Howard celebrates a year in charge
Michael Howard celebrates his first full year in charge of the Conservatives on Saturday, with the party making only small advances in the opinion polls.
Mr Howard made an immediate impact after being confirmed as successor to ousted Iain Duncan Smith on 6 November 2003, particularly in providing a sterner opponent for Tony Blair at Prime Minister’s question time.
Ruth Lea, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, told politics.co.uk that the party had made “great steps forward on the policy front.”
He has overseen the move of Central Office away from the party’s traditional base at Smith Square to more modern premises on Victoria Street, which have been rebranded Conservative Campaign Headquarters.
However, Mr Howard has also endured a fourth place finish behind UKIP in the Hartlepool by-election and faced disquiet over his leadership amongst backbench MPs.
Only this week, John Bercow, a former Conservative frontbench spokesman, attacked Mr Howard’s “opportunistic” criticism of Tony Blair’s stance on Iraq.
The Conservatives maintain that Mr Howard’s first year in charge has produced a clear set of policies to address priorities such as cleaner hospitals, lower taxes, school discipline, more police and controlled immigration.
The summer saw the Conservatives campaign on giving patients the Right to Choose – a “very coherent set of policies” according to Ms Lea.
She also said steps forward had been made on asylum and immigration with proposals for Australian-like controls on numbers “which make a lot of sense”.
The party had done “the best they could under the circumstances” on Iraq. Mr Howard had tried to maintain a reasonably consistent view, but had tacked around some of the issues, she said.
Ms Lea said there was more to come from Mr Howard on Europe, whilst “great strides” had been made on the economy. Plans to reduce the size of the State, the James review and the appointment of John Redwood as Secretary of State for Deregulation were all a “substantial commitment in the right direction”.
“All in all his record is very commendable,” she said, but “There is more to come and there will be more to come.”
Earlier this week, John Bercow, who was sacked as International Development Secretary in August said Michael Howard had appeared “opportunistic” in claiming Tony Blair deliberately misled the country over Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.
“I believe the Prime Minister has been honest about the war and that he has displayed courage, vision and statesmanship,” he said.
Mr Bercow also said the Conservative Party should home in on issues such as public services and shift away from Europe, taxation and immigration.
A former right-winger, who has followed Michael Portillo’s path to a softer attitude on social issues, Mr Bercow said he concurred with much of Labour’s public service reforms and warned a progressive Conservative Party must appeal to all sections of society.
“I don’t meet people even in Conservative areas who tell me their main priority is tax cuts. We have to spend a lot more time thinking about people who don’t vote Conservative.”
Mr Bercow said the August reshuffle – in which John Redwood return to the Conservative party frontbench – had been “bizarre”.
