|
· Conservative success will be based upon a united opposition to European federalism, together with emphasis on improving public services
· Party renewal will begin with intense local campaigning and work
John Redwood emphasises Europe, education spending and opposition to hospital closures in this interview with JENNY STOKER. People like to be part of something successful he argues: Conservatives must therefore get the 'winning habit' again in order to attract new members.
*****
To Lead, To Win
John Redwood is the only one of the contenders for the leadership of the Party to have been down this path before. He, of course, stood for the leadership after John Major resigned as Party leader in 1995 so we know that he is certainly not lacking in courage or willingness to stand up for his beliefs.
I met John Redwood first thing in the morning at his office in Wilfred Street. He was already hard at work; enthusiastically preparing for an 11 'o'clock press conference at which he would speak to his campaign slogan: 'To Lead, To Win'.
I began by asking Mr Redwood what he had to offer the Conservative Party as a potential leader. He said 'I am offering vision and energy. I am saying to the Party we need to remind ourselves why we are Conservatives in the first place. We need to put before the British people a vision of a better United Kingdom. A world in which we respect our inheritance and our green landscape. A world in which we stand up for the family and for traditional values. A world in which children can have proper opportunities at home and in schools, where we understand how enterprise and small business works; and where we have a decent health service so none need fear lack of treatment when ill. Above all we must commit the Conservative Party to defending a vibrant, independent democracy. It is under unprecedented threat.
The new treaty of Amsterdam would complete the transfer of most our democratic rights over the things that really matter. It would make general elections of limited importance. It must be the Conservative task to wake the country up to explain this before too much has been given away.
Party Unity
What, I asked Mr Redwood, did he think were the issues around which the Conservative Party could unite? 'The Conservative Party is a lot more united than the newspapers would lead you to believe,' he replied. 'Yes, the Conservative Party has had its disagreements about a single currency and these attracted far too much attention in the run up to the election. What I found was surprising going round the country talking to lots of Conservative audiences was not how disunited we are but how united we are. Everywhere I went they gave me the same message: they wanted a Common Market not a Federal Europe; they want us to say no more powers to be given to Brussels institutions; and they were mightily suspicious of a single currency because they thought it was more than just a trading arrangement - they saw it as a means of transferring power over our economy to other people'.
I agreed with his assessment of views at the grassroots level but what about the Parliamentary Party? "I think that it is easier in opposition because it is our main duty to say 'no' to the things that Labour wish to do that we think will be damaging. Many of the things Labour will wish to do will be driven by European imperatives or will come from their wish to be nice to our partners in Europe without necessarily representing British interests. I think it will be quite easy to bring us together to oppose those things. Ken Clarke has spontaneously decided to oppose an independent Bank of England. This happens to be one of the most important requirements of the Maastricht Treaty for the single currency and means we would vote in the same lobby against it."
"Ken and I would also go into the same lobby against the Social Chapter so you see we can be united. I also think all the Conservative Parliamentarians are united in saying we should control our own social laws here in Britain. We are united in saying we don't want a European Common Security Policy or a Common Foreign Policy. We would rather have a British Foreign Policy. By all means co-operate, by all means find areas where we agree with our partners but we don't want it all put under the European Commission."
So we are united in that. That leaves the single currency and I don't think we have any immediate question to answer. Labour seems to suggest that they will not go for it in 1999. When they do try I think it would be quite easy to persuade Ken Clarke that it is fudged and he has always made it clear that he does not want a fudge. Meanwhile, many of us are against it in principle, we have promised our electorate that we could never vote for it."
I asked what other issues the Party could unite behind?
Mr Redwood: "I think on the other issues we are a much more united party even than we were in the 1980s. I remember in the 1980s, when we were very successful electorally, we were deeply divided over economic policy. There were endless rows between the 'wets' and 'dries'. We also had very big rows in those days about the early privatisations, about trade union reforms, about all the major changes made in the Thatcher governments. But after lively debates we got on with it, kept our word to the electorate and we won elections. All of which shows it can be done and I think proves that it wasn't the splits than lost us the last election it was something else. We need to win votes by having popular policies, offering people something they want and clearly the public didn't feel we were offering the right things on May 1st.
If I were to be leader of the Conservative Party I would want a good democratic debate about the issues. I would turn the 1922 Committee into a weekly forum for discussing the things that matter. We would come to a conclusion more often than not. I would agree with the majority view or consensus. If, however, on certain occasions we could not because we really did feel that the majority view was going to damage the nation or the party then we would extend the courtesy to everyone of explaining why and try to take the Party with us. We would not try to lead the Party In the direction it did not wish to go."
Grassroots renewal
I then went on to say that for the last thirty to forty years the Conservative Patty has relied on the dedication of a now ageing set of activists and asked Mr Redwood how he thought we could recruit new and particularly younger people into the Party. He replied by saying that these people have played a vital part and that we are very grateful for all the older members' work. They put an awful lot of effort into this General Election. He said, 'Yes you are quite right we don't have enough members and we are particularly short of members under 60 years of age. Two generations of missing members have not been recruited.
What I have been doing in my constituency is to identify younger people who want to stand as council members, want to chair branches and to do the foot slogging on the doorsteps and we have had some success. As a result we won 19 of the 26 council seats on 1st May. One was CCF member Andy Miller. How do we get young people involved? I find that they want a vision of a better future and they want to join a winning team. The pattern of young peoples' lives has changed. Most young families now have both parents working, free time is limited so if they want to do something additional at weekends and in the evenings they want to see that its going somewhere and that it's worthwhile."
"We have actually been losing local and by-elections since 1990. We have been losing members and majorities have been reducing. Local candidates have got used to losing. Once we were the biggest party in local government. We hope to be showing from next May onwards that we are on the attack again. People like being attached to successful things - [like Manchester United's nationwide membership, I interjected!] - I think it will be easier to recruit people to the party once we become successful again'."
Local campaigning
Mr Redwood: 'What we have been doing in Wokingham is working out what the public expected of us by way of public services and the council tax. We pounded the streets, met, spoke to and listened to the vast majority of the people. We produced some high quality literature. We got a very good result - partly by identifying how more money could be spent on education. I, as a local resident and the local MP will ensure the newly-elected Conservative councillors keep that important promise on education spending and others!'
'The Wokingham factor' is being trumpeted by Hywel Williams, the Director of John Redwood's Conservative 2000 Foundation. Mr Williams has sent letters to all Conservative 2000 supporters showing that the swing in the constituency was relatively better than any of the other leadership contenders.
This experience in Wokingham could be repeated across the country, John Redwood suggested. By being more efficient and spending less on pet projects Tory councils could show that they could find more money for schools. Unlike Labour councils we must show that we want to make a difference for schoolchildren now rather than devote all our energies into moaning about central government. John Redwood then echoed his 1995 campaign pledge on hospitals. Keeping hospitals open from Guy's to local and cottage hospitals should be a Conservative priority.
Lessons from America
Do you think we can learn any lessons from the Republican defeats in the USA, I asked? 'Yes, I think we should have learnt from the Bush defeat because Bush was primarily defeated because he broke his promise on tax and there was an element of that in our own defeat with VAT on fuel. That was one of the reasons I was against it because I thought it would be very damaging. What we learnt from that was that we must keep our promises. The Dole defeat was even more interesting in lots of ways.
I spent some time at their headquarters. It demonstrated that you can have a well financed and organised campaign but if you have nothing to say you are not going to get elected. Poor Bob Dole tried his best. He went round the country, glad-handed everybody but it didn't matter because there was nothing there. There was no message. The only message was that 'it's my turn', 'vote for me I'm very experienced', 'Hi, I'm Bob Dole'. Bob Dole never could answer the key question: 'Why he should win'. What we have got to do when we go to the election in 2001 or 2002 is to tell the people why we want to be back in charge."
Did he see any similarity between the way President Clinton moved the Democratic Party into the centre ground and how Tony Blair has done the same with the Labour Party? 'Yes, but we are the real thing and if you are strong enough and are the real thing you will be elected.... assuming that is what the people want. Mr Blair has been adept at stealing our clothes.
What encourages me is that the people did not reject us over principles. They rejected the way we had been behaving and the way we conducted ourselves over the previous few years. If we stick to our principles and get a lot better at presenting our policies and show that we have a strong interest in what the public wants and aspires to, then we can and will return to office'.
In response to a question on the legacy of Thatcherism, John Redwood said that he was proud to have been part of that important part of British political history. He was glad to have played a role in policy formulation but that was twenty years ago. 'Although each of us is affected by the past we cannot live in the past. Radicalism for radicalism's sake is not sensible. Reform where necessary, of course, but Conservatives must also be about preserving and buttressing what is best and I am committed to do just that'.
Related links
The 1997 Conservative Leadership Interviews: Ken Clarke
The 1997 Conservative Leadership Interviews: Stephen Dorrell
The 1997 Conservative Leadership Interviews: William Hague
The 1997 Conservative Leadership Interviews: Michael Howard
The 1997 Conservative Leadership Interviews: Peter Lilley
The 1997 Conservative Leadership Interviews: moral issues questionnaire
| |
