Iain Martin writes an important piece over at Three Line Whip, in which he reveals that the Cameroons may be turning against Eric Pickles. According to Martin, their beef with the shadow communities secretary is that he took too much of the credit for the Crewe and Nantwich success, and that he’s been “grandstanding” ever since. That opinion may even be shared by David Cameron. Here’s the bottom line:
As that quote suggests, Pickles was regarded as a shoo-in to be the next Tory party chairman. The temptation may now be to stick with Caroline Spelman or to turn to someone like Chris Grayling, who has also been linked with the role.“One Tory sage says Pickles may still become the Conservatives’ chairman yet if he can get over this rough patch, but then his mood darkens: ‘The problem is that when David (Cameron) has made up his mind about someone he rarely alters it. If he has decided to regard Pickles as a terrible show-off and not as much of a team player as he should be then he’ll be very difficult to shift in that view. Shame really.'”
But there’s another way of looking at it. During the Cameron leadership, many of the party chairman’s former responsibilities have been handed over to others – George Osborne is in charge of running the general election campaign, Oliver Letwin is in charge of policy review etc. – and the position has lost a lot of its former lustre. In which case, there may be nothing contradictory about Cameron handing Pickles the role, whilst also not being his greatest fan.
P.S. A reminder that Coffee House is holding a Q&A with Eric Pickles. Head here to submit your questions. We’ll be picking out the best ten later today.
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