There are rumours that Tory grandees are gathering to confront Cameron over his
lacklustre campaign. The prospect of electoral reform, or another election amid autumnal austerity, has many reaching for the panic button in certain Tory circles.
Speaking to the BBC, Tim Montgomerie has just added his voice to the criticism of the campaign and Cameron’s single-minded leadership. He also added that the party wanted a radically different campaign to the one the leadership offered. The leadership gave reassurance that it knew what it was doing. Montgomerie argued that Cameron cannot expect to receive such leniency after this result.
Con Home has surveyed party members this morning, they insist, overwhelmingly according to Montgomerie, that Cameron go it alone. Intriguingly, Douglas Carswell (whose book The Plan inspired so much of Cameron’s manifesto) is arguing that the Tories embrace some form of electoral reform – mainly based on the power of recall and open primaries. Carswell says nothing about PR or coalitions, but it proves that opinions are diverging.
Certainly Cameron’s style of leadership must become more consensual, but he must squash this dissent before it gathers pace, preferably when he speaks later this afternoon. In the circumstances of a hung parliament, his leadership has to be firm and the party has to be united for it to have any hope of forming a government.
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