The Cornerstone Group

While the musical chairs on the Titanic are in full swing, the Government ship appears to be sinking. By the time Prime Minister Brown has finished his reshuffle, the Government is going to look weaker than before. It would seem his appointments have more to do with back-room deals than what is in the interest of the Country.

By the way, do you remember Brown’s promise to strengthen Parliament? So what is one of his first actions as Premier? To replace Jack Straw who was regarded as an excellent Leader of the House of Commons and was trying to strengthen the powers of Parliament against the Executive with Harriet Harman.

Strengthening parliament …

 with Harriet Harman?

 Now Ms Harman now known as ‘Three-Hats-Harman’ has to split her time between the highly partisan jobs of being Labour Party Chairman and Deputy Leader and that of being a strong and independent representative of the interests of the House of Commons. These are irreconcilable and show Brown’s total contempt for Parliament.

Everybody seems to be repeating the mantra ‘we must be on the centre ground otherwise we’re doomed’, so I thought I’d better look it up in the dictionary but there is no dictionary entry for centre ground. It is one of those phrases that has no meaning or substance.

Thatcher - The Common Ground

Margaret Thatcher had it right when she said the Conservative Party must occupy the common ground. This is what the Conservative Party needs to strive for. The common ground is what most people beleive on any particular issue. It doesn’t matter whether its on the left or right of the political agenda.

Now the dictionary will tell you that common ground is a set of shared beliefs and interest; a foundation for mutual understanding.

So the fight against global warming which might be on the left of the political spectrum is on the common ground because most people support it. Similarly, pulling power back from the European Union and re-establishing sovereignty is on the right but is clearly on the common ground because a large proportion of the British people believe in it.

 Re-establishing British sovereignty - a common aim of the British people

Using this barometer I thought it might be interesting to list where the Party should be if it is to capture the common ground. I suggest the common ground requires:

A strong stance against uncontrolled immigration

A very tough line against criminals

Support for our brave men and women of the armed forces

Freedom for our doctors and nurses to use their own clinical judgement

Education that drives up standards rather than levels down

Support for local democracy rather than state control

Lower taxation both locally and centrally

A smaller state with more personal responsibility

The common ground should be the cornerstone of Conservative policy. Listening to the People and delivering what they want.

Peter Bone is MP for Wellingborough

As his idea for evening and weekend opening of GPs’ surgeries shows, Gordon Brown is now setting out his stall for the premiership. It is time for Conservatives to react with some policy initiatives of our own.

Brown’s style is obviously different from Blair’s, but in the most important respect, his substance is much the same. He shares with Blair the guiding principle that the state - using ever more of tax-payers’ earnings - is the best machine for delivering almost anything that government wants.

Yet in spite of that, as Frank Field points out in a report published today by think-tank Reform, his New Deal for youth employment - cost so far nearly £2bn - has been a ‘woeful failure’ (see today’s Telegraph, p 4), with the number of people aged 18-24 out of work up by 70,000 to 505,000 since it was launched in 1998. Numbers of young people “not in employment , education or training” are also up on 1998, and climbing - now 131,000 above the figure when Labour came to power ten years ago. As Field says, many of the people who got a job through the New Deal would have found a job in any case. Not everyone needs the nanny state to hold their hand.

As Field comments “The results show that even if the money was available, which it isn’t, more of the same won’t work and will be a betrayal of young unemployed people.”

No wonder Brown has already attacked Cornerstone for our tax reduction proposals.

We shall continue to be a thorn in his side. P.S The first of the Cornerstone policy papers submitted to David Cameron’s policy review will appear on this site on Wednesday. We will start with Brian Binley’s excellent paper on how to create an “Enterprise Britain” for the 21st Century.

Edward Leigh is Co-Chairman of The Cornerstone Group