Fink Before You Speak

Danny Finkelstein didn't join the Tories until the SDP, for whom he once stood for Parliament, collapsed. He stood for the Tories in 2001 and lost badly in Harrow West. Since then, like his fellow loser in 2001, Michael Portillo, Finkelstein has spent his time telling anyone who'd listen that the Tories need to modernise and denigrating anyone who didn't subscribe completely to the uber-modernising agenda of which he is self-appointed guardian (which, by his own admission, includes the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne).

In his column yesterday, Finkelstein was at it again, proclaiming "the modernisers were right. Their critics were wrong". On the day that all Tories (except Michael Portillo and Simon Heffer) were united in delight by the results of the local and mayoral elections, a third voice - that of Danny Finkelstein - could be heard seeking to divide Tories between modernisers and non-modernisers. What's the point, Danny?

Last October - after the Tories narrowly avoided losing a general election thanks to Gordon Brown's cowardice - I said that one of the key things to be learned by the Tory leadership was to avoid gratuitous attacks on the Tory Right. I urged Cameron not to pick any more fights with the Right and said that the Right would now stay on side because there is more than enough meat on the bones. Project Cameron had decontaminated the Tory brand and was, by October, a more balanced offering than had been the case, say, a year ago.

After Thursday, Tories should be united. We can smell victory. Downing Street is not a pipe dream. If the prospect of defeat causes people to fight like ferrets in a sack, the prospect of victory has the remarkable effect of causing people to unite in pursuit of a common purpose. Quite why Danny Finkelstein has felt the need to pick yet another pointless fight with the Right is beyond me. Perhaps he could change the record and talk about something else for a change?