Cameron needs to order more wine and crisps
“If he was a chocolate he’d eat himself,” (Tory MP on David Cameron).
I’ve been talking to Tory backbench MPs for a report on tonight’s Channel 4 News at 6.30pm and came across quite a bit of unhappiness with the general smoothness of David Cameron. There was resentment of his domestic arrangements (seeing more of his family, some MPs felt, than they do of their own… knocking off earlier, they felt, than some of them do). There’s an “It’s alright for him” mood abroad.
Anyway, that wasn’t the point of the exercise, though I did find it quite striking. The point was to see how rocky the mood was politically. On camera, Patrick Mercer calls it “fragile”. He would say that, you might say. But he spoke on camera for many who would only speak privately. One senior backbencher said (off camera) that the mood was “febrile” and he “didn’t know where it would go”.
The topic of the moment is no longer IPSA and a sense of grievance over the new expenses system but AV. The argument used to run that losing the AV referendum would be critical for Nick Clegg. Now it looks like losing the referendum the other way could be much worse for David Cameron. Tory MPs stop you in corridors to share their worries – an AV win would be “a dagger at the heart of the party,” “we would never hold power outright again.”
Aside from that, you can easily guess the topics they worry about. There have already been the public U-turns on areas like forests. This week saw the Duke of York “march them up the hill” routine on Libya, and whichever side you favoured – marching up the hill or down the hill – there was scope for unhappiness.
There’s a general sense amongst some of the MPs I spoke to of being marginalised by the buffer of Lib Dem parliamentary votes that means David Cameron doesn’t have to listen to his own backbenches as much as they’d like. There’s lingering resentment about anonymous quotes from Cabinet ministers musing how an electoral pact of some kind with the Lib Dems in the general election might be a good idea.
And there’s a bit of a generational phenomenon at work too. Newer MPs often worked their seats for years before winning them in 2010. Some have very slight majorities. They were outside Westminster when the expenses scandal broke and smell the anti-politics, anti-Westminster air differently. They feel their constituents expect them to buck the establishment more, speak out and rebel if necessary – expect “more debate,” Dominic Raab (2010 intake) says. One backbencher marked out for office (2010 intake) said if he went back to his seat in five years’ time not having voted against the government a few times, they wouldn’t think much of him.
David Cameron is acutely aware of the political disquiet (not so sure if he’s aware of the personal comments). He’s been on a Chardonnay and Twiglets offensive, seeing lots of his MPs, dropping in on the tea rooms in the Commons as well… He’s said to find it a bit wearying. But given we’re only 10 months into this government, the unease is striking and, from David Cameron’s perspective, worrying. Maybe he should get a bulk order of wine and crisps in.
There are 8 comments on this post
The Conservative Party at present is increasingly reminding me of the Labour Party twenty five years ago. This turbulence below the surface is more what we would expect in a party long out of office and not sure it has the right leader. Everyone knew that winning the last election could be a pyrrhic victory, given the fragility of the world economy, but it’s remarkable to see Cameron find so many inventive ways of making it worse for himself. Is time running out for what has long been an uneasy coalition? I’m not speaking of the Conservatives and the LibDems, but rather of the Tory / neoliberal alliance within the Conservative Party itself, which has never fully convinced as a sustainable proposition..
I sense that the UKIP vote in Barnsley, especially if it gets repeated at the forthcoming local elections, will add to backbench nervousness, irrespective of the outcome of the AV vote. However, though Labour way win back its traditional supporters (perhaps up to around a third of the voting electorate) who realise that a Conservative Government is generally worse than any Labour one, many in the centre ground haven’t forgiven the last Government for what are perceived as its failings (whether this is fair or accurate is irrelevant) & Milliband has yet to convince the key voters that he has more of what it takes than Cameron. The biggest risk to the Coalition is the right wing of the Conservatives & the left wing of the LibDems rebelling & giving the voters the impression of disunity. That could hand the next election to Labour by default – but 4 years is a very long time in politics & if they manage to avoid falling apart over the next couple of years, the underlying strategy of cutting very hard early on so that (a) rowing back on unpopular cuts is affordable & (b) giving room for tax cuts & spending promises in 2014 may well be enough to win in 2015.
There must be a lot of traditional tories whose port is turning vinegry. Cameron is not only ignoring their values, he’s proving incompetent as well. There won’t be much joy in the shires.
The reaction of the labour party is also intersting. They seem very unsure of themselves despite all the open goals the coalition keep presenting.
It would seem they are frightened to remind the voters that they still exist, content to just sit back and watch the con-dems become more and more unpopular by their own hand.
Gary,
Like the “wine and crisps” shtick
More seriously and long term (and I mean REALLY long term) don’t you think this is just another variation of the pantomime in the wake of creation of the so-called Social Democrats?
I was overjoyed when the four cons left Labour to form their own party. It was obvious what would happen relatively long term. It happened when they disappeared into the Liberal Party. Now the Liberal Party has almost disappeared into the Cons – together they are about to reduce to a rump.
If Labour had any conscience left this would be the exact moment to OPENLY jettison New Labour and all its neo con corruption, restore the party constitution to its founding moral principles and Socialism, and take on the Establishment enemy in the same way as the great reforming and humanist government of Clement Atlee. Oh for an Aneurin Bevan!
Instead, we have the Milliband brothers and assorted apologists for a corrupt status quo, and next to no political courage.
Long term the cycle will have to be broken or it will impoverish everybody, not just a quarter of our population and one fifth of our youth. That’s the reality.
Maybe he should keep on doing what he is doing and ignore the press, media and the Right who hate the coalition and the left who hate the Tories.
He has not had a fair crack of the whip – from day one he has been hammered from all sections on daily basis.
So, 2 fingers and all that, it can’t be any worse then it already is!
Cameron lacks leadership. He seems very much to leave the ministers to their own devices. Which is all well and good if the gov was doing a good job, I don’t think anyone can deny that ministers have gone from one disaster to the next. The débâclé of the special forces in Libya, is cringe worthy. The cuts are not thought through. He should stop using his PR techniques (alliteration being his forte)and start thinking about the consequences of his policies.
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