Cameron’s task

What’s in a name?

Many people will say that a name makes no difference. The famous question concerning roses springs automatically to mind… But of course there is a lot in a name that affects your reaction to something. Brands, particularly, have an image. Many people will not drink Pepsi and will drink Coca Cola’s Coke or vice versa not because they really like the flavour of one more than the other, but because Coca Cola is better at advertising.

New Labour was so named not because Blair fancied a change but because it made people ask themselves what the ‘new’ means. And Clause 4 was their answer.

Unfortunately too much has been made recently of the need for the Tories to have a ‘Clause 4 moment’. Every idea Cameron comes up with is tested against the Clause 4 criteria. The Political Editor of newspapers or of television news programmes all ask “Is this the Tories’ Clause 4 moment?”. But I think it may have already happened.

As I said previously the excellent Mat GB of Great Britain, not little England has highlighted the change already. The Tories are realigning themselves as the party of the liberal economics (as it was already) and liberal social policy (which is a major and welcome change). Pragmatic Conservatives are more and more understanding that the “Back to Basics” policy of Major and the unenlightened social policies of Thatcher were off the mark.

The Liberal Democrat’s name suggests, rightly, their liberal credentials as well as their Democrat tendencies (as in the US party of the left). With that nomenclature already in place in the UK’s political party system, it makes sense for the Tories to elaborate on this understanding. If the Tories wish to change their name I suggest:

Liberal Republicans

Of course “Republican” has a connotation in the UK which is different to the connotation in the US specifically about the formal role of the monarchy as head of state which I do have my own feelings on… But that’s for another post!