Old Newscast: The Rise Of David Cameron (Part 1)
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. It's being eaten around the world today. Aleppo. Urban legend. Welcome to this busy information event in the city of Lapinranta. As we all know, the situation is terrible. Sillä tänä kesänä aiomme jakaa viisi tuhatta laatikollista karkkia osana Suomen Makein Kesä-kampanjaa. Siis onks toi nyt ihan tosissaan? Kyllä ne vissiin on. Suomen Makein Kesä Lappeenrannassa. makeinkesä.fi
On this episode of Old Newscast, we're going to be looking back at the 2005 Conservative leadership election, the contest which would, we know now, set the scene for the Tories to return to government after a decade out of power. More than a decade. The contest came off the back of the general election in the same year where Tony Blair secured his third election win, albeit with a greatly reduced majority, with questions over the Iraq war lingering. The Tory leader, Michael Howard, had improved the Conservatives' result based on the last election, but despite calls to stay, he announced he would stand down shortly after polling day. So who would emerge to lead the Conservatives into the 2010 election and possibly beyond?
That is what we will be discussing on this episode of Older Newscast. Newscast.
Newscast from the BBC. Having a young, vigorous, energetic leader.
I think I have a very clear idea of what the British people now expect from this government for a third term. I've said that if people don't deliver, they go. Various Tories did at one stage say, yeah, I smoke the odd spliff.
Come to think of it, it's not such a bad idea.
Well, James Landale is here. James, you are a diplomatic correspondent now, but in 2005 you were... I was the chief political correspondent for BBC News, which basically meant that I was on the... In those days, I think it was called the News 24, the 24-hour domestic news channel. Some people still call it that. Yes, we do. I think now we're officially the news channel. And that meant that I was basically in front of a camera or a microphone... pretty much 24-7, regurgitating and telling the story of British politics. And receiving calls from the man sitting next to you, George Eustace. Hello, George. Hello. We got to know you as a Tory MP and a cabinet minister in lots of different departments. But in 2005, you were...
Well, in 2005, I ran the Conservative press office during that general election. So I worked very closely with Michael Howard's team. And then shortly after that election, I became David Cameron's press secretary during that very eventful leadership campaign. So the big thing that happened in 2005 was the general election. And that turned out to be Tony Blair's last general election. James, what do you remember from that campaign? And what did that result kind of mean for the country? I think it was certainly a campaign that had more questions about it. 2001, you know, everybody knew what was going to happen. It was quite a boring election. But this one was, the context was different. You know, Blairism was looking tarnished, old, with a bit of whiskery.
The legacy of Iraq hung. pretty heavily over that election. So there was a certain degree of uncertainty about how, you know, Labour sort of reinvents itself and keeps it going. And therefore, you know, what opportunity would be presented to the Conservatives at that time. So there was a degree of uncertainty. We knew that Blair's time was coming to an end at some point in the future. We didn't know precisely when, but that sense of teleology, the end point was arriving. And would Gordon Brown be the future? So that was the context of the election. And then the question, of course, was what the Tories would gain from it or not. And George, I'm just thinking back to the episode we did about 1997 and the euphoria around New Labour and Blair arriving in Downing Street and all these dire warnings that the Conservatives were done for maybe two generations, not just one.
But actually, by 2005, that wasn't looking quite so true, was it? Yeah. Michael Howard, to his credit, you know, he was a professional operator.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:17
2
What prompted the 2005 Conservative leadership contest after the general election?
5:17–18:23
3
How did Michael Howard’s 2005 campaign performance shape the party’s direction?
18:23–24:27
4
Why was the Conservative brand seen as a problem after 2005 and how did immigration feature?
24:27–33:23