David cameron

Wednesday

James Forsyth

The coalition passes the easy bit with flying colours

From our UK edition

The first press conference of this new era was a definite success. The body language between Cameron and Clegg was good. When Clegg called Cameron ‘Dave’ it sounded very natural. Cameron’s argument was that the two parties could have come to a confidence and supply agreement but that would have been ‘uninspiring’ and could have broken down at any time. What the Prime Minister didn’t mention is that the coalition agreement ties the Lib Dems into cuts as well as providing stable government. Clegg was excellent, as in the debates he is helped by being a little bit taller than Cameron. He defused any tension when Andy Bell reminded Cameron that he had dismissed him as his favourite joke with a bit of humour.

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson

The government takes shape

From our UK edition

Here are some details of the LibCon deal, and my brief comments: 1. Clegg as Deputy PM. It’s a non-job, but a senior one – it means Clegg will take PMQs in Cameron’s absence, and will defend all those nasty cuts (sharing the blame for these cuts is the main rationale for coalition). This follows the 1999 Lib-Lab deal in Scotland, where Jim Wallace was made Deputy First Minister to everyone’s surprise. 2. Laws replaces Gove in education. This has not been confirmed yet, and I will not believe it until I see it. Of all of tonight's moves this is potentially the most concerning – especially for all those (including myself) who had said that the Gove schools policy was the best single reason to vote Tory.

Peter Hoskin

David Cameron is Prime Minister

From our UK edition

And he begins his tenure with an unfussy speech outside the door of No.10.  All of the main Tory touchstones were mentioned: the deficit, responsibility, political reform and social breakdown.  But this wasn't a strident or triumphant performance.  Cameron went out of his way to pay tribute to Gordon Brown and his "long record of public service," and to highlight the role that the Lib Dems will be playing in a "proper and full coalition".  Almost with a dash of regret, Cameron noted that this coalition will "throw up all sorts of challenges". Perhaps he's had a first taste of those challenges with the protestors who greeted his entry, with banners and boos, into Downing Street.

Peter Hoskin

Whatever happens, Clegg has sullied his credibility with the Tories

From our UK edition

Let's not get ahead of ourselves: some sort of deal between the Lib Dems and the Tories is still a distinct possibility, even if negotiations have been rocked by the events of yesterday. But whether it goes through or not, Clegg has seriously dented his credibility in Tory circles. Backbenchers who were warming to the idea of a formal Lib-Con coalition a few days ago – if only to scupper Labour's hopes – are now dead set against it. The very notion of Clegg as Home Secretary is becoming a collective anathema. The question now is whether – failing a Lib-Lab coalition – the Tory leadership is more inclined towards a confidence and supply deal than they were before.

Monday

James Forsyth

The Tories work to seize the moral high ground

From our UK edition

Well, well today just keeps getting more and more extraordinary. The Tories have responded to the Lib Dems beginning formal negotiations with Labour by offering the Lib Dems a referendum on AV in exchange for a full coalition with Lib Dems in the Cabinet. The Tories stress that this is their final offer to the Lib Dems. Having spoken to several members of the shadow Cabinet, it appears that the offer is designed to allow the Tory party to seize the moral high ground. They believe that if the Lib Dems were to join with Labour to ram through a change in the voting system—Labour are offering the Lib Dems AV without a referendum and then a referendum on STV—then they would be discredited.

James Forsyth

The best possible news for the Tories

From our UK edition

Gordon Brown’s announcement that the Liberal Democrats have requested formal coalition talks is the best news that the Conservative party has had since the polls closed on Thursday. David Cameron can now say that his party has negotiated in good faith and that his broad, comprehensive, and open offer to the Lib Dems is on table and they can take it or leave it. If the Lib Dems do end up going into coalition with Labour they would completely discredit themselves and be slaughtered at any subsequent election, remember getting PR through the Lords would take at least a year. The markets would also not be impressed by a coalition that would not be able to take any tough decisions on the deficit.

James Forsyth

The return of David Davis

From our UK edition

The shadow Cabinet were gathering before their meeting at 2pm. One member told me ‘it is looking less like formal coalition now.’ But coalition remains the leadership’s preferred option. Talking to Tory MPs—old and new—this morning, there’s a sense that they would slightly prefer minority government. Though, no-one is planning to blow themselves up if the country does end up with a Tory-Lib Dem coalition. One other interesting development today is that there is a growing expectation that David Davis will be recalled to the colours. Certainly, his return would make Cameron’s top team more accurately reflect the ideological balance of the party.

Fraser Nelson

Who’s using whom?

From our UK edition

Another day of live political theatre, staged live at College Green. Given that Cameron last night negotiated a confidence-and-supply deal - ie, enough to keep him in a minority government like Alex Salmond has in Scotland - why is he negotiating further? What's more to discuss? This is what we find out today. David Steel told Radio Four this morning that Nick Clegg had told him, before the election, that he would put a time cap on any Con-Lib Pact - ie, a shelf life of one or two years. This suggests that the Lib Dems would not fall for the obvious Tory ruse: the offer of a referendum on PR due in 2012, but with the sneaky expectation of a new election in May 2011 at the latest. But Cameron has much more to offer - and things that suit him rather well.

James Forsyth

The coalition nears

From our UK edition

‘A government by this evening’ is what several Tory MPs have told me they expect. Those who have spoken to David Cameron say that he has no appetite for a second election within 12 months and that he wants the stability of a coalition. David Cameron is in the House of Commons. When I passed him earlier, he was without the entourage that so often accompanies him and was saying hello to those he passed. This might not sound like much but it does suggest that Cameron is adjusting to the new circumstances, that he is taking greater care to be nice to his parliamentary party than he has previously. Shadow Cabinet meets at 4pm and then the parliamentary party at 6. In both meetings, Cameron will be on stronger ground if he has a deal to present.

Daniel Korski

Who should get what?

From our UK edition

In February I pontificated about the composition of Cameron-Clegg government - to general ridicule. The blogpost looks increasingly prescient now that David Cameron seems to be favouring a formal deal with the Lib Dems. Assuming that Lib Dem MPs will sit around the Cabinet table, what ministries should they get? The assumption is that the Lib Dems want six Cabinet post and will probably end with no more than four. The Conservatives cannot give up the Chancellorship, Education or the FCO - departments that are important for the leadership, its worldview and its reform agenda . Nor is it easy to see a Lib Dem in Defence or someone like Liam Fox passed over (even if it was for Paddy Ashdown).

Sunday

Fraser Nelson

A rolling Westminster drama

From our UK edition

Another extraordinary day in Westminster. A deal looks likely to be agreed by Clegg and Cameron tomorrow morning, put to backbench MPs in the afternoon and then Brown will advise the Queen to send for Cameron on Tuesday. (Brown may choke on those words, but if he says 'send for Ed Balls' I don't think she will fall for it.) This evening at 6pm, the handful of Tories MPs who are in London met Cameron at the Commons to discuss the coalition talks. Rumours still fly but as I understand it a deal has been reached where the LibDems will vote for Tory cuts - thereby fulfilling Vince Cable's pledge to be the guarantor of stability. "But they will want Cabinet seats," I am told by a LibDem source. "Why be tainted with cuts with nothing in return?

Fraser Nelson

My understanding is that Cameron will not sacrifice schools reform

From our UK edition

During coalition talks, wild rumours can fly - and some of them can be true. That's why Michael Gove would have stopped many a Tory heart this morning by telling Andrew Marr that he was by no means wedded to a Cabinet job and then heaped praise on David Laws. The Gove schools policy is ranked by The Spectator as reason in itself to vote Tory and by The Economist as the best single policy of the election campaign. Might it be sacrificed? The 10am radio headlines were suggesting so.  I bumped into Gove just afterwards and asked him: panic over. He had simply sought to make clear that he was not insisting on a Cabinet job, and nor was he drawing some kind of red line around is own position. He sought to state the obvious: that he serves at the pleasure of the party leader.

Daniel Korski

Don’t forget the Party, David

From our UK edition

Days, perhaps only hours away from the expected announcement of a Con-Lib deal, the Tory party rank-and-file is getting increasingly restive. Many MPs and party activists do not feel that Team Cameron has been sufficiently attentive to them and their concerns. They look longingly at the Lib Dems, whose democratic set-up enables MPs and party members to make their views known to Nick Clegg and the leadership. In a Tory party that has always favoured single-minded leadership, the options for representing rank-and-file views are few, particularly as the chairmanship of the 1922 committee remains vacant. As a result, many senior MPs have been reduced to calling hacks to find out what is actually going on.

Saturday

Daniel Korski

Cameron’s Clause 4 moment

From our UK edition

David Cameron never really had a Clause 4 moment. True, the Conservatives never believed anything so absurd as socialist economics. But the fact that he never had a genuine dust-up with his party made many voters think that he had rebranded but not reoriented them. In the end, it made many would-be supporters wary of voting Tory. Now, the Tory leader may have a Clause 4 moment thrust upon him by virtue of the Lib Dem talks. For if a Con-Lib pact is to be made, it will include a lot of things the party finds unpalatable. Like Tony Blair's experience with the Labour Party over the Clause 4 discussions, some in the Conservative party will try to hold out against a coalition agreement and any compromise on Tory policies.

Martin Bright

Time for a National Government? (Revisited)

From our UK edition

If there is one lesson to be drawn from the television debates, it is that people have grown tired of politicians slagging each other off. David Cameron promised an end to "yah-boo" politics, but the institution of parliament makes this near-impossible in practice. However, while parliament is out of action, there just might be the possibility of creating something genuinely ground-breaking: a government of national unity. I first suggested this idea in the New Statesman during the 2008 Labour Party conference: "If the financial crisis is as serious as many in the government suggest, then extraordinary times require bold solutions.

David Blackburn

Electoral reform is the deal maker

From our UK edition

Former Tory MP and current associate editor of Conservative Home, Paul Goodman, has analysed where Cameron and Clegg can accommodate one another. It’s a must-read and gives enough hope that Cameron and Clegg may ally to keep a thoroughly discredited Labour party from office. The Tories and Lib Dems share common ground on the bland areas of policy; and, as one expects, they diverge over more contentious issues. Much is made of Clegg and Cameron’s passion for all things green and renewable. This encompasses such thrilling pastures as home insulation, carbon capture and emissions targets. The grander aspects of energy policy will necessitate accommodation through compromise. Does Britain’s energy security lie in nuclear power or a European supergrid?

Friday

Peter Hoskin

Cameron offers the hand of coalition to the Lib Dems

From our UK edition

Woah, I didn't think Cameron would go that far.  In his statement just now, the Tory leader started off by talking about minority government, as one might expect.  But he soon skipped past that, and onto what sounded like a more formal coalition with the Lib Dems.  He called it the Tories' "Big Comprehensive Offer". This offer trumped the one that Brown put forward ealier by virtue of its clarity.  Where Brown had hints and innuendo, Cameron had an itemised list of policies and specifications.  And so the Tory leader set out the areas where he wasn't willing to compromise with the Lib Dems: Europe, cutting the deficit and immgration.

Peter Hoskin

Brown sets out his stall for the Lib Dems

From our UK edition

Gordon Brown's statement outside Number 10 just now was a strange mix of statesmanship and salesmanship.  He began by trying to sound as reasonable as possible: claiming that he "understands" why Nick Clegg would like to meet with David Cameron first, and adding that he would happliy wait for them to finish their negotiations.  He claimed that he is keen to "resolve the situation for the good of the country."  And he mentioned that Alistair Darling would be attending various meetings about the spreading fiscal crisis in Europe. But then, about halfway through, he flipped into used car salesman mode – hawking his rusty party to a sceptical Nick Clegg.

David Blackburn

Tim Montgomerie: Cameron must change his style of leadership

From our UK edition

There are rumours that Tory grandees are gathering to confront Cameron over his lacklustre campaign. The prospect of electoral reform, or another election amid autumnal austerity, has many reaching for the panic button in certain Tory circles.   Speaking to the BBC, Tim Montgomerie has just added his voice to the criticism of the campaign and Cameron’s single-minded leadership. He also added that the party wanted a radically different campaign to the one the leadership offered. The leadership gave reassurance that it knew what it was doing. Montgomerie argued that Cameron cannot expect to receive such leniency after this result. Con Home has surveyed party members this morning, they insist, overwhelmingly according to Montgomerie, that Cameron go it alone.