Watford Conservatives are in trouble. There’s no doubt about it. Ian Oakley, their former parliamentary candidate, has been charged with offences relating to a hate campaign against the Liberal Democrat candidate Sal Brinton. While Lib Dem Voice are having a fine time gloating, and the Watford Conservative website still runs a banner proclaiming “Ian Oakley: A Strong Voice For Watford”, they really need to start thinking seriously about what can be done in Watford – a three way marginal seat which David Cameron has had high hopes for in the past. So, to this end I have started a list of five six things that need to be done, as quickly as possible. I’m not a Conservative Party member, but I do generally support them, and having grown up in Watford I feel it is incumbent on me to start speaking up about this.
DON’T PANIC
It would be very easy to write this seat off now. 18 months before a general election, losing a candidate in such a compromising situation is going to seriously stutter your chances. Things are bad, but they’re not as atrocious as they could be. Dropping into a panic and fighting amongst yourselves, or acting rashly in the face of adversity, is just going to make things worse.
Get a new candidate. Quick.
You need somebody entirely unconnected with the previous candidate – preferably somebody entirely unconnected with Watford Conservatives as a whole. The Lib Dems have you against the wall now – Watford Conservatives have been exposed as corrupt and dirty tricksters, willing to go to disgraceful lengths to attain power. You need to neutralise this criticism, show that the people who are going to go into the election are not the people who have been running a dirty tricks campaign. You’ll probably end up with somebody off the A-List, but you still want someone with ties to the local community. The person you really need, though, is the exact opposite of Ian Oakley. You need someone whiter than white.
Start replacing people from the campaign
This is an admission of guilt. It’s going to be really painful, but many of you don’t deserve to campaign under the Conservative banner any more. You’ve brought shame upon yourselves and upon the local party, and by inference you’ve disgraced the Conservative Party as a whole. Those who were involved in these crimes should step aside without delay. Watford just went from being a three-way marginal to being a Lib Dem target seat and you need to draft in people, preferably from CCHQ, who can run the best campaign possible against them. You need the best.
Emphasise the national Conservative strategy
We all know that at general elections, people vote for national parties, not for local candidates. So emphasise that. The Conservatives are in a great position for the next election, Labour on on the ropes, and the Lib Dems are not exploiting Labour’s failings. By emphasising that Watford Conservatives are campaigning on the national Conservative strategy, you can capitalise on some of that good feeling. Yes, it would be nice to concentrate on localism, but you’ve shown yourselves to be pretty poor locally – just as bad as the locals, in fact.
Get David Cameron to shake your candidate’s hand on camera
Name recognition, face recognition. These things go a long way. A personal blessing from the very popular David Cameron will go a long way towards letting people know that your new candidate has been vetted and approved by the national party leadership. It’s not good enough any more to have just another candidate – you need someone who’s the best the Conservatives have to offer, and you need David Cameron to tell Watford that your person is the best that the Conservatives have to offer.
Campaign as you’ve never campaigned before
I think this one speaks for itself. Shout about the gangs of youths patrolling Garston and West Watford. Get upset about the signs of decline in the town’s formally exemplary schools, brought on by the woeful education policies of the Labour Party. Get on the side of the small businesses who run stalls in the market which are being squeezed by an ever-more-aggressive Harlequin Centre, if you like. Do as much as you can, as quickly as you can. Let them know that voting Conservative will, in the words of the Mayor of London,“make your wife’s breasts bigger and greatly increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.”
Pray
Or, to sum up this post in 6 words written by Bill Bryson:
Do More. Try Harder. Start Now.
It’s hard to say ‘sorry’, but it’s a first step and effective if it’s genuine. Before they go, the Watford Tories should send a personal letter to all their constituents, containing a heartfelt apology, and their resignations.
Let the whole of the Watford campaign go – it’s tainted. Tough on the good ones but life is full of good people who either bemoan their fate or move on. This should be directed by Eric Pickles, not by Cameron. DC should distance himself from the whole debacle.
Rebuild trust by knocking on doors and taking the ear-bashing; people will have their say and the Tories can either choose to hear it in person or at the ballot box.
And, yes, one of the smartest moves a party can make in a village, town or city, is to engage as many small traders as possible. This is especially true for the Tories since we (traders) have been kicked in the teeth for too long. I don’t know about Watford but my experience is that a many of us know and support each other, even competing ones (it’s got THAT bad with this gvt). Each will have some 500 to 2000 regulars…I don’t need to explain the rest.
Then DC can come and say hello (leave Osborne behind).
Tizzy
July 28, 2008 at 6:04 pm