To date, David Cameron has played the expenses crisis skilfully. The polls show that the public have seen Cameron as being decisive and Brown as dithering. But this morning on the Today programme, Cameron tied himself in knots talking about the Speaker’s position. Cameron, obviously, doesn’t feel that it is constitutionally right for him to comment on the subject—but why then did he do the 8.10am interview when the future of the Speaker is Topic A? Cameron wouldn’t even back the compromise position of saying that the motion of no confidence in the Speaker needs to be debated.
The public are crying out for some straight talk from their politicians. They perceive the whole system as rotten. But with his fence-straddling on the Speaker, Cameron seems evasive and part of the Westminster club. By contrast, Nick Clegg—who has grown in stature these past few weeks—appears to be speaking for the country with his well-put
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