Portillo is pick of the papers

This Sunday’s pick of the papers focuses on a topic that students often find interesting, but don’t often tackle in exams: political parties.

In this sense it makes an ideal choice and may form the basis of our ‘Media Monday’ lesson this week.

You can find Michael Portillo’s article on why he thinks the Tories won’t win the next election here.

Below are some prompts for discussion that may be used as part of the lesson.

(1) Why has it been difficult for the Tories to criticise Labour on the economy?
(2) Why, according to Portillo, do the Tories now have a ‘sustainable line of attack’ against the current PM?
(3) What other advantages do the Tories have when facing their Labour opponents?
(4) What message is the Cameron leadership trying to present to voters on public services?
(5) Why is Cameron’s party not further ahead in the opinion polls?
(6) Why doesn’t Cameron present a more radical agenda on public service management even though voters are questioning whether the extra money that has gone into health and education is giving value?