Our coalition government was forged one year ago tomorrow — and we shall have more
on that then. But the Sun has already marked the occasion by publishing an interview
with David Cameron today. It is a wide-ranging sort of conversation, touching on everything from the Prime Minister’s workload (“every day feels like a week”) to the shelf life of the
government (“five years”), although much of it is unsurprising. It does, however, contain one or two useful insights into how the coalition’s game of give-and-take is going to operate
from now on.
First up, Cameron’s insistence — contra Clegg — that the Lib Dems should not be portrayed as a “moderating influence” on his party. “I don’t see it like that,” he says, “We are an influence on each other, because of our different histories and traditions and policies.” This is part of the nascent struggle that James highlighted yesterday: a struggle by the Tories to ensure that the Lib Dems don’t take credit for all of the sunnier coalition policies. That the Prime Minister is already involving himself suggests just how crucial this is to the Cameroons, and how much it could escalate.
And then there’s Cameron’s claim that there will not be a Cabinet reshuffle this year, to which the Sun adds, “Senior No10 aides have told MPs to expect no changes until May 2012 at the earliest.” Not that he would broadcast a different message, of course, but it does rather sheathe the Damoclean swords hovering above Lansley and Clarke. It had recently been suggested that the Lib Dems were pushing for a change of Health Secretary, as a bloody symbol of how much change they are imposing on the health reforms. But perhaps that has, in the end, hardened Cameron’s resolve to keep Lansley in place and simply muddle on.
All of which is to say that, while the Lib Dems are being more divisive — even Danny Alexander had a slight pop at Thatcher in a speech last night — Cameron is only going to let them go so far. Coalition might entail difference and compromise, but it also involves unity.
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