Skipper

Setting up policy groups to devise new approaches is usually a reasonably safe course of action. Neil Kinnock managed in this way to nudge Labour away from its leftist obsessions in the mid eighties. And it seemed David Cameron had done something equally sensible when he set up his six groups. Ken Clarke's on Democracy, was well received but the latest product, on economic competitiveness, from that unreconstructed Thatcherite, John Redwood, has opened up Cameron to attack from the left and centre, the very flanks on which he has to make progress to become electable. Polly Toynbee today indicates his vulnerability:

His 10 chapters, written with the help of the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, form a mighty Redwood manifesto covering virtually everything: here are policies on health and safety (leave it up to employers' responsibility and common sense); pensions (deregulate their accounts); trains (privatise yet more); relaxing planning laws (let developers bribe local Nimby objectors instead of paying planning gain to councils); abandoning data protection; and saving a promised £14bn by slashing and burning regulation. Forget Cameron green: instead, double the mileage of motorways and build more airport runways.

This document will resonate nicely in the editorial offices of the Mail and Telegraph and will gladden the hearts of those who thought the old agenda had been consigned to history. But exhuming aspects of the 'nasty party' will not chime with the floating voters the Tories need to attract in order to win but will merely force the party's ratings even further down- and it has already become clear that Cameron cannot continue his efforts to haul his party into the centre ground, where elections are won, without an opinion poll lead. And with Gordon licking his lips over a possible autumn dash to the polls, this report is not going to help one little bit.

But, Polly hints at something which I have been thinking for a while now: what exactly is George Osborne up to? He has written this report along with Redwood and will be alongside him at the launch(Dave, wisely is staying away). Maybe there is some subtle positioning going on here: Osborne defining himself as the 'genuine Conservative' option should the party, maybe sometime soon, come around to the view that they liked Cameron's Blairite charisma, but could not swallow his Blairite policies. It would be a simply wonderful irony if Osborne turned out to be Gordon to Cameron's Tony.