Cameron will hate his own tax inquiry

23 September 2006

The Tory tax commission under Lord Forsyth has not stuck to the cautious Cameron script, Allister Heath reveals. An almighty row is now brewing

Osborne and Cameron will have to tread carefully as the radicalism of the Forsyth Commission chimes perfectly with increased unease over tax among Tory backbenchers. Many who had reluctantly begun to accept the Cameroonian view that tax cuts are political suicide are now changing their minds again. Backbenchers have told me that a TaxPayers’ Alliance/ICM poll, splashed on the front page of the Sunday Times last month, created a stir by demonstrating a growing public appetite for tax cuts when sold the right way; they also report that their constituents are increasingly angry about the gross waste of taxpayers’ money that has become the hallmark of Brown’s public sector.

I have also learnt that 17 of the 54 new Tory MPs elected in 2005 have joined the Thatcherite No Turning Back group, chaired by John Redwood; their names will be released at the Tory party conference, further strengthening the new mood. The new members include Michael Gove, one of Cameron’s closest confidants. All 50 members of the group — including several members of the shadow Cabinet — have put their names to a powerful new pamphlet making the moral as well as economic case for tax cuts.

All of this confirms that for the first time since he became leader, Cameron has lost control of a crucial policy debate, with many senior figures no longer scared to question the bizarre official line that tax cuts would jeopardise economic stability. While this is no bad thing, Cameron will have to move fast to regain the initiative in other areas if he is to avoid the rest of his project unravelling.

Allister Heath is associate editor of The Spectator and deputy editor of the Business.