David cameron

As told to Jonathan Foreman... To my fellow citizens I would like to apologise for the role I have played in the dismantling of the United Kingdom. I am sure there is little need for me to tell you that I never dreamed that my Prime Ministership would be the Union’s last, or that I would be the person ultimately responsible for the needless destruction of one of the most successful polities in the history of Europe and indeed the world. However, I must take responsibility for what has happened. First of all, the blame is mine for allowing the referendum question to be worded in a way that inevitably favoured the secessionist cause. As is obvious now, I should have insisted on wording such as: 'Do you think Scotland should leave the United Kingdom?

David Cameron has just delivered one of the best speeches of his career in Aberdeen. It was emotional, sincere, clear. The Prime Minister pleaded with Scots to stay in the United Kingdom. It ranged from warnings that this would be a permanent separation - 'when people vote on Thursday they are not just voting for themselves, but for their children and grandchildren and the generations beyond'- to powerful images of something the peoples of the Union have built being torn apart: 'For the people of Scotland to walk away now would be like painstakingly building a home – and then walking out the door and throwing away the keys. So I would say to everyone voting on Thursday, please remember. This isn’t just any old country. This is the United Kingdom. This is our country.

Even when it is at peace, the Conservative party deals in hypotheticals all of which involve David Cameron being ousted in one way or another. That's why backbenchers have been wargaming what will happen to David Cameron if Scotland votes 'Yes' next week. It's why 1922 Committee executive members have been calling fellow MPs, or pouncing on them in the corridors (one spent a good long time lurking in one particular corridor in Parliament yesterday, snaring backbenchers) to find out what they would do if the worst happens in the referendum. Everyone agrees that a 'Yes' vote would be seriously damaging to the Prime Minister and that it would lead to a vote of no confidence. Serial troublemakers are making detailed plans for this to happen.

It is very difficult to see how David Cameron would survive a 'Yes' vote in the Scottish referendum. There are certainly Conservatives who are making detailed plans to oust the Prime Minister if Scotland does vote to leave. But it is also worth noting that a 'No' vote would not ensure an easy ride for the Conservative leader with his party. A number of Tory backbenchers are unsettled by the speed at which the parties have moved to promise devo-more. They say they can't see the point at which the government moved from resisting devo-max to all three Westminster parties promising a significant transfer of powers. And they will cause trouble on the English question.

David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband are combining forces and heading to Scotland tomorrow to make the case for the UK. Here's their joint statement: 'There is a lot that divides us - but there's one thing on which we agree passionately: the United Kingdom is better together. That’s why all of us are agreed the right place for us to be tomorrow is in Scotland, not at Prime Minister’s Questions in Westminster. We want to be listening and talking to voters about the huge choice they face. Our message to the Scottish people will be simple: "We want you to stay."' The presence of the three party leaders is meant to show that Westminster will deliver on its promises about further devolution to Scotland.

After the panic in Westminster over the weekend about the Sunday Times' poll putting 'Yes' in the lead came the something-must-be-dones. David Cameron said he would 'strain every sinew' to fight for a 'No' vote. But today his official spokesman was quizzed on the suggestion that he might have pulled out of a planned visit to Scotland this week (James reported in his Mail on Sunday column yesterday that the Prime Minister would stay down south this week 'to leave the coast clear for Labour'). The spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister will be in Scotland ahead of the election…There has been no change to the plan.

There’s an interesting interview in The Guardian this weekend with one of the most famous teachers, or ex-teachers, in Britain, Katharine Birbalsingh. You’ll probably know her. She’s the woman with fabulous hair who got a standing ovation at the Tory Party conference for a speech about a broken education system – ‘it’s broken because it keeps poor children poor’ – which confirmed the existence of ‘a culture of excuses, of low standards”. It was more or less a vindication of Michael Gove, then Education Secretary, and all he stood for. Now she says she regrets that speech – ‘it ruined my life. I should probably have kept my head down’.

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_4_Sept_2014_v4.mp3" title="Isabel Hardman, Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth discuss the Tory civil war" startat=60] Listen [/audioplayer]David Cameron is in need of advice right now and there’s plenty of it in the new Spectator – not least from Justine Greening, his International Development Secretary. Her interview with Melissa Kite makes clear that the party needs to focus more on social mobility – and tell the story which is not exactly hardly embodied by its Etonian and Pauline leadership.