Michael Howard's first four months
On Saturday Michael Howard has been Conservative leader for four months, which seems an appropriate time to take stock.As a party member and contributor I have been generally pleased with his leadership, despite my initial scepticism. This seems a view shared by many of the electorate, with the Conservatives 5% ahead in most opinion polls.
On the policy side Howard has moved us back to the left. He has maintained Ian Duncan Smith's courageous policy of free higher education for all, linking of the basic state pension to average earnings growth, and reaching out to groups that traditionally have shunned the Tories. But Howard has gone further than IDS -- promising to increase health and education spending to levels never seen in this country, slash defence and other spending traditionally associated with the Conservatives. Most impressively, this week we saw evidence that Howard is planning to break from IDS's policy of slavish support for the government's foreign policy, which has caused this country so much damage.
In short, I can see literally no reason why a consistent social democratic would want anybody but Michael Howard to win the next general election.
posted by Matthew @ 3/04/2004 05:21:00 PM
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