You Do the Fighting, I’ll Do the Talking

You can imagine, I think, the outrage there’d have been had Tony Blair or, god forbid, Gordon Brown slapped down the service cheifs in this fashion. But there was the Prime Minister, exasperated by repeated complaints from the heads of the Army, Royal Navy and RAF that their resources are perilously close to snapping-point, telling the press he sometimes feels like saying “I tell you what – you do the fighting and I’ll do the talking.”

As I say, the Tory press would have torn poor Gordon to shreds had he dared suggest any such thing. As it is, the Telegraph’s editorial yesterday was relatively restrained but still sided with the military against the civilian leadership. (Imagine, meanwhile, the rumpus that would follow if Barack Obama – or his predecessor – were to slap David Petraeus in such fashion!)

Given that the Conservatives were so pleased with General Sir Richard Dannatt’s public challenges to the last government’s policy they made him a peer of the realm, they can hardly complain if his successors in uniform adopt the same approach. As someone wrote at the time:

Yet if the government’s criticisms of General Dannatt were, at times, unseemly then so too was his very public dissension from (aspects of) government policy at a time when he was, after all, in charge of implementing that policy. General Dannatt thought little of stepping outside the chain-of-command. If nothing else this set a precedent that the Conservatives may find troubling once they are responsible for foreign and defence policy. After all, the Tories have declined to “ring-fence” the defence budget, making one wonder just how they will provide all the “necessary resources” the army says it needs. Our old friend Efficiency Savings can only be expected to do so much and even then we tend to over-estimate his capabilities.

The armed forces have a number of legitimate grievances and British reserves – of men, equipment and ordnance – are not what they might be. Even so, one can recognise this while appreciating that their public lobbying is also a matter of politics and a struggle that might have been better fought behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, I wonder how many of Cameron’s cabinet colleagues winced when the Prime Minister rebuked the generals. Winced in recognition, I mean. They might well think You do the fighting; I’ll do the talking an accurate summary of Cameron’s approach to government too. In different ways and with differing levels of culpability, Ken Clarke, Andrew Lansley, Caroline Spelman and several other cabinet ministers have been hung out to dry by Downing Street.

Sometimes this is trivial (forestry privatisation) and so a policy that’s run into trouble can be ditched quickly; sometimes it’s a serious matter (NHS reform or prison sentencing guidelines) and a rethink requires respinning as a mark of strength, not weakness. Either way, ministers may feel they’ve been busy fighting for what they think the government is supposed to be doing, only to be deserted by the Prime Minister when he decides the moment is right for him to do the talking.

Despite this morning’s bad press, this has not damaged Cameron. At least not yet and you can make the case that Cameron’s style involves trusting ministers – too much, perhaps – up to the point at which it beomes clear they have boobed. At Platform 10 Will Tanner has a thoughtful post on all this and as long as the government makes progress on its economic agenda, on welfare and on (English) schools reform then it will have plenty of good stories to tell by the time the next election rolls around.

Bagehot’s latest post touches on this too:

David Cameron is a highly professional politician who is still exceedingly easy in his skin, who wears high office with ease and confidence. For all his remarkable and much remarked-on good manners, he conveys just a hint of bullying menace about him, too.

He is in his pomp, I decided.

It cannot last forever, and doubtless in a few years the press will have sensed blood and will be tearing Mr Cameron to shreds like his predecessors. But for now, though Westminster’s head says Mr Cameron has had a wobbly few weeks and days, I think its heart is still a bit impressed by this prime minister.

I think this is true. There is a touch of an old-fashioned Head Boy about Cameron’s style. Much is contracted out to his Heads of House and their subordinate prefects but when push comes to shove the Head Boy will intervene to knock, er, heads together, reassert his authority and set a new course.

Of course, if one were to stretch the analogy too far you then have to consider the role of the teaching staff. Clearly they’re the permanent secretaries and other senior civil service mandarins. They can’t run things effectively without the Head Boy (though they think they can) but even the Head Boy can’t persuade them to give him quite as much authority or leeway as he’d like to enjoy.

Anyway, in both decent and less splendid ways You do the fighting; I’ll do the talking seems a handy shorthand for the Cameron style. He’ll fight, for sure, but only when it’s really necessary. That way he may also stay above the fray and remain the untouchable Head Boy.