Leaked Tory memo shows that ‘progressive’ claims are nonsense

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

A leaked Tory policy announcement planning grid, which Guido Fawkes has reported on this afternoon, reveals the true fallacy of the Tory position on “progressive issues”.

The first entry on the leaked grid released today is titled “More progressive nonsense”, which should shatter any illusions that Hilton (and by association Cameron) is in any way genuinely progressive.

David Cameron has sought to rebrand the Conservatives as a progressive party, with much of the credit for this change being given to Steve Hilton, Cameron’s director of strategy. Whilst not universally popular in the party (with many on the right resenting his efforts to move the party away from traditional positions), Hilton has the ear of the Prime Minister, having been friends with him for twenty-five years. Whilst Hilton was successful in decontaminating the Tory brand, the economic crisis, and the cuts that followed, have meant that the Tories are once again seen as the “Nasty Party”.

Hilton, who was referred to as a “pint sized Rasputin” and “Cameron’s secret weapon” in a Times article back in April, has obviously made some enemies in the Tory ranks – and the leaking of this strategy memo will certainly put Hilton under real pressure.

At LabourList we’ve been keeping an eye out for Hilton and his penchant for “progressive” language – as long ago as January, Sunder Katwala introduced the Steve Hilton Award for Progressive Gobledegook. If this memo proves anything, it’s that Hilton even Hilton agreed that his progressive restyling of the Tories was “nonsense”.