Cautious and cagey: what we thought of Cameron Direct
Friday, January 15th, 2010You know those recent stories about David Cameron’s airbrushed face? They might be a little exagerrated. Going by yesterday’s Cameron Direct event at the Madejski Stadium, the Conservative leader’s face really does have an unusually smooth texture.
It’s probably designed to match his smooth manner on stage, because, well practiced at this sort of unscripted Q&A, he knew exactly how to behave in front of what was a fairly undemanding audience.
Actually, you could’ve lifted some of his moves straight from the MP’s Guide to Good Public Speaking. After opening with a quip about Reading’s cup success (he must’ve clocked John Madejski in the front row) the responses to most questions ran to a pretty standard formula:
- Strike thoughtful, hand on chin pose while listening to question (see our photos, above).
- Pay tribute to the questioner (”very good question”) while considering a response.
- Look directly back while answering, to create that “forget everyone else here” vibe.
Let’s not be overly critical though. He did turn up. We got about an hour of his time. And we could ask whatever we liked. Politicians don’t do enough of this sort of thing, and we applaud any efforts to open a dialogue with us ordinary voters. (Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg, can we pencil you in? Update: actually, Clegg did hold a similar meeting in Reading in 2008.)
There was the odd bit of fawning from the party faithful; our favourite was a question which started “I’m already a Young Conservative…” (not a very well-informed one - they’re called Conservative Future these days) before drifting off into something to do with Carol Vorderman. Yes, really.
The hundred-or-so people present managed to cover a good spread of subjects. Faith schools (Cameron supports them), Afghanistan (”let’s get the whole of Whitehall on a war footing”), house prices (”housebuilding targets are wrong”) and NHS dentists all got a look in during the 20+ questions. Disappointingly, there was no argy-bargy - in fact the crowd was polite to the point of being almost deferential.
Carol Vorderman question aside, we listened to everything intently. Sadly, we don’t feel we learnt much. Barring mention of a possible new National Security Council, there was nothing new and, although keen to talk about his big themes (”bottom up” government versus “top down” was a favourite), there wasn’t much in the way of specifics.
Tellingly, when asked for his “elevator pitch”, Cameron gave a restrained, cautious, slightly negative response.
“I don’t want to promise you the shining city on the hill until I can deliver it.” “It’s going to be difficult.” “I can’t promise you I’m going to end the country’s problems quickly.”
Fair enough, tell it like you see it, but we’d really been hoping for something a bit more inspirational. This certainly wasn’t the UK equivalent of the Obama-effect. Yes we can? More like no, we probably can’t, unless we get a good following wind and a lot of luck, and even then it’s going to be dicey.
Where was the hope, the optimism and the it’s-not-great-right-now-but-we’ll-fix-it tenacity?
We’re glad we went. And we’re impressed by Cameron’s efforts to resurrect the old-fashioned public debate. More, please, from all political parties. But ultimately, we don’t feel much nearer to understanding what we’ll get if the country votes Conservative in the election.
Did you skive off work to see David Cameron at the Madejski? Leave a comment to let us know if you read it the same way as us.

In parliament, PM Tony Blair recognised efforts made in Reading to cut crime and underlined the need to implement tougher actions still. Blair said that the new powers were making a difference. Really? I’m still seeing drunk and disorderly people, fights and evidence of vandalism. Must try harder, I think: