by Kevin Meagher
As conference slogans go, Building a Better Future is a stinker. A dull, vacuous piece of political boilerplate; the ultimate holding statement: “I’ve not actually built anything yet, but it will be great when it’s finished. Trust me”.
Nevertheless, David Cameron thought it an apposite description for last weekend’s Conservative spring conference in Cardiff.
Of course he was not the first to grope for this catch-all formulation. “Building a better future” is the strapline for the Northern Ireland executive’s programme for government, Merton council’s major building programme and a campaign run by the dog’s trust.
In fact there are 66 million Google hits for the phrase.
But it was rather fitting: an empty slogan for an empty speech from a prime minister struggling for definition.
New Labour once had a snappy term for the position David Cameron now finds himself in: “post euphoria, pre-delivery”. In other words, how do you keep the va va voom in your party once the dull grind of governing takes over from the manic energy of electioneering? (more…)