Let Blairites join the Conservative party for £1

Paul Abbott 7.06am

I was not old enough to vote in 1997, but - like millions of others - it would have been hard not to vote for Tony Blair.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of his premiership, in 1997 he was the candidate for law and order and for small businesses. He got aspiration, and why people wanted choice in the public sector. He was pro-America and pro-democracy abroad - as his interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone bore out.

His appeal, in a nutshell, was to be a Conservative with a heart. Of course, he happened to be in the wrong political party. But no one is perfect.

As his legacy is now disastrously unpicked by Ed Miliband, and Ed Balls, a number of Blairites are jumping ship.

There are a few high-profile examples (http://statementtofollow.com/), but beneath the radar there will be far more. This is unsurprising. They signed up to a principled cause, not to a party label. Ed Miliband - who pockets around £10,000 a month in salary - has declared war on “top earners” without any sense of irony. Blair is getting booed at Labour party conference. Why stay put?

The Party Co-Chairman, Lord Feldman, is running a serious membership drive at the national and local level. I believe we should help him along, and offer Blairites the chance to join the Conservative party for £1.

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