Cameron challenged over ‘vacuous’ reforms
A one-time contender for the Conservative leadership has warned David Cameron not to “trash” the party’s Thatcherite past.
Micahel Ancram, now a Tory backbench MP, called on Mr Cameron to return to the party’s “core values”, such as lower taxes, and “unveil the party’s soul”.
The current wave of Conservative policy indications have not helped perceptions the party is “lacking an overall sense of vision and direction”.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the policy proposals must be presented “within a framework of the principles and beliefs which in every generation, however differently articulated, have formed the solid and unalterable foundations of conservatism which have historically been the key to our electoral success.”
Mr Ancram said Mr Cameron had made “laudable efforts” as leader and had revived interest in the Conservative Party brand.
He continued: “Now he must begin to unveil the party’s soul based on those core values, principles and beliefs that form the timeless make-up of that Conservative soul.”
Mr Cameron should not claim the Conservatives are the “heirs to Blair” and instead focus on the core values that worked in the past, he argued.
He warned: “Of course as Conservatives we must show we have changed, but we must beware doing so by trashing our past or appearing ashamed of our history
“Change for change’s sake is a vacuous process, swiftly seen through by the electorate.”
Mr Ancram has broken ranks with Mr Cameron’s leadership to launch his own alternative mini manifesto. The 30-page document, entitled Still A Conservative, sets out Mr Ancram’s vision for the future of the party, outlining a concerted shift to the right.
The MP for Devizes backed Mr Cameron’s support for married taxes but argued against treating all relationships as equal, saying this “insults the intelligence of the British people”.
“For Conservatives there can be no fudging the issue of marriage,” he said.
Although recognising other long-term relationships bring welcome commitment, he continued: “But they are not the equivalent of marriage. Giving them that equivalence does not enhance them; instead it diminishes the value of real marriage.
“In doing so it damages the concept of family and eventually of community.”
He also said the UK’s relationship with Europe must respect its sovereignty and said the country could not stay in an EU with “an agenda of ever-closer union”.
Mr Ancram stood against William Hague for the party leadership in 2001 and served as deputy under Iain Duncan Smith and during Michael Howard’s failed campaign.
