing the facts that belie his words.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">  <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2015\/oct\/07\/owen-jones-tory-conservative-conference-ruling-smug\">\u200bRuling \u2013 but trying not to look smug: Owen Jones \u200bon the mood at Tory conference<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In Manchester we saw a leader sitting atop a smouldering volcano. The fires of the Euro referendum were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2015\/oct\/07\/conservative-conference-cameron-eu-johnson-may-immigration\">quietly heating up under every power contender\u2019s speech<\/a>, their words carefully calibrated to let them jump for in or out, depending which way the party leans. And all the signs are of a party heading for Brexit. Cameron walked the tightrope in his speech, neither ready to \u201ctake what we\u2019ve got and put up with it\u201d nor \u201cjust walk away from the whole thing\u201d. As a rehearsal for the battle to come, he was testing the ground, but up against Theresa May\u2019s Powellite case for leaving the EU so as to bar immigration, the Cameron line feels perilously wobbly. He called the referendum, but he may not be able to hold back the molten tide he has unleashed.<\/p>\n<p>For all his talk of loving every part of the nation, his legacy may be a disunited kingdom \u2013 politically more angrily divided than any time since Thatcher ignited the 1980s. This emollient speech will be forgotten if his epitaph names him as the man who took us out of Europe and thus lost Scotland and broke the Northern Ireland peace accord. He will not just have shrunk the state and left a dwindled public realm, but he will have lost the realm itself. He may look back on this speech as his finest hour \u2013 and a political lesson in how fine words never in the end disguise political deeds.<\/p>\n<p>guardian.co.uk &#169; Guardian News &amp; Media Limited 2010<\/p>\n<p>Published via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/open-platform\/news-feed-wordpress-plugin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Guardian plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">Guardian News Feed<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/the-guardian-news-feed\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Wordress plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">plugin<\/a> for WordPress.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018The NHS safe because of us\u2019 was just one boast unwinding as he spoke. Secretly he must wish he could quit right now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,48,276,275,54,97,51,281,45,88,53,277,46],"class_list":["post-21579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","tag-article","tag-comment","tag-conservative-conference","tag-conservative-conference-2015","tag-conservatives","tag-david-cameron","tag-main-section","tag-opinion","tag-politics","tag-polly-toynbee","tag-the-guardian","tag-top-stories","tag-uk-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NRDR-5C3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9419,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2015\/05\/05\/meet-the-invisibles-the-wealthy-and-powerful-at-the-heart-of-the-tory-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":21579,"position":0},"title":"Meet the invisibles \u2013 the wealthy and powerful at the heart of the Tory party","author":"diana Stone","date":"May 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In the City I came face to face with the reclusive influencers within Cameron\u2019s world. The experience showed me how profoundly divided our nation has become","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7061,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2015\/03\/26\/election-2015-i-couldnt-live-on-a-zero-hours-contract-cameron-tells-paxman-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":21579,"position":1},"title":"Cameron has edge over Miliband in TV battle, Guardian\/ICM poll shows &#8211; live","author":"diana Stone","date":"March 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"PM gets rough ride from Jeremy Paxman, who pressed him on the minimum wage, foreign policy and his 2010 pledges on VAT. Follow the audience Q&A nowNigel Farage gatecrashes the Sky studios \u2013 and heads to the barAll you need to know about tonight\u2019s Channel 4\/Sky News format","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8304,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2015\/04\/17\/tom-and-barbara-are-my-good-life-guide-not-camerons-marie-antoinette-version\/","url_meta":{"origin":21579,"position":2},"title":"Tom and Barbara are my good life guide, not Cameron\u2019s Marie Antoinette version","author":"diana Stone","date":"April 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"David Cameron is banking that we\u2019ll all be so blissed out on our own good lives we won\u2019t vote to help anyone with a bad life. He shouldn\u2019t count his chickens","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41860,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2016\/05\/18\/queens-speech-2016-uk-governments-legislative-programme-unveiled-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":21579,"position":3},"title":"Queen&#8217;s speech 2016: 21 bills including plan to &#8216;disrupt extremists&#8217;\u2013 live","author":"diana Stone","date":"May 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Rolling coverage of the Queen\u2019s speech, setting out the government\u2019s programme for the next session of parliament, and the opening of the Queen\u2019s speech debate, with speeches from David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3408,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2014\/04\/13\/personal-independence-payments-are-a-punishment-of-the-poor-and-ill\/","url_meta":{"origin":21579,"position":4},"title":"Personal independence payments are a punishment of the poor and ill","author":"diana Stone","date":"April 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"PIP should be a national scandal: Iain Duncan Smith's new system already has a huge backlog and people are dying waiting","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7283,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2015\/03\/31\/camerons-workers-v-shirkers-scam-has-at-last-exposed-the-tory-law-of-benefit-cuts\/","url_meta":{"origin":21579,"position":5},"title":"Cameron\u2019s workers v shirkers scam has at last exposed the Tory law of benefit cuts","author":"diana Stone","date":"March 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"With the fictional divide beween deserving and undeserving poor collapsing, the Conservatives\u2019 ugly logic is turning into the one story they truly fear","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}