Over at Comment Central, Danny Finkelstein has written a post saying that it might not be in the best interests of the No campaign for Cameron to campaign heavily against AV. His argument is that the No campaign’s best hope is to run as a spiky, anti-establishment effort. I think this is true but that the No camp has rather forfeited this chance by appointing Margaret Beckett as its president and having a former Labour MP front its launch. If the No campaign is going to be use so many politicians as spokesmen for it, it might as well have one of the most able ones involved.
Second, and most importantly, Cameron’s presence on the trail would highlight Nick Clegg’s absence. Rather unfairly Clegg has become the embodiment of how coalition requires compromises and thus broken promises. Hammering him will be vital to the No campaign getting the Labour votes it needs to win.
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