I've been saying from I began blogging just over a year ago that I'd like to see the Conservatives perform better in Northern Ireland elections, so you'd naturally expect that I'd be happy at the prospect of UUP members defecting to the Tories. Well you see it's not that simple. I like the Conservatives largely because I find the tribal politics here repetitive and unimaginative and frankly damaging to the country as a whole, but also because I generally feel more at home with their political views than any of the other real parties. That was true, at least, until Cameron took over the leadership.

It's not that I have anything against his highlighting green issues, heavens no! In fact the environment probably should be a higher priority for most of us than it is (particulary so, for reasons I won't go into, in Northern Ireland). The sad truth is though that I can't help but feel that the commentators are correct when they say that Cameron is simply mimicing Blair and his New Labour tactics - ie carefully phrasing every statement to give the broadest possible emotive appeal without actually saying anything meaningful.

Follow up:

It's all well and good marketing the party, but you also need to market the party's policies - and for that, the party needs to have policies. Unfortunately this is where Cameron could hit a stumbling block, because as childish and purile as the personal attack is, Labour's Dave the Chameleon slogan has a point (rich though it is - coming from the party who gave us Tony Blair). I think David Vance may be right when he suggests Cameron's Tories have an obligation to change the party's logo from the Torch. Given how much the party has changed since it was brought in under Thatcher, it could nearly be construed as false advertising.

Then of course there's the fact that the Conservative party seems to have found itself morphing into 'Davy C and Friends' - where the party is Cameron and Cameron is the party. As I write there's a flashy message on their homepage asking you to "Join David Cameron - Join the Conservative Party". Join David Cameron? I don't even rememeber Tony Blair having the same kind of God complex. That may be exactly what voters want and would be in fitting with the cult of celebrity that has taken hold of the nation, but grabbing every opportunity for cheap publicity does not a politician make (although at least he hasn't stooped low enough to appear on Big Brother yet - touch wood).

Of course identifying the party so completely with one person is less of a problem when Dave is out scoring PR points, something I'll admit he seems to have something of a flair for, but when flaws are found in Cameron they are amplified over the whole party. I've mentioned Cameron's biggest flaw above. Managing to talk at length without actually saying anything may be a great way to make yourself popular, but eventually (I hope anyway) the public will have the wit to ask what exactly Cameron and his party stand for. The question is: will the Tories have an answer to that question, or just another dose of finely tuned, spin-doctored nothingness?

Perhaps, though, a bigger question is: will the public mind if their politicians are all style and no content? Let's face it, in Northern Ireland they're usually short on both and thanks to the tribal headcount, we've a higher turnout than anywhere else in the UK!