Can Cameron turn Tories green?

Last Modified: 13 Sep 2007
By: Gary Gibbon

David Cameron's desire to be green is clear, but is there really a will to take his party down the environmental route?

The Conservatives' Qaulity of Life report recommends new taxes on flights, parking and cars. It says economic growth can be bad for you and materialist values are damaging. It rejects - in effect - some of the central tenets of Thatcherite Conservatism.

All this on the day that Gordon Brown lured Margaret Thatcher into his lair. No. 10 said it was for tea and a tour of building - you might think it was all about political positioning.

At the Conservative Policy Commission launch, the former Tory environment minister John Gummer suggested economic growth had been a false god for politicians. Global warming meant our politicians needed to deliver something different.

Amongst the new green taxes recommended would be VAT on domestic flights, a tax on office parking and compulsory charges for greening your home if you want extend into the loft or build a conservatory.

Some Conservative MPs today said they would not be including any of these recommendations in their constituency manifestos - one former minister said the report was "bonkers" - another said it was "electoral suicide". And this latest list of policy recommendations contradicts some others that Mr Cameron's already received, for instance - John Redwood's policy commission called for more roads, more airports, this report says halt them.

Today's report suggests governments should stop their obsession with GDP per head because personal wealth doesn't correlate to happiness. They recommend different measurements including a well-being index which tries to measure the populations overall welfare.

But on this measurement - contentment peaked in the Labour years under Harold Wilson and only recovered when Labour came back into power under Tony Blair. After two hours in no. 10 with Gordon Brown and his family, Margaret Thatcher emerged.

Relishing the political game-playing, Labour also unveiled a campaign poster from its new advertising agency - none other than Saatchi and Saatchi - the agency that helped Margaret Thatcher to power in 1979.

Conservative strategists say he may not be flash but he's full of tricks - they're hoping voters will see this as a cynical ploy by Mr Brown - not a reinforcement of his centre ground credentials.