Columns

When one half of a couple threatens to walk out if he doesn’t get his way and the other responds by threatening to call in the lawyers, it’s obvious that all is not well. When one half of a couple threatens to walk out if he doesn’t get his way and the other responds by threatening to call in the lawyers, it’s obvious that all is not well. But this is the state of the coalition at the moment. The row between the two parties over Andrew Lansley’s proposed reforms to the National Health Service is in danger of turning into an argument that neither side ever forgets — or forgives. It was Sunday lunchtime when this row went fully public.

When spring arrives in England, the Prime Minister likes to roll up his sleeves and do a spot of gardening at his constituency home. When spring arrives in England, the Prime Minister likes to roll up his sleeves and do a spot of gardening at his constituency home. This year, he’ll have to find another way to pass the time. The police can only protect him properly in Oxfordshire by taking up post in the garden, and his wife, Sam, overheard her children enthusing about their guns. So it’s Chequers for the Camerons this April, where the protection officers can be both more effective and less obtrusive. And instead of pruning the roses, Cameron can turn his attention to the thorny problems of government.

There are few things that irritate an MP in the chamber of the House of Commons more than the sight of all the journalists in the press gallery walking out in the middle of a debate. There are few things that irritate an MP in the chamber of the House of Commons more than the sight of all the journalists in the press gallery walking out in the middle of a debate. It annoys them so much not because it means their own remarks will probably go unreported but because it is a visible symbol of the shift in power from the legislature to the executive. The journalists are all dashing out to hear some government aide explain what a minister really meant by an earlier statement.

George Osborne is using his budgets not only to get the economy moving but to make Britain a centre-right country once more. George Osborne is using his budgets not only to get the economy moving but to make Britain a centre-right country once more. The political test of his economic policy will be whether the Conservatives succeed in creating a new majority who feel invested in balanced budgets and low taxes. It is tempting to dismiss Gordon Brown as a failure: a man who coveted his neighbour’s job for a decade, and then didn’t know what to do when he got it. But just because his career ended in failure, doesn’t mean that he failed to achieve anything.

The government is struggling to retain its reputation for competence. The government is struggling to retain its reputation for competence. Ministerial ineptitude has become a dangerously large part of the major news stories in recent weeks, from the Libyan crisis to the scandal surrounding Prince Andrew. This should worry the coalition, because the public will not support government cuts or reforms to public services if people believe it is incapable of carrying them out. Appearing competent is a prerequisite for successful government. The government will only get credit for what goes right if it is seen to be in charge. The team in No.

David Cameron was two years old when Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi seized power in Libya. David Cameron was two years old when Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi seized power in Libya. Forty-one years later, he finds himself the eighth British Prime Minister wondering what to do about the Mad Dog of the Middle East. How Cameron approaches this question tells us much about his approach to leadership. Admirers of the Prime Minister often boast that he is ‘at his best in a crisis’. This is true. But what is also true is that things too often have to reach crisis point before the Cameron machine fully engages. This is why, after less than six years on the political frontline, he has three times had to give a speech to save his career.

Have the Tories rediscovered the Right instincts? If power without responsibility has been the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages, then the lot of a government minister can seem like responsibility without power. In private moments, ministers complain that they are overwhelmed by paperwork and have to drive change through a recalcitrant Civil Service. Members of the coalition Cabinet are rapidly finding out that the answer to the question ‘who governs Britain?’ is not as simple as they’d hoped. Nothing new there. Relative impotence is the perennial complaint of new ministers. They quickly come to appreciate that Yes, Minister was as much fact as fiction.