Immigration wedge divides Tories

Steve Bell in the Guardian

Happily the Crosby experiment in wedge politics appears to be going a little pear shaped in the Old Dart. It appears the Scots in particularly are underwhelmed – and they know something of forced migration.

Following is an excerpt from an article in today’s Scotsman:

‘The assault against Howard had been triggered by a ‘ring-round’ among members of the shadow cabinet, apparently to cobble together a united front against his strident stance on immigration. Irritated senior Tories last night confirmed that traditional moderate Tories including Tim Yeo and David Willets, as well as the harder-line shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley, were in the frame.

"They have chosen now to complain," one close Howard ally said. "They did not utter so much as a murmur about what we were saying when it looked like it was chipping away at the Labour rating. In fact, most of them would have been very happy."

The emergence of such problems left the Tory campaign badly tarnished. It is now focusing growing scrutiny on the men who lead it - and in particular Lynton Crosby, the Australian campaign chief who has now gained almost mythic status within the party. Crosby has occupied a remarkable position of trust and authority within the Tories’ higher echelons. No official statement - no speech, response, interview - made on the campaign trail is delivered without first being cleared with Crosby, who remains back at the Tories’ election command centre in London.

"They have fully bought into his campaign plan," confirmed one of those who has been at Howard’s side for the full two weeks of the campaign. "Everyone, even [Howard’s media chief] Guy Black, has to run everything past Crosby. You get the sense that he decided what was going to happen on every day of the campaign before the election was even called, and we won’t be allowed to deviate from it."

The trust placed in him has been due to his record Down Under, where he was generally credited with masterminding two election victories for Australian Premier John Howard. Hired by Michael Howard, he set out a battle plan for the Conservative campaign at the start of last month during a two-day summit. His pared-down agenda focused on provocative issues, designed to mobilise the electorate. Alongside crime, hospitals and school discipline, immigration was top of the list.

The clipped messages, backed by the spare language of manifesto and advertising campaigns, had early impact but have begun to falter amid the pressure of increased scrutiny and more robust government counter-attacking.

At the end of the week, Blair felt emboldened enough to step into the minefield of immigration himself and grapple with an issue previously regarded as a weak point - by the Tories and his own advisers alike. During a symbolic set-piece speech in Dover on Friday, the Prime Minister declared: "The Tory Party have gone from being a One Nation party to being a one-issue party in this campaign."

Such boldness was a clear indication that the Tories had lost ground on their flagship issue. As a result, Crosby’s previously God-like status is being questioned. “

God-like he ain’t! This news gives me hope that the blinkers are coming off - ‘wedge politics’ exposed for the nasty propaganda tool it really is.