David cameron

The coalition is doing pretty well, thank you very much. In case last week's rebellion of the 91 on Lords reform and continuing tensions over Europe had you fooled, up pops the Prime Minister this morning with a soothing comment piece in the Sunday Times.  David Cameron tries to shrug off Lords reform within three paragraphs of his op-ed. 'What's far more significant is that we are working together on so much else - and after last week, it's vital that everyone reminds themselves of that fact,' he argues. As part of his health-check piece, the Prime Minister details signs that the coalition is functioning well. When he mentions the reforms the two parties are working together, the piece is very carefully worded. He starts with investment in infrastructure.

Have the Tories' manoeuvres over Lords reform signalled the end of the coalition? In this week's magazine, our leader argues that Tuesday's rebellion shows that Tories are back in full force, while James Forsyth writes that a coalition break-up date before 2015 is now not a case of if, but when. But Nick Clegg is not the only party leader to suffer from Tuesday's Lords revolt. In this week's View from 22 podcast, recently-resigned PPS Conor Burns MP accuses David Cameron of not appealing sufficiently to his own party: You see this so often when you watch interviews on television - someone speaking for the coalition, you see someone speaking for the Liberal Democrats but you rarely see someone who is poised to speak for the Conservative Party.

The post-match analysis of last night's vote on the House of Lords Reform Bill shows the Prime Minister has a bigger rebel problem on his hands than he might have initially thought. It is true that there is a significant hardcore within the Conservative party of rebels who happily defied the whip on the other big rebellion of this Parliament - October's vote on holding a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. But that group only accounts for 57 per cent of last night's rebels. The 81 in October did not simply increase by 10 to 91 last night. The table below shows that there were 39 MPs who walked through the 'no' lobbies who had obeyed the whip on Europe, and 29 EU rebels who voted with the Government last night.

'Shouldn't we just go home?' the SNP's Pete Wishart asked Sir George Young this evening after the Leader of the House revealed the government was dropping its programme motion on the House of Lords. 'You know it's all over. They know it's all over,' he added. But they didn't go home, and the Commons has just voted in favour of the second reading 462 votes to 162. Early reports suggest that there were 86 Conservative MPs who defied the whip, which would make this the biggest rebellion in this parliament. Nick Clegg paused from trying very hard not to grimace on the front bench to cheer as Mark Harper told the chamber shortly before the division that this legislation belonged to the coalition. But the speeches from MPs throughout the evening gave a very different message.

There’s long been a certain amount of speculation in Westminster about how long the coalition will last. This topic used to be the sole preserve of those who were sceptics of it; it was a question hoping for the answer not that long. Enthusiasts for coalition, took it as a given that it would last to 2015. But today Matthew Parris, one of the commentators who has been most welcoming of the coalition, writes, ‘I’m close to despair and no longer confident that the coalition can continue even into next year.’   When even the coalition’s friends are saying this, then it is time for the Prime Minister and deputy Prime Minister to take notice.

'What do you think David Cameron stands for?' a Tory MP asked me recently. Unsure of his point, I burbled something about 'responsibility' and couple of other random abstract nouns. The MP shook his head grimly. 'No,' he said. 'I'll tell you what David Cameron stands for.' I leant forward, intrigued. 'David Cameron stands for being Prime Minister.' It turns out that this MP isn't the only one who thinks this way about Cameron's motives. A survey of ConHome readers, published today, found that 50% believed he was only interested in being Prime Minister and did not have a strong vision for the country. The list of questions the site asked its readers has produced some fascinating results, and it is well worth reading it in full here.

Last night a group of Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs met to discuss Lords reform. Public outbursts from the Conservative backbench have so far focused on opposition to the bill and the programme motion that the whips are trying to impose on the legislation, but the group of pro-reform MPs, who have informally dubbed themselves the Democratic Majority, are optimistic that the legislation will make a successful passage through the House of Commons. There are 27 Conservatives on board at the moment along all the Lib Dems, standing up the list of 100 MPs that the rebel leaders claim to have among their number.

I have been waiting more than two years for this government to say or do something really radical. By this I don’t mean taking the Blairite revolution to its logical conclusion (or is it reductio ad absurdum?) by introducing pseudo-markets deeper into every area of the public sector and reforms to the welfare state New Labour certainly considered but never dared to carry out. But what was genuinely counter-intuitive for the Labour Party is not necessarily so for the Conservatives. For Tony Blair to embrace the private sector, distance himself from the trade unions and challenge the received wisdom of Labour’s state-ism was a genuine break with the past. For David Cameron to do so is merely to embrace tradition.

David Cameron’s position on Europe is becoming clearer. ‘Fresh settlement, fresh consent’, the soundbite he kept using, is simply a euphemism for renegotiation followed by a referendum. It seems that this renegotiation will span the next election. Indeed, it will start as soon as a new EU treaty is proposed. In response to a question from Peter Lilley, Cameron said he will try to use any forthcoming treaty to attempt to bring powers back to this country. Those close to Cameron say that the plan is to get as much back before the next election and then accelerate the process as soon as there is a treaty negotiation under a Conservative-only government. When the referendum does come, it will most likely offer a choice between the new terms and out.

Over at the books blog, former Tory MP Jerry Hayes has reviewed James Hanning and Francis Elliott’s Cameron: Practically a Conservative. The key to Hanning and Elliott’s analysis resides in their title. David Cameron is a practical politician, not an ideologue; his quiet values instilled by a comfortable upbringing and a natural talent for conciliation. Jerry concludes: ‘Personally, I would hate to be governed by an ideologue who had to jump through self-imposed Jesuitical hoops before making a decision. I much prefer someone who tries to do the right thing, even if they don't always succeed.’ I recommend reading the review in full (and Jerry recommends all to read the book, even those who can’t stand Cameron).