According to the pre-speech spin (I thought that was all in the past), David Cameron is going to declare war on ‘the enemies of enterprise’ today, and he is going to tell us that these include government bureaucrats who dream up rules and regulations which get in the way of small businesses developing as they should and would like to.
This is getting perilously close to John Major Cones Hotline territory.
In case he had forgotten, someone needs to remind Cameron that although he failed to win the election, he is Prime Minister. That means he is head of the government. That means he appoints ministers. And it is ministers who run departments. So if those departments are coming up with bureaucratic nonsense, as clearly he thinks they are, then it is their competence that is in question.
Perhaps he needs a reshuffle. Or a lesson in how government works. He also needs to spend less time worrying about getting a few slogans for speeches, and more time working on decent content and strategy.
Big Society blah. Enemies of enterprise blahdiblah. When a PM blames the people for whom ultimately he is responsible, we are in major blahdiblah territory.
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Easier to blame bureaucrats than the fact that he has cut business support and will close the regional development agencies. Small businesses and start ups depend on cash flow and with the economy shrinking it makes it even harder to keep afloat. Whose fault is that?
Nice one. You’ve nailed it! Walking the very fine line between encouraging good enterprise; and regulating against bad business and associated practices is a bloody hard call. And as you rightly point out – he is the one ultimately in the hot seat. Time to put up Cameron, cos sure as heck you can’t shut up – after all, you are Prime Minister.
🙂 you’re absolutely right of course. Never did discover what that whole “cones hotline” thing was all about…
I saw my father yesterday. He is a Tory (yes, I had a tough childhood).
Yesterday he apologised to me (this is a first).
‘You were right, you know’ he said (another first), ‘even I can see Cameron and his lot are cutting too hard and too fast in fact’ he continued, ‘I am not even sure they actually know what they are doing…’.
When my father says things like that, I take it as a clink of light…a sign of hope…if my father can say this then not all is lost.
He’ll be picketing libraries next…
Patronising nonsense!! Cameron has started bad and is getting worse!! ‘Sparks of initiative’, ‘Courage to make dreams happen’, ‘Sleeves rolled up’, ‘Enemies of enterprise’.. YUK!! What does this guy know who was born rich and has had his whole life handed to him on a plate.. He knows nothing and should give up and let serious people do the job! i feel better for that 😉
Wonders never cease to amaze me with this lot in the driving seat. Trouble is they haven’t updated their Sat Nag maps lately so they know where they might want to go but don’t know how to get there and they’re so busy worrying about the journey, they’ve forgotten how to drive too – imagine the crash…pray for the crash!
Meanwhile, I read They are hurrying along an Oil-free UK – is this a new brand of Utopia?
a short but true article, the only people who are enemies of enterprise are the conservatives with their savage cuts programme which will roll back growth and cost jobs, and quite frankly the prime ministers daily-mail view of red-tape is an exagerated one, this is all, as you point out in your article, cheap sound bites and slogans for the conservative conference, their is some red tape which is needed such as health and safety laws and employment laws that protect workers rights, and they are supported by a majority of people, whilst we do hear that williams hagues posse which includes the prime minister think of themselves as “children of thatcher”, they are more like the “children of major”.
No 10 aims to present more positive message after cuts and U-turns.
Andrew Cooper is the new director of political strategy. He is a moderniser and former SDP member. Mr Cooper told Cameron to decontaminate the Conservative party brand.
Mr Cooper will try to improve policy co-ordination and presentation working with Craig Oliver. Sharper strategy focus is the aim.
Mr Cooper wants David Cameron to be on the side of public opinion. He might try to divert attention from the economy to some cultural issue like immigration. There will be a fresh approach to cuts.
At the moment Mr Cameron is borrowing Mrs T´s tactics by distancing himself from under-performing government.
Enterprise is connective moral tissue? A new economic dynamism? Cameron is as clear on the economy as on Big Society which, by the way, is being opposed by 50% of Tory members.
2.5m new jobs during this parliament? Surely not! And businesses are not interested in hiring former public sector workers.
More than half (55%) of voters now disapprove of the coalition. Labour is 10% ahead in the polls. Cuts and inflation will make things even worse.
The coalition might even collapse if the Lib Dems think that it will cost them the next election.
George Osborne in his misguided optimism still rules out a plan B.
The Tory-led government is trying to do too much.
Growth will be the focus of March 23 Budget, but where will this growth come from? As Chris Huhne has said, there is a prospect of second oil-price-driven recession.
But Mr Osborne is still exaggerating the sense of crisis for political reasons. Debt of 58% is still relatively low. There is no emergency on public finances, as Lord McFall recently stated.
Keynes said that take care of employment and the budget will take care of itself.
Ps. Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, recently told to the treasury committee that BANKS are to blame for the government´s spending cuts. What has happened to the good old “all Labour´s fault” mantra?
quite disheartening to see a former SDP member helping cameron and also he has the lib dems as a prop, whatever happened to anti tory liberals, which was one of the main reasons why they formed all those years ago, the biggest challenge for labour is a steady well organised party, Ed Miliband has apparently been getting advise from Tony Blair on strategy telling him not to be big opposition on small issues but to concentrate his hits on big issues such as the recent government chaos over Libya, not that Ed was silent on the matter but he wasnt big on it either.. as british people see other countries having to cut deficits and reduce spending, the tories language about “all labour’s fault” wont last for long, but labour has to have a good set of policies ready and be on the side of middle aswell as low income earners, Ed Miliband is a good leader, it will take time for it to come across fully but when it starts to then people will see labour as a better alternative to the conservatives, and also i suspect that even after the end of this parliament, many lib dem voters wont want to vote for clegg and co again, in the mean time labour needs to keep winning in the local elections, as you rightly point out, labour is doing well in all the opinion polls, the tories point to Ed’s approval rating, even though his approval rating is not great, most people around 55% i heard, havent had time to form an opinion yet, and he needs to seize on that, labour needs to pick up the crumbs from the coalition crisis and also picking up seats from now until 2015, it will be extremely hard for the tories to get a majority, especially with AV, and while the coalition has no choice but to sit tight and try not to buckle, Labour needs to do the same…
He would have every right for blaming the country for electing Labour for 13 years. What a disaster that was!
I so agree with Harry about the nonsense of talking of ‘red tape’ without being specific. Not all office workers are doing useless work which is what is usually implied. They are necessary for the smooth running of both public and private business. I do wish people would stop using blanket words which hide as much as they reveal.
By the way I saw Alistair Darling on tv today. So much common sense! Would that he was still chancellor!
Here we go for an all out assault on the Health and Safety Executive.
Did you know that some anagrams of David Cameron are: code: ravin’ mad, am over candid and manic, odd rave? Just saying!
As ever, be patient, but be prepared to remember and remind those that may be comforted by a few pre-election giveaways of what has and is about to occur.
But that’s why he chose to call his manifesto ‘An Invitation to Join The British Government’, so he could then blame us when things go wrong!
We are Basil Fawlty to Cameron’s Mr O’Reiley.
I see you repeating Sarah Brown’s mantra – Cameron didn’t win the election. Absolutely right. Equally true – New Labour most definitely lost it.
The Whitehall Civil Service was working hard to get the Torys in last year, since they mostly vote that way,
What? WHAT?