SubscribeCameron’s visit to Rwanda is clearly a stunt, but that’s not a bad thing in itself. There’s nothing wrong with bringing attention to an issue with a well planned spectacle… and Tory MPs reverting to their Boy Scout days to build a few toilets is quite a spectacle.
The real test is not whether the work done on this trip is of lasting value in itself, but whether the campaign of which it is a part succeeds in transforming the Conservatives into forward facing, compassionate internationalists. To hear a Tory MP linking trade, justice and poverty is quite a revelation. But traditionalists like Ann Widdecombe have been quick to piss on Cameron’s chips demanding that he talk tough on stuff like immigration. And they may even be prepared to sack him if he doesn’t return to their agenda.
It is quite amazing that an initial wobble in the opinion polls, compounded by by-election failure in a couple of safe Labour seats is all it’s taken to spark a civil war in the Tory party that looks like making a lame duck of Dave.
