A Defining Moment?

As the main party leaders outline their long-term responses to the recent riots and looting, the stakes could not be higher.  The leader who most closely captures the public mood could well go on to fashion our nation for generations to come.

David Cameron seems to capture the public sense that decades of refusing to make clear distinctions between right and wrong, of failing to support traditional family life, and failing to offer children real opportunity in education has produced generations of youngsters who lack aspiration, lack any notion of work ethic and indeed lack any sense of moral values.  On the other hand, he has not grasped that lack of moral responsibility afflicts the higher echelons of society and not just those living on benefits on inner city council estates.    He needs to take a closer look at the way MPs responded to the expenses scandal and compare that to the rapid and robust response we have seen over the past few days towards the rioters and looters.   He needs to ask why bankers are paying themselves billions of pounds in bonuses while the share price of their banks are falling through the floor and millions of taxpayers are continuing to suffer because of their greed.  Cameron also needs to ask why those responsible for hacking the phone of Millie Dowler are still free; no rapid and robust justice for them.  Cameron has never looked more susceptible to accusations of being an Eton toff and a two nation Tory as he does right now. 

Ed Miliband seems to understand that a lack of moral values extends from the House of Lords right throughout every stratum of society to the poor inner city estates of Tottenham and Brixton.  Miliband does not seem to understand how it hurts ordinary working people that so much of their hard earned cash is taken to pay for benefits cheats and feckless parents who bring children into this world expecting others to pay for their shelter, clothing, food, health care and education.  Neither does he seem to understand that thirteen years of labour government - the overwhelming majority of which was during times of prosperity - not only failed to improve the lives of ordinary working people things actually became worse.  The divide between the rich and poor increased, social mobility decreased, more children grew up in poverty.  Does Miliband have what it takes to slay some of the lefts sacred cows such as comprehensive education would he bring back grammar schools?  Whether he likes it or not millions of ordinary members of the public know that grammar schools drove social mobility.  Tens of thousands of sons and daughters of factory workers, railway workers, labourers, steel workers  and miners; became teachers, lawyers, politicians, doctors, dentists and vets thanks to grammar schools.  Grammar schools were not perfect everyone absolutely everyone knows that; but rather than improve them perhaps by bringing in a second or even a third chance to enter grammar school at the ages of twelve and thirteen, the political left choose to destroyed them.   That was a spiteful act of criminality.  Regret and sorrow is not enough Miliband needs to show that labour is prepared to ditch its useless politics of envy and concentrate on providing real opportunity to as many people as possible.

Can either Cameron or Miliband seize the moment and fashion this country into a single nation or will we be riven by the politics of avarice, envy and immorality for another fifty years?  Time will tell; but some of you may know that I have spoken warmly of Iain Duncan Smith.  These were his words this morning:

"We've got to stop nit-picking, playing games with this, pretending there's some kind of political advantage to be gained...     The truth is we are all in this one together and we've got to get out of it together."

Perhaps his time has finally come.
Best Wishes
Will

UPDATE

Just in case you wondered IDS belonged to a select group of MP's whose expense claims were pretty well beyond reproach details of this group including IDS are here.