It’s time to stop the omnishambles – and send Lynton Crosby to No. 10

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[/audioplayer]Yet again, the Conservative party has reminded us that it is quite capable of losing the next election. The events leading up to Maria Miller’s resignation are entirely consistent with a party that is so gauche, so accident-prone, so surprised by basic news events that it can make Ed Miliband seem positively presidential. The government had intended this week’s political news to be about its success on welfare reform. Instead, the theme has been one of Tory chaos, as MPs publicly debated the survival of the Culture Secretary before she eventually chose to walk the plank.

The blame starts with the Prime Minister. He should need no telling about expenses scandals. Not so long ago, he dealt quickly and effectively with Tory MPs who had been exposed by the Daily Telegraph’s investigation — in stark contrast with the prevaricating Gordon Brown. Now, it seems it is Mr Cameron’s turn to regard a public issue as an arm-wrestling match with the press, rather than a simple matter of probity. He raised no questions about Mrs Miller’s behaviour, nor did he insist on a semi-decent apology. His ‘move along, nothing to see here’ approach only made things worse. For a former public relations man, such misjudgment is striking.

The theory advocated by Mrs Miller’s allies — that she was the victim of a media ‘witch hunt’ to somehow avenge her role in the politicians’ charter for press regulation — does not stand up to scrutiny. Few would argue that Mrs Miller was a decisive actor in the Leveson drama. The link between her personal expenses and the Leveson report into the press was first made by her own special adviser, who warned the Telegraph against investigating the woman who was deciding the future of press freedom.