Training | 2010.01.07
Tories fear plot to embarrass strategist
• \'Another day, another anti-Steve Hilton story. Someone is out to get him\'
• Brains behind decontaminating the Tory brand faces further embarrassment
Tories warned last night of a plot to destabilise one of David Cameron\'s most trusted advisers, after details of an expletive-fuelled row with train staff which led to an £80 fine for Steve Hilton, the strategy director, were leaked to Channel 4 News.
Hilton has been credited with decontaminating the Tory brand. He was arrested at Birmingham New Street station after the party\'s 2008 conference in a dispute over a ticket, Channel 4 reported.
Disclosure of the arrest, which came after Hilton shouted "wanker" at train staff when he failed to produce his ticket on time, comes days after the leaking of emails he sent to Tory MPs.
Tim Montgomerie, the editor of the ConservativeHome website, tweeted last night: "Another day, another anti-Steve Hilton story. Someone is out to get him."
Channel 4 said that Hilton had a dispute with staff at the station as he was attempting to rush home after the Tory conference. He had a valid ticket, but failed to produce it on time, and the police were called. He then reportedly started shouting "wanker" and was arrested and taken to the New Street\'s rail police station. He was later de-arrested and issued with an £80 penalty notice for disorder.
A British Transport police spokesman told Channel 4 News: "I can confirm that shortly before 5pm on Wednesday 1 October 2008, a 39-year-old man from London was arrested at Birmingham New Street railway station after a dispute over the production of his ticket. Once the man had calmed down, he was issued with a penalty notice for disorder under section 5 of the Public Order Act."
The Conservatives confirmed last night that Hilton became involved in a dispute with staff at the railway station.
The Tories fear the leaked emails and the TV disclosure indicate that someone is briefing against Hilton, who has known Cameron since they worked together at the party\'s Central Office, 20 years ago.
Hilton is married to Cameron\'s long-time friend Rachel Whetstone. He plays three key roles. First, he shapes the party\'s overall message, which currently says that Britain "can\'t go on like this" under Gordon Brown; second, he has a pivotal role in overseeing strategy documents and the sections of the draft manifesto which are being released this month.
Finally, Hilton has the most influential voice in shaping Cameron\'s "big society" theme. He was widely seen as the brains behind the Tory leader\'s double riposte to Margaret Thatcher, who was reported as saying there was no such thing as society, and to the left, which believes in a big role for the state: "There is such a thing as society, it\'s just not the same as the state," is Cameron\'s refrain.
Hilton talks of promoting the "post bureaucratic age", in which individuals are freed from the state to take greater control over their lives.
But he was mocked last week when a series of emails, in which he outlined his thoughts to Conservative MPs, were leaked to the Times.
In Strategy Bulletin No 2, sent on 23 October, he wrote: "Transparency is a central component of our political approach. Along with decentralisation and accountability, it\'s one of the building blocks of the post-bureaucratic age."
Hilton is widely believed to have inspired the character Stewart Pearson in Armando Iannucci\'s The Thick of It.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/[...]tegy-chief-fracas-steve-hilton
