This 6 part blog uses the impact of Thursday's UK General Election result on each recognised Party to explain one of the main reasons why we are frequently blindsided by human attitudes and behaviour, and how to better prepare ourselves.
This post explains how the Conservatives (Tories) managed to steal an extraordinary triumph from the anticipated jaws of defeat, or at best stalemate, with Labour.
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Under the expert direction of their Australian and American strategy
chiefs David Cameron and the Conservatives worked hard and got seriously
lucky. Even THEY didn't expect it.
The Conservative Party’s impressive strategy gurus by the way are no doubt richly
funded by hedge fund magnates resident in the Cayman Islands for tax purposes -
that's a well-founded, not jaundiced speculation. It illustrates the point that well spent, rather than squandered, largesse does provide competitive advantage.
Whatever your politics you have to admire, and learn from, the ruthless, dead-eye professionalism of these strategists. They identified, and ruthlessly targeted, the Achilles heels of their
major competitors - Labour in some seats and the Liberal Democrats in
others. It proved devastatingly successful.
They played on the electorate's visceral fears of a Labour/SNP Coalition or
Voting Agreement, its mistrust of Labour for apparent economic
incompetence when last in power, and mistrust of the Lib Dems due to their
broken pledge to freeze university tuition fees.
In the run-up to the election Cameron must have contemplated the feasible outcome that he would lose, or fail for a 2nd time to achieve a majority, and consequently be torn political limb from political limb by the predatory right wingers in his own party who’ve always
seen him as one of the weaker antelopes on the veldt. That could still happen if he fails to meet
their agenda or contrives to lose the Union between England and Scotland, as he
so nearly did last September. His grip
on power looked pretty shaky then.
The Conservative campaign was frankly workmanlike and lacklustre, with no inspiring vision, but it worked,
beautifully. Hats off to them. They judged perfectly the brainstems and emotions of those who
could be persuaded to vote for them.
However, when observing his close colleague Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s fate Cameron
must be feeling "There but for the grace of God go I". Cameron must now deliver on Friday’s promise
to govern the UK as a compassionate One Nation Conservative. That will take guts, which he has not
previously shown in abundance, humilty, the willingness to stand up (constructively) to the detractors and agitators in his Party, plus principle, dedication to the task, creativity, and a previously unforeseen ability to build bridges with a hostile Scotland that views him as the Devil
Incarnate, and in Europe with fellow reformers. In other words he needs to become an outstanding leader, exhibiting the characteristics of the Top 1% and manifestly governing for the country as a whole, not just talking about it. It's time for the applied, brainstem-reaching Big Society.
Has Cameron got what it takes? Has he acqired at last, at least in part, the wisdom he needs to be a truly effective leader? If so then Nick Clegg’s incalculable sacrifice (see Part 4 of this blog) may not prove to have been in vain, though of course he will never be credited with it by the vast majority, other than dispassionate historians. Effectively he has laid down his political life for Cameron's, and the country's benefit.
Has Cameron got what it takes? Has he acqired at last, at least in part, the wisdom he needs to be a truly effective leader? If so then Nick Clegg’s incalculable sacrifice (see Part 4 of this blog) may not prove to have been in vain, though of course he will never be credited with it by the vast majority, other than dispassionate historians. Effectively he has laid down his political life for Cameron's, and the country's benefit.
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