Douglas Carswell's Blog

Radicalism requires a plan

“We are the radicals now” declared David Cameron today. We certainly ought to be.

But having radical intentions, doesn’t automatically deliver radical change. See what happened to Tony Blair....

Or look at how in the early 1970s the Conservatives entered office with a radical programme aimed at decentralising control over economic things. Since we'd not by that stage thought through how to make it happen, we ended up doing the opposite. A prices and incomes policy followed. 

In 2010, the Conservatives came to office promising to decentralise control over politics and public services. We will need strategy, not merely tactics, if we are to make it happen. In the 1970s, trades unions opposed our reformist agenda. Today an even wider array of vested interests will try to derail our plans to disperse control over politics and public services. 

Yet already in certain key areas – the Freedom Bill, Open Primaries, Recall – the early promise of radicalism seems to be fading. Why?  Perhaps those doing the implementation don’t seem to have thought things through.

In the day-to-day rush of politics, strategic thinking can get put to one side. Seeking to do “what works” can mean that tactical calculation then takes precedence. If we are going to successfully deliver radical change, tactics must serve the aims of our strategy, rather than exist as an alternative to having one.

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