ConHome wants Lynton Crosby – will Dave resist?

Peter Oborne's delicious dismissal of the Tory Right Wing's clamour for the employment of the Voldemort-like Lynton Crosby by the Tories actually hides a different and important Agenda.

There is a case to be made for Dave. On the evidence so far (half term report) he's a decent enough cove - highly articulate and probably, deep down, the first Tory leader who is not a complete shit since Heath. Well maybe MacMillan. Or Disraeli. Anyway whatever we may think of Cameron the opposition don't like him. The opposition is not the Labour Party but the Conservative Party at its roots. That is the Lord Ashcroft financed ConHome and its fellow travellers.

Peter Oborne seems not to like ConHome - and who can blame him? They have occupied the media ground of the Party. It's not difficult to do - providing you have funds. And the tax-avoiding Ashcroft has that in spades. So Conservative thought is being driven not by those who battle with the daily realities of governing but by those who are removed from power - but would like to find a way of capturing it.
Some on the Left believe the Coalition government is strongly ideologically of the Right. I would dispute this - many of the initiatives they have taken could well have been introduced by Labour. The ConHome mob would agree with me and then say that the next Tory election manifesto should be a restatement of Conservative values - untainted by the pink dye that the LibDems bring to the Coalition. If Cameron does appoint Crosby this will be a sign that he's fallen for this. I doubt that he'll do it because he will see that it would be electoral suicide to follow the ConHome line. We shall see!