A terrible, terrible few weeks for Gordon Brown’s Government and it is very difficult to see any light at the end of the tunnel for this beleaguered administration. Gordon Brown’s relaunches are beginning to look more like Joe Frazier’s relaunches at the end of the Thrilla in Manilla. A bloodied, weary old titan only staggers to his feet to find the canvas waiting for him a few moments later and his corner men nervously waiting to throw the towel into the ring.
However, although all looks awful for the PM at the moment, we cannot and must not allow ourselves to become complacent. There will be probably be two years to go until the next election and many minefields and possibly difficult events for us in that time. Above all, we must not let a feeling that the next election is ‘in the bag’ allow us to apply the brakes to the modernising project. We are in such a good position because of the modernising project and should resist any steady as she goes until 2010 approach.
The success of modernisation, along with Labour’s still mystifying decision to replace the most successful electoral leader of modern times with the blundering Brown, has enabled us to dominate the centre ground of British politics again. We must never relinquish that centre ground again.
As a Conservative, this is the kind of by election victory that has not happened in my lifetime. Crewe & Nantwich was not about Labour voters staying at home. Indeed, the turnout suggested that last Thursday was all about Labour voters crossing over directly to vote Conservative. For the first time in almost two decades, the aspirational voters are now prepared to put their trust in the Conservative Party again. This is justification, and justification in spades, of the modernisation of the party.
However, now is no time to rest on our laurels. The people of Britain have, over the past few weeks, made clear that they are prepared to listen to a positive, modern Conservative message. What we must not do is to take this support for granted. We must not just sit back and enjoy Gordon and his Government falling apart. Instead, we must redouble our efforts to modernise the Party and our agenda and ensure that we go into the General Election with the confidence that we have a positive agenda for change. We need to ensure that a Conservative victory at the next election is a positive vote for us rather than a vote against an exhausted Government.
Now that people are prepared to listen to our message, we must seize the opportunity to convince them that a Conservative Government under David Cameron would bring about improvements to their lives. We are beginning to win the argument, but by the next election people need to be convinced that public services will not only be safe under a Conservative Government but they will be of a better quality under a Conservative Government. They need to be convinced that we will be the party to put right the mess of the economy that Gordon Brown has created. Above all, we need to be able to stand as the party that can restore faith and trust in politics and politicians. We must remain the party of change and progress in the UK.
A final lesson of Crewe is the power of a strong campaign and a strong campaigning force on the ground. Our rivals were clearly swept aside by the strength of our campaigning organisation This only makes the case more strongly for continuing the work of Francis Maude and Caroline Spelman to turn us into a genuinely mass membership campaigning party. We should be looking to do all we can to harness the new desire for change into a mass membership organisation that can out organise and out think Labour on the campaign trail, through the electronic media, through the blogosphere and through the variety of social hubs and networks that are so important in this country. Barack Obama’s campaign is a symbol of the strength of a national campaign with strong grass roots.
We should be looking to encourage young, liberal minded people to become involved in the new Conservative Party and become a part of the tide of change. This should not be restricted to the Tory heartlands. Indeed, building up a strong, enthusiastic campaigning organisation in the North of England could help repeat the trick of Crewe elsewhere in the North.
Crewe represented a major triumph for the progressive, liberal Toryism advocated by this web site. It represented a crushing defeat for the old, narrow politics represented by our opponents’ campaign. We must ensure that Crewe is the springboard to a positive, enthusiastic vote for Conservative Government in 2010.