Official Conservative policy – Tory candidates not to be trusted

It’s official you can’t trust Tory party candidates. The Conservative Party has so little faith in its own Parliamentary candidates that it’s had to issue official advice to candidates to check before they say anything about policy. Tory wanna-be MPs can’t Twitter, blog or use Facebook to talk about policy without checking first.

When I read and tweeted about the Daily Mail Fail story this morning I didn’t quite believe it. But confirmation came shortly later when Tory staffer Craig Elder tweeted “PPCs are free (and encouraged) to tweet what they like. But they should double-check if commenting about national policy.”

This ‘rebuttal’ is even more alarming than the original Daily Mail story. It effectively confirms that Tory candidates can’t be trusted to know something as simple as their own party’s policy! Now I know Dave and Boy George keep having gaffes and making it up on the hoof, but you’d have thought that Tory candidates would be bright enough to keep up on their own without spoon feeding from Central Office. Or maybe it’s just that the real views of Tory candidates are so much to the raving right that Dave is worried that voters might find out what they’re really like before the the election and scupper his chances for power.

You don’t need to look far to see some of the most extreme raving right nonsense to emanate from Dave’s acolytes:

This is going to be the most unpopular blog I’ve ever written, but here goes. MPs should set their own salaries. They should be free – encouraged, even – to take on additional jobs. And the fuss about how much they can spend on their kitchens is silly and demeaning.”
Daniel Hannan, Daily Telegraph blog, 16 May 2008

You just need contrast the Tory’s ‘Command and Control’ model with Labour’s approach of genuine engagement with voters to see that Cameron’s cuddly Conservatives are all spin and no substance.