By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter What's wrong with the Right? Throughout this week we'll be looking at weaknesses in how the conservative movement thinks and how it operates. We'll be thinking about the changes we still need to make in order to end our four election run of failing to win a majority. Today […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The tone of the Tory campaign in Lib/Con seats will largely be positive but its aim is clear – to kill off the Lib Dem parliamentary party in large parts of the country. The Spectator's James Forsyth posted a significant story yesterday – revealing that 20 of the Conservatives' […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter George Osborne is ready to attack the Labour brand In my column for The Times (£) I argue that if David Cameron and George Osborne could have designed an opposition party then it would look a lot like that which is led by Ed Miliband. The Labour leader's ratings […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter I've been running a mini-campaign to get one of our Welsh MPs appointed as Welsh Secretary (should, as is expected, Cheryl Gillan move on in the looming reshuffle). Unlike Scotland where the party continues to struggle the Conservatives have done well in Wales and must continue to do so […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter This is the fourth instalment of a series of blogposts examining which of 23 ideas to win the next election tested best among Tory members. I've already blogged about the popularity of a blue collar message, members' lukewarm interest in a change of leader and the need for a bolder […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter One of the Conservative Party's most important and under-used assets is its MPs. Within the parliamentary party there are a range of brilliant thinkers and campaigners. In the party's past there were elaborate and sophisticated backbench and other voluntary party structures that made good use of them. In today's […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Every voter complains that they hate negative campaigning but every political party engages in it. Are these parties stupid? Are they flying blind? Or do they understand us better than we know ourselves? I fear the answer to the third question is ‘yes’. But before thinking about negative campaigning at […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter On Wednesday evening ConservativeHome held an event to discuss how the Conservative Party might win the next election. Yesterday I blogged the contribution from Chris Grayling. Tomorrow I'll reflect on the contribution of the third panellist, Stephan Shakespeare. Today here's a summary of what Matthew Elliott, CEO of the TaxPayers' […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter The best joke of the London Mayoral election count – with its several-hour delay – came from the Evening Standard's Joe Murphy. "Let's put Tower Hamlets in charge of count next time," he tweeted. "They'll get it done the day before." The second best was: "We have the result […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter This Building A Majority section of ConHome has five component parts: Majority – a belief in the need for a Tory majority, not continuing coalition; Mountain – it's not going to be easy to win a majority without game-changers; Message – the party needs a compelling story to tell the […]