Cameron's threadbare praetorian guard

Cabbie

Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?

George Laird

Dear All

Perhaps David Cameron is having a John Major moment!

‘There’s three of the bastards sitting in the Cabinet.’

Of the present Cabinet, I count 10.

Inflation is out of control in 'Bastard' market.

Not surprised Cameron is annoyed.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

oldtimer

It is but a matter of time before Cameron becomes an electoral liability. It is not just his MPs he needs to worry about but the electorate.

There are some things the Coalition has got right and pressing on with, despite their obvious unpopularity. There are others where I think they have got hold of the wrong end of the stick. These are on defence, foreign aid and energy policy. The first and last of these are central to our security and well being and cameron has, in my opinion, got them wrong. Europe is another contentious issue but that is a longer game.

Verity

Old Timer - agree.

On a more charmingly negative note, I see Dave has now resorted to mood lighting in the hope that his full-time personal photographer will be able to make his jelloid features look strong.

Didn't work.

Iain

I would say Cameron is the reason why the Tories will lose the next election. He is far from their best asset; a whig not a tory.

Hugo Chav

Thought for the day by Nadeem Walayat:

The net result of the inflation and economic austerity mega-trend will be that a decade from now half of the middle class will have disappeared and have been forced to join the working class. It is not too incredulous to suggest that where the middle classes of Egypt is today is where the middle class of Britain will be in 10 years time, the politic consequences of which will be for the re-birth of socialism which will mean far greater long-term economic pain for everyone!

yank

"But when Cameron gets into trouble..."

.

Heh... "when"? How about "right now"?

Don't look now, but the stagflation needle is pegged, and the poor, befuddled soul has blindly flung himself into the mosh pit of foreign policy. And now he's disparaging the worthies out in the mosh pit, who are supposed to catch him? You're about to get a rude surprise, Dave.

It's happening quickly. If this guy is already climbing down into the bunker, and disparaging all those who've failed him, he's himself telling us all we need to know about his future. The downfall draws nigh.

vulture

Who cares if Dave and his chums don't think much of the Cabinet - I bet some of the Cabinet don't think much of Dave - or his chums.

James - who exactly are these mysterious beings who see Dave as the Tories' big electoral asset? You and Dave's mum?

Everyone else thinks the man is a disaster with a capital 'D'. A privileged tosser who doesn't know nor care what real life is all about. He is detested already AND BY HIS OWN PARTY - imagine how people at large will feel a year or so hence after the cuts.

it is striking how few MPs are not Cameron loyalists you say. The fact that Dave is surprised that after pissing on his MPs from a great height that they don't love him gives some measure of this man's arrogant stupidity.

The photo which you use for this piece, as Verity notes, is revealing. bathing those blanchmange pink jelloid features in a lurid light. The look of puzzled bemusement will change to terror when he realises just how much his own MPs hate him.

it is 1974 and Heath-Cameron is fast approaching his destiny. Its not a Praetorian Guard he needs, but a nuclear fall out shelter.

Auld Curmudgeon

Iniqua nunquam regna perpetuo manent.

TGF UKIP

"He is still seen as the Tories' primary electoral asset." Well not up here, he ain't, quite to the contrary in fact.

The view of Dave and his fellow exotics in much of the North varies between, and is frequently a combination of, dismissive and dislike.

Your mates failed to win the GE because of the insinctive Northern resistance there is to who and what Dave is. Unfortunately for you and your mates, James, that resistance is likely to grow exponentially between now and the next GE.

Dave's legacy to the Tory party could well be to leave the North of England as much a Tory Free Zone as the Socialist Republic further north.

Never mind, though, I'm sure he'll still be able to rely on his Speccie praetorians.

Baron

when the austerity measures begin to bite and more, the two boys and those batting for them will be toast anyway. What the unwashed have got accustomed to is to judge those in charge by the flow of the shillings into their pockets. Nobody will remember Cameron holding the right end of the stick on anything, everyone will blame him for cutting the flow.

oldtimer @ 7.41:

you reckon then the coalition policy on law and order’s fine, do you?

Verity

Vulture, I'm not asking you to be a hostage to the future, but do you have any rough thoughts on how long it will be until the Tories hand Dave his pink slip? Or push him out the door onto a banana skin?

My own guess, he may last out the rest of this year (but this isn't a given), but I would say for sure by this time next year William Hague or Eric Pickles will be PM. A bit far-fetched, agreed, but do you have any other thoughts? I mean, Karma Chameleon Cameron's got to go and someone's got to replace him.

Archie

Well, Mr. Forsyth, considering the veteran political observers hereabouts and never mind the manifold governmental cock-ups of the past few weeks, we surely can't ALL be wrong, can we?

TrevorsDen

There are plenty tory seats in the north.

Labours 'industrial' northern seats have always been there.

But tories would have to have quite a few northern seats since they gained 97 in total at the last election, more than ever in modern history.

Mike

Hardly praetorian, more like dad's army.

Cynic

"Cameron ... is still seen as the Tories’ primary electoral asset and there is no obvious, or even viable, alternative to him." In Westminster, perhaps, but here in the electorate things are not quite so cut and dried. Cameron is just the least worst option. Even that is becoming less true as he fails to deliver on his promises. It's no good portraying yourself as a break with the past if you're going to pursue many of the failed policies the electorate were desperate to be rid of (political correctness, State interference and servility to the EU being but three of them).

Major Plonquer 1

I find the Cabinet highly entertaining. In fact, I don't think of our political leaders as being big political beasts at all, but as "Dozy Dave, Beaky Mick and Snitch".

Cabbie

Cameron regnant sed non gubernat et quod differtur, non aufertur. But from where?

TomTom

"There are plenty tory seats in the north."

Rubbish ! Very few in population centres

normanc

He looks a little like David Brent from The Office in that photo. I wonder if he has a mug with 'Greatest Ever PM' on it?

He should do the crazy dance and cheer the country up! He's not done anything else to bring a smile to anyones face.

DC may be the best asset outside of Tory voters but he's driving conservatives away in their droves. How are those Lib Dem defectors to the Tories coming along?

Cjamesk

He's a socialist dressed up in a Tory guise, here to rubber stamp and oversee EU diktats and fully implement the "common purpose" ideals whilst playing the bullish!t Centre ground argument.

He's a disgrace he'll finally destroy the middle class in this country and check out with a pat on the back and a hefty bank balance as we silently lurch even more to the Left. Will the real Consetvatives please stand up?!

vulture

@verity
to answer your query and to quote another Mr Forsyth - Freddie- he divvies up the Tory Parliamentary party into three groups; 25 hard Right rebels who Dave has already discounted; 80 loyalists who include the handful of convinced Camerloons, the Govt payroll vote and a few wannabee Ministers who will back the leadership in hope of preferment.

That leaves a vast mainstream majority (200) on whom Dave's future depends. And they are becoming increasingly restive at the mix of incompetence and arrogance that Dave displays.. forests, defence, Libya, Europe,..you name it, Dave cocks it.

But to make a prediction: I think a Liberal Dem revolt rather than a Tory one is likely - I predict a substantial section will peel off
after the May massacre leaving the Coalition with a greatly reduced majority.

Then, if the 200 have any sense, they will ditch Dave in favour of a real Tory - possibly Dave Davis, more probably George Osborne (who is not such a slavish supporter of Cameron as people think.
Personally, I like the cut of Graham Brady's jib.

One thing, however, I firmly believe - whenever Cameron calls an election he will lose. He's a turnoff for the voters whatever his crazed supporters here say. Heath's backers used to say the same thing abt that weirdo - another faux Tory traitor and equally toxic to the voters.

strapworld

Reading Heffer, this morning, I do not think it will be long before The Telegraph supports Ukip.

Chris lancashire

Judgimg by all the right wing rants on here I'd have to say Cameron is doing pretty well so far.

TomTom

"as we silently lurch even more to the Left. "

Not sure of that bit. The game has been to move the slush around to favoured groups. Brown and Cameron went overboard in charity for bankers - that unites Right and Left in outrage and anger.

It is so clear that these "parties" are simple facets of Crony Capitalism and it has run into insolvency by destroying middle-class savings and debasing currency but making everything too expensive for those who work in normal jobs.

There is no constituency they have not abused in rescuing bankers who are "the markets" they seek to appease by privatising public services

TomTom

"Judgimg by all the right wing rants on here I'd have to say Cameron is doing pretty well so far."

Of course you would chrislancashire, because you are way out of touch with public opinion and probably have posters of Cameron on your bedroom wall. That's how William Hague started out idolising the leader....might do you some good to keep brown-nosing.

Fatbloke on tour

JF

Dave the Rave is the Mr Sunshine of the 1905 dog boilers, he is there to provide warm words and nice smiles as the post war welfare state is gutted under the happy coincidence of a banking crisis.

He is doing a great job, he is seeting the pace with an agenda that would make Maggie wince.

He wants the UK to become some form of Switzerland / Belgium, he is proof positive that the establishment justs wants to make money and walk away from any residual global role that was ours to bear.

Walking in the shadow of the frogs is the best we can hope for.

Thank heavens his family holiday home was not in Italy.

TrevorsDen

I seem to remember Mrs Thatcher not being impressed with her cabinet.

Its a prime ministers job to be critical of his colleagues, its his job to promote good talent.
Of course once you abolish the Lords, as I hope it is, then a PM will not be able to soften the blow by ensuring a sacked ministers wife can be called a Lady.

Victor Southern

Some amazing stuff here. Vulture suddenly is an expert on the inner thoughts of all of the Conservative MPs. Vulture even believes that the discredited and selfish David Davis will become leader of the Conservative Party or fancies the single-issue Graham Brady, a nice and inoffensive chap who campaigns, rightly, for grammar schools.

Verity, writing from Mexico, is obsessed with Cameron's features and this little group are just echoes on a stage set of the 1950's.

strapworld fondly believes that Heffer's attitude controls The Telegraph. It is true that Heffer is a Kipper by nature or perhaps Kippers are Hefferites.

It would not matter to the Hefferites is Cameron magically put every unemployed person into jobs, cured cancer and brought ever-lasting world peace. He simply is not as tough as they imagine themselves to be.

They hope for failure, anticipate disaster with relish, lack balance and logic. Yet they parade their petty little prejudices here day after day and, boy, do they have prejudices.

I do not ever expect perfection from any government, here or elsewhere. Running various businesses has taught me that perfection does not exist in the real world. I must also say that I have never met any politician whose views on everything exactly coincided with mine. That does not stop me from supporting those who move in the right direction. For me that direction is not back to the halcyon 50's and certainly not back to Blair or Brown or their spiritual successors.

Chris lancashire

TomTom: thanks for proving my point.

oldtimer

@ baron 11.11pm

I did not comment specifically on law and order. The Coalition is right to pursue its deficit reduction programme. In that respect I have no problem with the direction of travel so far as it affects law and order issues.

denis cooper

I put this up in the expectation that somebody will knock it down, but my take is that Cameron and Clegg are both safe in their present positions unless and until they seriously fall out with each other.

Why? Because the coalition government seems to be founded above all else on their personal sympathy, if not actual affection, and it's not easy to see how either could be replaced without the risk that the coalition would rapidly fall apart.

Sensing that, Tory MPs won't move against Cameron for fear of losing their seats in an ensuing general election, especially as a collapse of the coalition would almost certainly be followed within hours by a collapse of the gilts market and they would be blamed for the consequences.

For similar reasons, the LibDems won't move against Clegg.

And nor will either Cameron or Clegg even think about ending their coalition, unless and until their personal relationship has deteriorated to the point where working together has become intolerable for either one or for both.

I don't think that a single small thing like the outcome of the AV referendum, whichever way, would yet have that effect; it would be an accumulation of gripes over time, perhaps culminating in some major disagreement or perhaps just in some straw which finally broke the camel's back.

Of course there's the possibility of irrational behaviour, and maybe I've not spotted the Tory who could take over from Cameron and get on just as well with Clegg, or the LibDem who could take over from Clegg and get on just as well with Cameron.

General Zod

Verity and vulture,

perhaps you could take your fantasies off somewhere in private.

William Hague? I laughed out loud.

cuffleyburgers

Good post by Denis Cooper as usual.

But Cameron didn't actually have to do much to remain reasonably popular amongst the troops such was the relief that we would avoid what would probably have been a fatal repeat dose of Brown.

Climbing into bed with Clegg could be seen in this light as a necessary evil.

A number of very worth while policies are being followed, namely Gove's education reforms and IDS's welfare reforms.

To set against this is a long list of areas where their performance has been unsatisfactory to me and probably to a great majority on this blog and in the country:
Lansley's performance at health
The NHS should never have been ringfenced
DFID should be scrapped
The defence review
EUrope
Huhne
Libya has been more shambolic than polished for someone who is supposed to be a PR wizard
Osborne - where are these damn' cuts? I would to see 10% year on year cuts, and I want to see the minimum tax raised, NI rolled into Income tax and a flat tax, or at least steps in that direction
I want to see vast amounts of regulations scrapped, especially EU ones.

Dave has exhausted my patience and I can see I am not alone.

Dimoto

At least the long-term expats on here have an excuse for not having a clue what the electorate thinks, the others ? Rum, very rum.

The great majority of Brits are not the slightest bit interested in politics, mostly despise politicians, and don't give a second thought to such "weighty matters" (sic) as foreign/defence/aid policy.

In their opinion Cameron is this slightly posh, but decent bloke, with good manners, who they hope will sort the economy in reasonably short order. They'll grin and bear it - for a while - whilst having a protest and a whinge whenever the opportunity presents itself.
It's the British way.
I doubt most people are even aware who that geeky Miliband bloke, who keeps popping up on the TV, is.

If we reach the sunlit uplands (irony) before the next election, expect a second term.

Woody

Cameron was criticised during the election campaign for not letting his shadow ministers appear on TV, now we know why. One or two have shone in government in my view but too many have not stepped up to the plate.

TomTom

"don't give a second thought to such "weighty matters" (sic) as foreign/defence/aid policy."

Must be your wing of the asylum. Out here most people are spitting blood at the antics of the amateurs in charge; and many of them have kith and kin in the armed forces and are buying kit for them at the Damart shop or at Snugpak because Bonus Britain cannot afford kit

Barbara

I think Cameron done himself no favours when he made promises he had no intention of keeping. He's fooled many, but folk will remember, like they remember the damage Thatcher imposed upon many,it's not gone away after all this time. He will be remembered the same, along with his sidekick Clegg. Both have took a pasteing in the last by election, and there will be more to come in May. Clegg, who does all the dirty work, is taking more flack, and rightly so, play in a dirty field and you get mud stuck to you. Yes, we have to have cuts, but its how they are applied that counts and what people will judge, and at the moment the people are not inpressed. Jobs and people paying NI contributions and tax is important to the economy, surely an Etonian knows this; or is it that they've never worked in the real world to know? Unemployment is nearly as bad as when Thatcher was in, then she destroyed the industrial base, now it's the financial base being destroyed. Every time Tories are in power, we have unemployment, strikes, and wars, Labour might have failings, large ones I agree, but at least they kept us working. Trouble is they spend money, where they shouldn't. Both have protected aid, is it our money or not? We should decide when we spend abroad, not MPs, the people say NO, so why is it they ignore us like they do? I'm fed up witht them all, liars, cheats, theives, who needs them. Vote for a new party and cleanse yourself from the stench this lot leave behind.

Neil Craig

"Walking into fire for Cameron"

Not a concept that comes easily to the eye.

This numpty should have walked the last election but he blew it supporting windmills and the EU. His survival past the election was purely because of the deal with the Pseudoliberals otherwise the party would have instantly dumped him as the incompetent he is. Still could.

stephen maybery

Cameron the Tories prime electoral asset? Come off it, if the posturing clown could not win an election after thirteen years of Blair and Brown, then the only hope that he could possibly have is that somebody would put him out of his misery before he has the chance of attaining the Holy Grail of the modern political class, which is to bugger up the country to such an extent that it can never be put tohether again.