Cameron's highwire act to woo Blairites

David Cameron has woken up with a good idea in his head. Talk nicely about some political opponents and they might see a winner in the making. That winner being David Cameron. He's making an audacious attempt to woo top Blairites into his circle of opinion, saying they've made a good fist of their jobs and generally have the right policy thinking. "We are going to be a government for the post-Blair era rather than trying to turn the clock back." That is a sensible comment, but chatting up Stephen Byers, a man who dissembled as well as Blair did, is probably going a bit too far.

I'm not against co-operation, or agreement where it makes sense, but this strikes me as being a touch too gimmicky. On the list of potential Tory totty is Alan Milburn. Now I'd put him into the league of competent modernisers and definitely Blairite New Labour, but he's not a Tory. He's as keen on meddling as the next one on the list.

What David Cameron needs to do is to set out his own policies, give us a solid view of his beliefs and principles, and tell us what he wants for the next 25 years with regard to Europe, immigration, town and country planning and the health and education services. The Netherlands has a 25-year plan for such things as airports and housing. Why not us?

New Labour was all about spin and presentation. On top of that there was a certain amount of deception. Yes, it's true not all New Labour adherents are bad, but in the main they have increased our bureaucracy, upped the level of state interference, and enjoyed destroying our traditions.

The Daily Telegraph reports that it was granted exclusive access to Mr Cameron on the local elections campaign trail last week during which he disclosed his determination to push ahead with reforming the Conservatives - potentially with the help of leading supporters of Mr Blair. I hope not. I really do. It will be like a Trojan horse or, more likely, a Trojan mule. The country is fed up with New Labour, but the potential Conservative vote since 1992 has, over the Blair years, gone all over the place. It's landed in UKIP, English Democrats, and other smaller parties. Some has just become armchair statistics. Others have become "radicalised" and joined the LibDems!

David Cameron needs to build a conservative consensus that can rally behind him. Chatting up New Labour apparatchiks doesn't do it for me, and I suspect quite a few others.