Cameron's speech debunked

TonyHannon Fri Oct 05, 2007 at 11:21:22 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Some people tell me that it's a waste of time reading the letters section on the newspapers but I often find that the gems of good argument can be found in the rough.

Read David Blunkett's letter in today's Guardian.





It is interesting to reflect on how conference speeches can now make such a difference to the general perception - including in the media - of the fitness of anyone to lead this country. Take David Cameron's speech in Blackpool (An election? Bring it on now, October 4). Well put together, cleverly delivered, in what I call the "old style", when no one had autocues.

But as you look at the speech itself, it is clear that style over substance is now the order of the day. Take one or two of the "facts" in his speech. His statistics on the number of children aged 11 who do not come up to scratch in terms of reading and writing were in fact the 1996, not the 2007, statistics. His reference to the powers of magistrates were presumably drawn from a chat with his mum, when she was a magistrate - the powers have changed considerably since then. 

Third, he drew on his experience in chatting to a police constable in mid-Wales. Unfortunately, neither the constable or David Cameron appeared to be aware that the changes to the recording system for low-level crimes were introduced by the police service and not by government.

We could, of course, go on. The fact that he had lauded Pauline Neville-Jones, former chair of the joint intelligence committee, would have been flattering to her if, a few sentences later, he had not condemned the very ID cards that Pauline Neville-Jones espouses.


But in the world we live in, who will have noticed?

David Blunkett MP
Lab, Sheffield Brightside

I think I'll email him my congratulations on a brilliantly put letter.


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Cameron's speech debunked | 2 comments (2 topical)

Re: Cameron's speech debunked (#1)

by CitizenAndreas on Fri Oct 05, 2007 at 12:27:39 PM GMT

It's a good letter, deserving of praise. It's good to see the Tories taken to task on their misinformation.


Re: Cameron's speech debunked (#2)

by SimonHH on Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 05:14:06 PM GMT

As someone who doesn't inhabit Blunkettworld, where the problem with Tories is that they're just too socially liberal, I can think of better ways of attacking DC than accusing him of being soft on ID cards. That having been said, Cameron's speech was truly creepy. Reminded me of the finale of the last series of Doctor Who, when the Master took up a career in politics.


Cameron's speech debunked | 2 comments (2 topical)