David Cameron, 40, the leader of Britain’s
Conservative Party, just looks handsome. His appeal has propelled the Tories to
a consistent lead in opinion polls for the first time since Tony Blair’s 1997
victory. That has infused Britain’s Conservatives with a sensation so
unfamiliar, they barely recognize it: optimism. Surprised at this turn of
fortune, some are already mythologizing the man behind it.
6 Indeed, Cameron and his wife Samantha-the daughter of a
baronet-are among London’s most sought-after party guests.
Actually, Cameron has more in common with a certain British politician than he
does with J.F.K. Whether nodding elegantly to recovering drug addicts at a
health center north of Aberdeen or charming Scottish journalists on the train
journey to Edinburgh, the person whom Cameron resembles more than any other is a
young Blab’. He has the same brow-furrowing desire not only to understand those
with whom he is having conversation with, but to empathize with them; the same
rootless accent that in Britain indicates an easy start in life. 7 . Yet the time might be ripe
for Cameron. Every second week he makes a raid from what he calls "the
Westminster bubble" to some farther-flung area of the kingdom, meeting as many
people as possible. "Obviously," he says, "in politics, people want
to have a look at you and understand who you are and what makes you
tick." That’s where the trouble begins. It’s easy enough to
locate Cameron’s heart; that’s with his family. He and Samantha have three
children under 5 and he says he spends most of his home life "knee-deep in
nappies and crying children." 8 Unlike
Blair and Brown, Cameron doesn’t show a strong love for the U.S. And in a
departure from his predecessors, Cameron rarely invokes the name of the
Conservative’s biggest icon: Margaret Thatcher. "To me, Mrs. Thatcher-it’s all a
long time in the past," says Cameron. "People are voting at the next
election who were born after Mrs. Thatcher left office." Many
Conservatives of Cameron’s generation believe that their party needs to reclaim
the middle ground so brilliantly colonized by Blair and distance itself from the
fiercely ideological course it charted during the Thatcher era. "We’re
seen as the nasty party," says Barker, a member of Cameron’s campaign
team. 9 He’s also promoting a
doctrine he calls "modem, compassionate Conservatism," which is "about
helping those people who can get left behind." In a nod to a nation where
opposing global warming has become a semi-religions duty, he claims to be more
environmentally friendly than Labour. Cameron’s slogan in local elections last
May was "Vote blue, go green." That sort of talk has
worried some of the party faithful, but Cameron wants his big ideas to appeal
across party lines. "You have to do what Bill Clinton did and build a big
tent," says Dale. But even Dale would like Cameron to signal to traditional
Tories that "the old issues will be treated as seriously as the new
ones." 10 So far, though, Cameron has
avoided making many explicit policy statements, relying instead on warm and
fuzzy ideas like a belief in "social responsibility" that he says will empower
business, individuals and local government. A. Gordon Brown, is
troubled by a more leaden style, a darker visage and a government that is losing
popularity, largely because of the mess in Iraq. B. To change
that image, Cameron has engaged in conspicuously un-Conservative-like behavior,
traveling widely and posting a confessional blog at
www.webcameron.org.uk. C. The wellsprings of his political
conviction are harder to trace. D. But in Britain’s red-meat
political and media landscape, such a warm and fuzzy style is rarely enough.
Popular attitudes to politicians are still set by the tabloids.
E. And like Blair a decade ago-when he was dumping his party’s traditions to
appeal to a wider constituency-Cameron inspires suspicion as well as
excitement. F. Iain Dale, who writes a Conservative blog,
speaks of Cameron’s "Kennedyesque glamour." He thinks that Cameron has a
lot in common with J. F. Kennedy. G. That might mean an open
repetition of the Tories’ traditional claim to be the party of low taxation.
Or-always a favorite with the right wing-blaming the European Union for
Britain’s ills.