A Times newspaper editorial says today:

More and more leading figures, both in Westminster and the City, are expecting either a hung Parliament or a minority administration. Clearly David Cameron is not making a convincing case. The central charge against him is that, while he is approachable and likeable, his aims and values as a future prime minister of this country are still unclear. David Cameron has yet to answer a basic question: what does he stand for?
…
Despite this serial good fortune, Mr Cameron’s case is not yet persuasive. His speeches are replete with favourable references to charities but precious little about the practical business issue of job creation. He has been fond lately of set-piece speeches of dubious intellectual and strategic wisdom on the iniquity of the big state and health and safety legislation. He would be better advised to get out into the country to visit as many people and places as possible, splitting his time between persuading and listening.
…
Mr Cameron is, instead, projecting the aura of a man who wants power rather more than he knows what to do with it. He is also sounding, as he did at his party’s conference in October, like a man who is spending more time preparing for government than he is asking to be elected. This is a dangerous attitude to strike. It may be possible for Mr Cameron to drift to victory on the tide of government unpopularity but this will not provide him with a mandate for power. “Anyone but Gordon” is not a slogan on which to rely.

Ouch!

Sunder Katwala at Next Left thinks the ambiguity over Cameron’s thinking is unlikely to change. While the grassroots clamour to get heard even more, the Times editorial makes clear that he needs to think outside the party’s narrow base in order to convince more people.

The so far limited tightening of the polls will see calls for Cameron to return to the modernising outreach agenda, and calls for him to connect better to his core support. One can not easily fulfil both of these demands.
…
So I would be surprised if there was more clarity and less ambiguity about what David Cameron stands for in the next six months – though the government might best, through its own policy agenda, present tests which may sometimes require a choice to be made.

Reader comments

1. Political Scrapbook

   RT @libcon: :: Times: Cameron case 'is not yet persuasive' http://bit.ly/5k1rMg

2. sunny hundal

   And they've realised this only now? RT @libcon Times: David Cameron's case 'is not yet persuasive' http://bit.ly/5k1rMg

3. Liberal Conspiracy

   :: Times: Cameron case 'is not yet persuasive' http://bit.ly/5k1rMg

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