By Jason Groves
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Warning: Immigration Minister Damian Green has said that the Tories should make it clear that no one will be 'written off' because of their background
The Conservative Party must pass the 'Danny Boyle test' to win the next election, the immigration minister said yesterday.
Damian Green warned against allowing his party to become 'nostalgists promoting a better yesterday'.
Instead it should follow Mr Boyle's lead in embracing modern Britain. The film director's Olympic opening ceremony was praised as an artistic triumph last month while irritating some Tory traditionalists with its focus on multiculturalism.
Mr Green said: 'We need to pass the Danny Boyle test and cheer the numerous virtues of Britain in 2012. If we don't like modern Britain then it is very unlikely that modern Britain will like us.'
In a pre-reshuffle warning to David Cameron, he said it was vital to avoid the 'seductive blind alley' of leading the Tory Party to the right.
Mr Green, a self-proclaimed 'One Nation Tory', suggested the Prime Minister should continue his controversial modernisation process in order to attract people from the widest possible backgrounds.
Mr Green said the One Nation model of Conservatism needed 'constant updating' in order to tackle modern issues such as 'how to help the North as well as the South, how to encourage better integration of minority groups, and how to remove the remaining barriers hindering women'.
Opening ceremony: Danny Boyle's Olympic Opening Ceremony, which embraced modern Britain, should be followed by Conservatives according to Damian Green
He said it was vital the party made it clear that no one should be 'written off' because of their background.
'My grandfather was a Welsh dock worker who voted Tory,' he said. 'Some of my friends are investment bankers who have voted Labour. It takes all sorts and the best Tory values appeal to all sorts.'
Multiculturalism: The Conservatives are being urged to follow the lead of film director Danny Boyle in embracing multiculturalism
Mr Cameron is under intense pressure to promote right-wingers in his forthcoming reshuffle in order to give the Government a more distinctively Tory flavour.
He is also being urged to take a tougher line on Europe and abandon plans to legalise gay marriage in order to stem the decline of grassroots
Conservative associations and head off the threat posed by the UK Independence Party.
But Mr Green warned there was no evidence voters wanted the party to veer to the right. He said the idea of focusing on 'the issues that matter most to our most intense supporters' had proved a 'seductive blind alley in the past'.
Right-wingers were reluctant to criticise Mr Green in public yesterday, but one MP said he was wrong to suggest the party needed a fresh round of modernisation to appeal to voters.
'Damian Green should focus on his job, which is to bring down immigration,' the MP said.
'That's what people want to see, along with lower taxes, less Europe and more criminals locked up in prison.'
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