A hiss could be heard when The Editor of The Times, James Harding, refused to pledge his paper’s support to the Conservative Party for the next election.
He was asked today at a fringe meeting whether he would follow the lead of The Sun, but he made it clear that he was not yet convinced. In fairness, neither did he pledge his support for New Labour as in the previous two elections. He said he would decide once he felt his paper’s support had been earned, so clearly that is not the case yet with Conservatives.
This did not go down well with the audience who made their disapproval plain – politely, of course, and a hissing sound whipped up around the room.
Panelists Peter Riddell, the paper’s assistant editor, Shadow Minister Greg Clark and Andrew Cooper from Populous joined this illustrious editor to discuss Conservatives and voters. We were told that Conservatives were predicted to win the next general election with a majority of 70-80 which would result in a hung parliament, and that an election would follow a year later to give Conservatives an overall majority.
*Boris was great to watch, walking into a packed conference hall which played the East Enders theme music to a standing ovation – before he even spoke. He said if we can win London, then we can win Manchester too. He had that swoon factor about his as his words were lapped up.
Clearly there is great interest in the referendum and many people here want a referendum, including Boris. But I doubt it will be allowed to dominate this conference, which has a great buzz and feeling of optimism.
*I’m off to two receptions this evening, for MEPs and Yorkshire and North East Conservatives. There is so much to see and do here and I will be lucky if I manage 10% of what I hoped.
