The great Tory U-turn

It would be devastatingly easy to take the piss out of David Cameron's Statement of Aims and Values published today.

Briefly summarised, the statement reveals that the Tories believe in a strong economy, stable communities, caring for the environment, trusting people, and representing modern Britain. Oh, and they believe in society again, too.

So, motherhood and apple pie, then. Scarcely worthy you would think of the lead item on the 10 o'clock news or, come to that, lead item on Guido Fawkes' blog.

Except that the amazing thing is, as Danny Finkelstein put it on Newsnight last night, that for years and years and years, the Tories didn't believe in motherhood and apple pie.

The really interesting thing about this document, the measure of the extent to which the Tories had lost touch with modern Britain, is that it was necessary for an allegedly serious political party to have to make such a statement in the first place.

So don't be tempted take the piss. By finally rejoining the real world, the Tories have performed their greatest Tory U-turn since the Lady said she was not for turning.

March 2 update: The Guardian's Ben Rooney has included the fifth paragraph of this post in his daily roundup of what's on the web. Fame at last!