A FEW months back I posted about the shadow cabinet 'big guns' that the Tories have been rolling into Southport. Since then, the high-level offensive has continued and hit its inevitable peak with the arrival of David Cameron last Thursday - which is reported in the Visiter here with an accompanying video.
A quick online search shows Mr Cameron's tour through a string of northern target constituencies picked up some solid coverage during the usual August dry patch in the news cycle. PR brownie points must go in particular to his Olympian feat of distancing from the politically suicidal Cities Unlimited report from the Tory-leaning Policy Exchange thinktank. Meanwhile, he managed to make some encouraging noises on contentious local matters - such as the long-running Southport/Ormskirk A&E issue - without hatching the kind of policy-on-the-hoof that could cause him trouble down the line (see here for his cautious response to a question about scrapping Wirral's tunnel tolls).
There can be no doubt Cameron's political stock is still rising - and while his utterances on the northern campaign trail may have not have upset too many applecarts, the same cannot be said of his decision to visit the Georgian capital of Tblisi last weekend. OK, so it may have been conveniently close to his pre-booked holiday destination in Turkey. Yet the vigour of his denunciation of Russia and his meeting with President Saakashvili has drawn approving comparisons with what has appeared a low-key stance from Messrs Brown and Miliband to the present crisis. If my memory serves correctly, this is the first time Mr Cameron has struck out with a really distinctive response to a hard-power foreign policy issue. And if this is a true marker, it suggests a Cameron government's foreign policy posture may resemble more than that of Blair than Brown - a prospect that comes with hefty risk, as this comment piece by former defence secretary Michael Portillo shows. Responding to a question about his readiness to govern during the mini-press conference at Southport Market, Mr Cameron acknowledged he had to be prepared to decide whether to send British troops into battle if the situation arose.
Southport Market today, a Caucasus warzone tomorrow
With accusations he had allowed himself to become 'cocky' no doubt ringing in his ears, Mr Cameron was at pains last Thursday to say he was making no predictions about the outcome of the next general election - although he later went on to name Southport as an example of a seat the Tories could take with "hard work". And make no mistake, there is still a live debate running through Conservative ranks about the extent to which the party still needs to 'change to win'. Take this little blast from shadow schools secretary Michael Gove - the Cameroon who once chaired Police Exchange - claiming many of his party colleagues are still perceived as "unreformed and grumpy" while Cameron shines like an "imported star centre-forward".
Gove's intervention may hint at where the battles lines lie at senior parliamentary level within the Conservative Party. But what about on the ground in a key marginal like Southport? Well 'modernisation' appears to be an issue there too. Yet rather than right and left, we are hearing talk of differences over the governance structures entailed in the new Sefton-wide Coastline Conservatives federation - although so far key individuals have only been speaking off-the-record or citing "internal matters" on which they will not comment. Money is also bound to feature in the electoral calculations taking place in Southport in the run-up to the next election. Tory donor Lord Ashcroft has lined up key marginals for a major cash injection from his own pockets, yet to date I have seen no reference to Southport benefiting from this munificence - I stand corrected if I am wrong.
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