UFO Info Week-End

This does not mean renouncing those traditional Tory aspirations lower taxes and a smaller state

This does not mean renouncing those traditional Tory aspirations, lower taxes and a smaller state. But it does involve a recognition that, at present, most voters would give priority to the public services. There is no reason why the Tory party should quarrel with that. As society grows richer, it is natural ­ and desirable ­ that demands for health and education should increase.

The Tories will now have to persuade enough voters that they can satisfy those demands more effectively than Labour could. This is the principal domestic intellectual challenge that faces the party.But a policy rethink does not mean an open agenda and endless consensus. There are fundamental political differences, otherwise there would be no need for political parties. Some divergences are too great to be accommodated within the same party. The fate of the pound is an obvious example.In this election, Labour and the Tories were arguing over £8bn: 1 per cent of GDP.

Over the course of a parliament, Labour wished to use that 1 per cent for spending increases; the Tories preferred tax cuts. That dispute sustained four weeks of electoral conflict, yet in comparison with the euro, it is a marginal issue.The euro-vs-pound debate is the most important argument in British politics. Yet if Messrs Clarke, Heseltine and Patten had their way, Tory front-benchers would be allowed to say what they liked on the question. But a party that could not agree a common front-bench line on the euro would have ceased to be a political party and degenerated into a mere debating society.Indeed, the new leadership should aim to harden its line on the euro. The new formula should no longer be “save the pound for one parliament”.