Monday, December 12, 2011

 

Is Cameron just a Bad Prime Minister....?

Justin Fisher from Brunel University has posted on the British Politics Group a quite provocative analysis of David Cameron suggesting that he's just not very good at being prime Minister. Given that he always said he was sure he'd be an excellent PM, this is worth considering.

He argues that Cameron fails to recognise the seriousness of issues until too late or mishandles them once he addresses them.

i) he was slow to react to the summer riots in our cities.
ii) ditto with phone hacking allowing E£d Miliband to grab some good publicity by condemning Murdoch.
iii) Liam Fox was allowed to twist in the wind too long before he was sacked- rather as brown dithered over Peter Hain when he should have acted. Blair, by comparison acted promptly and relatively ruthlessly, even sacking his best friend Mandelson
iv)Over the euro crisis he needlessly angered EU partners by lecturing them on how they should act. And when he needed support, it wasn't there.

Interesting thesis I reckon, which has much to commend it, unfortunately for the country perhaps.

Comments:
I think I would broadly go along with Justin's thesis Bill. Cameron is an excellent PR man and has the sunny, engaging persona that Gordon Brown sadly lacked, but he has always been an intellectual lightweight in comparison with Gordon and this is now beginning to show. You cite Brown's 'dithering' over whether to sack Peter Hain but his place in history is hardly going to depend on this. He was much more decisive in his response to the banking crisis and it is on issues such as this that leaders are ultimately judged. On that score - namely his handling of the really big issues - Cameron is proving to be a worse Prime Minister than Brown.
 
Paul
Thanks for this. I'm inclined to agree with you. I daresay Vince and company would too. But I'm astonished at how much support there is for his veto as evidenced in Times Populus poll yesterday.
 
"I'm astonished at how much support there is for his veto"

Don't you read the British newspapers?! I'm told (by them) that we have the best press in the world so it must be true...

(I was even forced to agree with G Monbiot's piece in the Manchester Guardian this week. Alas, as usual, he's v good at identifying issues (especially the bleeding obvious (© Basil Fawlty)) but hopeless at producing any workable solutions.)
 
Opinion polls suggest otherwise. Eighteen months into slashing the deficit, amid massive cuts,and a worsening economic climate, Cameron still leads the hopeless Ed with the public. If Ed can't win now, then when will he ever? Judging by his performance in the Commons today, Ed is totally unelectable. Until Labour get a leader, this debate is pointless.

Defence of Brown is hilarious. Ruthlessly sacking Mandy...and then er, bringing him back?
 
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