The Wardman Wire

Danniel Hannan’s assault on the US continues. It seems his plan is to try and make out he is very well known in the UK as a means for building his profile, and presumably his market rate, in the US.  Bar political anoraks and those who follow politics with a keen eye, most people in this country had never heard of Hannan until recently.  Some might know him as the chap who ripped into Brown in the Euro-parliament a few months back, though most will know him as the guy who keeps going on American TV with the sole intention of making a pratt of himself.

It seems the American’s, or at least Fox news and its nuttier wing of talk show hosts, love him. He gives them good sound bites, he is a convenient figurehead for proving their beliefs as he has no apparent agenda on issues such as US healthcare and also has a British accent. Of course all three of those reasons have their fallacies, but since when did the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh care about the integrity of their beliefs? They are each of them fruit buns with views that we can only hope never make it to the mainstream in the UK. It seems that Hannan is on a one man mission to do just that though.

While Hannan might be loved by the bigots of talk radio and nuts of Fox news, he is not loved by all, not least one man in particular: David Cameron. The question he must surely be asking is, how do you solve a problem like Hannan? Hannan’s latest comments about Enoch Powell are a perfect example.

Enoch Powell will forever be associated with old Tory racism. Rightly or wrongly, his so called “Rivers of Blood” speech has been interpreted as a direct attack on the black and Asian people who, by invitation, have made the UK their home. Hannan knows this very well.  Hannan also knew full well that what he said is very much out of line with Cameron’s Conservatives and the image he has worked tireless to create.

It can never be underestimated the impact Cameron has had on Tory fortunes; before he became leader they were quite simply unelectable. They were perceived as the nasty party, the bigoted party that hated gays and blacks in equal measures. Yet in just a few years the Tories are now jockeying for the position of the Progressive party. They have a lead in the polls that if translated in to an election result today would bring in a landslide victory. So why is Hannan trying to undo the extraordinary and successful work of decontaminating the Tory brand?

While I do think Hannan is an arrogant self publicist that alone is not the reason for his comments. The main underlying reason I think is that he genuinely believes what he is saying is right and as a man of conviction will not bow down and suppress what he believes in simply to appease the leadership and toe the party line. Quite an honourable approach in many ways which perhaps is to be encouraged – though very much against the principles of party politics. But it does leave Cameron with a bit of problem.

Last year Tory candidate Nigel Hastilow endorsed Enoch Powell and was swiftly asked to retract his comments. He refused and subsequently resigned. In the wake of Hannan’s comments on the NHS, the official Tory response was that they tolerate and encourage different thoughts and ideas in the party but Cameron also went to great lengths to distance himself for Hannan’s criticism. With regard to his self confessed admiration for Powell, Hannan has once again been humoured and then kept at arm’s length. Why has Cameron taken such a different approach with Hannan compared to Hastilow?

What we are seeing with Hannan and Cameron is the battle Cameron never really took on in the first place. While Tony Blair took on the unions and scrapped clause four, Cameron merely did a PR job and masterly shuffled his pack to ensure everyone had a vested interest in following the new Conservative line. The fact is, Hannan’s views are not the ramblings of a loner. Hannan’s views on Europe, immigration, healthcare and so on are prevalent in the Tory party. There are plenty of Tories from the grassroots all the way to the backbenches, via Brussels, whose politics align far more closely with Hannan than they do with Cameron.

Taking on Hannan on issues such as Europe, immigration and to some degree healthcare are absolute minefields for Cameron. They are quite simply fights that he cannot risk fighting at the moment – or at least they are fights he does not want to risk fighting.

Cameron has been a political giant and juggling the difficulties of making the Tories electable, fresh and new against the older elements of the party of big time issues, is one of the greatest acts of leadership we have seen in recent years in the UK domestic political scene. Cameron is a master at it, make no mistake – but how long can it last?

Would the solution be for Cameron to sack Hannan? I am not sure he can. Should he try and rein him in? Hannan does not seem the type. The real question is why is Hannan furthering his career in a party that he disagrees with so much on its leadership and direction? The answer is because he is not alone.  I do not buy the Mandelson line that Hannan is the true face of the Tories for one second, but he is most certainly one the faces.

It is why Cameron refuses to be drawn into policy and why he will not make any serious progressive moves on the big issues. The problem is here to stay; if and when Cameron becomes PM it will be a continuous battle. The problem is not Cameron not wanting to tackle these issues; it is the fear that he will lose the battle that worries him. On the other side, people like Danial Hannan may not be able to stop Cameron, but they can hold him back.

With the Lisbon question being raised in Ireland again soon, what are the chances of an all out assault from Hannan again? Even more so, you can be sure Cameron will be secretly hoping for a yes vote – he does not want Lisbon hanging around on his watch because it will set off a whole army of Daniel Hannans.