Do any of the leadership candidates know what "pimp up" means? Do they have 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' on their iPods? In normal times Conservative MPs can be happily ignorant of hip-hop. But this is a leadership contest, so they better brush up before someone asks them about the latest wheeze by the Tory thinktank Wave Network.
To find out what young people think of the party, Wave Network are gathering ideas for how best to "pimp it up" (improve it).
The website campaign, Pimpmyparty.co.uk is based on an MTV programme, Pimp my Ride. You are asked to compare the Conservative party to a car (eg. Old Roller, 4 x 4, or Morris Minor), choose what hubcaps you want, and what to put on the stereo, among other excruciating questions.
Rishi Saha of the Wave Network said: "We've developed Pimp my Party as a way of trying to reach out to the wider public and engage them in the Tory party. We understand the Tory party's need for a complete overhaul, and are using this campaign to find what people think the party needs to do to make it a viable voting option again."
The questions are based on research normally conducted by focus group in which people are asked to associate people or parties with products. Judging by the polling evidence presented by Francis Maude MP, the party chairman, this afternoon, too many voters see the present party as a failed brand.
Voters do not see the party as being in tune with their lives and bluntly don't want to be associated with it, even if they agree with its policies on crime and the euro. Wave Network see this project as a cheeky attempt to modernise the party, but such attempts have been made before. Remember William Hague in his baseball cap? Or the interview where he said he once drank 14 pints? Judging by how badly that went down, it's unclear how successful this attempt to catch the zeitgeist will be. Given the age and demeanour of the delegates here at the Winter Gardens, talk of "pimping the party" might be like your grandfather talking about "rave music".
