CALL ME DAVE by Michael Ashcroft & Isabel Oakshott

Overall an accurate and fair portrait of David Cameron.

Clearly a vocational politician, in the same way as a doctor or priest might choose their
career, Camerons main blind spot is that he is a prisoner of his old-fashioned and distinctly
rural upper-class upbringing. He is unable to see that a society consists of 100% of its
members and that one cannot concentrate ones efforts on reforming / improving the lot of
90% while leaving the top 10% untouched. To believe the top 10% are somehow the wealth
creators and the salt of the earth is mistaken some are, but many are just passengers and
no less scroungers than the lowest of the low.
As a personality Cameron is definitely schizoid in everyday terms there can be no doubt
of his personal integrity and desire to conduct himself honourably. However, in politics, when
it comes to winning, such considerations are simply thrown out the window and he is
prepared to be as ruthless, duplicitous, evasive and dishonest as necessary. In short, in
politics, something comes over him and he happily manages to put both his conscience and
the truth to one side.
Cameron is an intelligent man though certainly not as intelligent as he thinks he is he
has also (with the exception of his son Ivan) been extremely lucky. Whether he will be
remembered as a Prime Minister very few are is, as things stand, unlikely. So far he has
navigated the various crises he has faced adequately but hardly impressively the revolt in
the House of Lords reform and the Scottish Referendum (a close shave) are cases in point.
With regard to the New Of The World scandal and Rebekah Brooks he had, realistically, no
choice. His stand on gay marriage is highly peculiar in the context of his other positions.
Will he do anything about the U.K. housing crisis, the most burning issue of the moment?
It looks improbable it is too much against his instincts to upset the top 10% who do not
want massive homebuilding programmes. A shame. Macmillan would have bitten the bullet.
And again on Europe, where he faces difficult challenges, will he be bold, or will he just try
and wing it? Likely the latter.
Ashcroft and Oakeshotts research is very thorough and one would have to say that
Camerons youthful excesses seem pretty trivial. A few nuggets, which are either unknown or
have been widely forgotten, such as that Samantha Cameron and Frances Osborne dont
really get on and that Andrew Lansley was once Camerons boss at the Conservative
Research Department are interesting. Similarly is Camerons personal plea to Iain Duncan
Smith to take charge of the DWP and his chumminess with Nicholas Soames. Lansley at the
NHS was a failure and Duncan Smith is dim, so one can only assume in appointing them that
Cameron had the ulterior motive of trying to paper over some of the many cracks that exist
within the Conservative Party. Most of amusing of all, however, is Vladimir Putins verdict
on Cameron basically he thinks he is a non-entity!
Cameron is essentially only really comfortable with people from the same background as
himself even Hilton and Coulson seem to have been regarded more as key advisers than as
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intimate associates. Yet his very close relationship with George Osborne is underexplored
how close is it and why? Moreover, what is the true extent of the Chancellors influence?
This is a serious omission.
Ashcroft writes well but his style is at times a little dry. Isabel Oakeshott, in contrast, is a
gifted writer and her prose often shines.
As for Ashcrofts motive for putting out this biography? I suspect he would like to be readmitted to the fold he is clearly Tory through and through and has a tendency to see
Labour as the bad guys (as if the 2008 global financial crisis was caused by UK domestic
policy it was not). Also it is plain that, whereas there are some in the Tory party that
Ashcroft likes more than others, he is reluctant to burn bridges flattery on occasion wins out
over criticism.
Why does Cameron not offer Ashcroft a job? I imagine because he thinks hes going to
get quite enough unsolicited advice from Ashcroft anyway and therefore is disinclined to give
him a platform that would encourage him to give even more.
Who knows what will happen in the next four or so years? But I doubt Camerons blind
spot will go away so the Tories wont shed their party-of-the-rich, nasty image (which at
present with tax credit reform and so on is no less than what they deserve).
To remedy this Cameron has to understand that major actions, not empty words, are
needed. For sure, to date, his claims that hes a One-Nation Conservative are a joke. Yet has
he the stomach to really address this? No. And, on basis of the evidence, not the inclination
either.

Rating: 6.5 / 10 Edward Rayne November, 2015