Lots of valid points from Stu and Asquith. Cameron is clearly holding a lot back and Labour’s authoritarian approach has unquestionably failed, providing the Conservatives with a nice springboard for the ‘less government / localism’ agenda at the next election.

They could actually try becoming liberal… if it weren’t for the fact that illiberalism is wired into Labour, Old and New.

I think the failure of PFI and so on can be attributed to the fact that Labour have never, fundamentally, thought of economic liberalism as a good thing. They are socialists who have fallen in love with huge corporations. Even Thatcher had an instinctive understanding of the small businessman, which no one in Labour has ever had.

So we get a rigged economy which serves big business and the state, and stifles enterprise. Small firms don’t need cosseting, they need a liberal system in which they can make their own prosperity. But this government lack a basic understanding of that, so they do all kinds of shite. And then when something goes wrong the far left turn round and say “ZOMG CAPITALISM!” when it isn’t a market economy at all.

But then, I’ve got my doubts as to whether the Tories were ever liberal.

I think this makes some vague sense. I’ve only just got to economic liberalism (I’ve always been socially liberal, but only recently did I start seeing through Polly Pot etc and realising that I support a market economy), so I’m trying to teach myself all about it. Perhaps I should rewrite my post in 5 years when I know what it’s all about

Anyway, I don’t think we’ve seen the half of what Cameron’s going to offer yet. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think he’s crazy enough to try and fight an election while only saying what he has so far

On the other hand, I agree that New Labour never fully shook off their past and have become stuck in a horrible limbo where they have pretended to modernise for so long, only to realise that they haven’t really modernised and now have no idea where to turn. Talking about ’social justice’ and ‘aspiration’ is hardly going to save them.

Aye, alas, this was painfully evident from the start – but still utterly worth doing in order to resuscitate public services post-Major.

My great regret is that new Labour has arrogantly never acknowledged its temporariness, and via lack of radicalism thus failed to make a hegemony of social democracy in the same way as thatcher did her hotchpotch of authoritarian conservatism and classical liberalism.

“I agree that “politics is now an open contest between conflicting solutions to real problems in which parties must convince individual voters of the force of their arguments”, although I can’t help but feel that with the demise of party loyalty will come a fall in turnout at the polls in future (bar the next election, when the entire country will want to get rid of Labour).”

I think this is a real shame. Though I applaud plurality, it feels much nicer when you can say that you’re sure chunks of society are bound to agree with you.

“In short, the Conservatives remain a party of principle. Sadly for Labour, they no longer have a soul.”

Exactly the same will happen to the Conservatives; the only difference between their position and Labour’s with regard to ‘principle’ is that the Conservatives have high finance behind them, and thus far more and better propaganda, especially in the written press.

Opposition eventually means that any party will unite. The question is how long this can be sustained within a triangulating government.

David Cameron et al now faces the enormous challenge of convincing the electorate that he is going to do the right thing and do what he says he is going to do, even though we have already entered an age of breathtaking cynicism towards politics and politicians.

It’s not like we didn’t all say they were liars and charlatans way back when they came into power. It’s like having lived with a junkie for 11 years, trying to convince them that the smack is bad for them and will only cause them pain in the end. Then suddenly they’ve woken up and started trying to convince you that the smack is bad for them and has only caused them pain.

The media are waking up to what we’ve been saying about Labour for 11 years, and now they’re trying to pretend that we were all deceived together, as if they can absolve themselves from blame by pretending they weren’t part of it.

It’s only politics that will suffer – imagine running for office now, having to try and convince the electorate that you’re not just another politician. People who genuinely have new and good ideas have just got no chance anymore.

Stu.

Now that we’ve seen through the lies, deceit and general sham that was New Labour, voters are much more cynical.

Quite frankly democracy is useless if the electorate can be hoodwinked to the extent New Labour managed.