REFORMING ZEAL

by RAY FLEMING
NEXT week's Conservative Party Conference in Britain promises to be extremely interesting. The majority of those who attend from the constituencies tend to be “Old” Conservatives who are worried about David Cameron's reforming zeal. This will be the first occasion since his election one year ago that they will have had an opportunity en masse to express their concerns. They liked it last year when he talked about “the need to change” but the reality of what he has in mind may have upset them. And not only constituency members, Lord Tebbit and John Redwood, too. It was therefore timely that Michael Howard said yesterday, “He was elected on a platform of change, and they should let him get on with it.” Mr Howard has previously not indicated whether Mr Cameron was his choice as leader but he also said, “I think he's doing brilliantly”. Most party leaders keep their policy ammunition dry for their Conference speech but this week Mr Cameron has revealed yet more of his reforming thoughts, unveiling a range of measures to “clean up” politics and restore the public's faith in government that he wants Kenneth Clarke's democracy task force to look at. His timing is good given the latest revelations about Downing Street's involvement in cash-for-peerages: “Tony Blair's government has tarnished politics and eroded public confidence in our traditional institutions.” It might have been an echo of Mr Blair talking about John Major nine years ago.