Ever since the Parliamentary Commissioner began his inquiry into Caroline Spelman she has been in an odd political limbo land, neither sacked nor acquitted. Now, Sam Coates reports that we might not know the commissioner’s verdict until the New Year.
One thing that has changed during the inquiry is the desirability of Spelman’s job. A few months ago the party chairmanship was a much diminished role, there was even talk that some shadow cabinet members wouldn’t take it as they considered the job to have become pretty much meaningless. This was an understandable point of view. George Osborne was doing the party’s political strategy, Andrew Feldman was running CCHQ and Lord Ashcroft was in charge of target seats. But now, Osborne has cut back on his strategy role, Feldman has been damaged by the bad judgment he displayed during the Deripaska affair and you wouldn’t bet against the Lord Ashcroft’s tax status becoming a major issue before the next election. Someone who was not operating under the cloud that Spelman is, could take this opportunity to expand the power and portfolio of the role considerably.
I still think that the Tories need to use the role to balance out their top team. Team Cameron would also be well advised to pay attention to David Davis whose New Statesman interview and speech at the Spectator awards yesterday suggest a desire for publicity and a willingness to make a little mischief. As LBJ said, “It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”
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