Cameron’s reshuffle dilemmas

When David Cameron reshuffles his top team, one of the questions he’ll have to answer is what relationship he wants between the Conservative party and the coalition government. The Liberal Democrats have a deputy leader in Simon Hughes and a party president in Tim Farron who are quite often used by their leadership to try and put distance between them and the coalition. But there is no one who performs that role for the Conservatives.
 
Interestingly, Sayeeda Warsi has made clear that she would like to be freer to attack the Lib Dems. I also suspect that if she is moved in the reshuffle, whoever takes on the role will want more freedom to carve out a Conservative identity distinct from that of the coalition.
 
This would certainly please the Tory backbenches and the party in the country. But whether it would please Number 10 is another matter. Cameron has, to date, preferred to stress what the Conservatives are doing in government rather than what they’re being stopped from doing. Those close to the PM fear that emphasising what he can’t do would make him look impotent.
 
There have been odd deviations from this strategy. But it would be quite a strategic shift if Cameron was to start talking more regularly about what he’s being blocked from doing.