Bouquet of barbed wire after coalition’s two years
IF the queen was feeling mischievous tomorrow, she would be tempted to tear up her formal speech for the state opening of parliament and simply announce: “My government is in a right old mess.”
The Conservative- Lib Dem coalition is two years old this week and the romance has long since evaporated from the relationship.
The local election results were bad for the Conservatives and a disaster for the Lib Dems.
The only Conservative success was the re- election of Boris Johnson as mayor of London but Johnson is an ambitious maverick in the party and his victory has provided powerful ammunition for the growing number of MPS who fear that David Cameron is turning into an electoral liability.
They are furious that politically important initiatives on the economy and other voter- friendly issues are being overshadowed by the Lib Dem determination to try to reform the House of Lords and to promote controversial agenda items such as gay marriage.
Nadine Dorries, the outspoken backbench Conservative, reckons that Mr Cameron is now in danger of facing a leadership challenge because his MPS will not “sleepwalk towards a next general election like Labour MPS did and watch their seats disappear because of bad policy”. She says her colleagues are already talking about when they should start composing letters of ‘ no confidence’ in the prime minister.
Right- wingers think Mr Cameron should neutralise the growing threat from the UK Independence Party by adopting a much more aggressive stance on Europe.
They were delighted at the weekend when the former Labour minister, Peter Mandelson, publicly called for a referendum on membership of the EU because they believe that it would very probably result in a vote to get out.
But the last thing that Mr Cameron wants at the moment is to get embroiled in more internal party friction over Europe. He is now far behind Ed Miliband and Labour in the opinion polls but he knows that this largely reflects the unpopularity of the Conservatives rather than well- rooted enthusiasm for Labour.
By far the biggest shortterm worry for Mr Cameron is the Leveson inquiry into phone- hacking which will be questioning both his former spin doctor, Andy Coulson, and one of his closest friends, Rebekah Brooks, this week.
Mr Cameron is thought to have sent numerous texts signed ‘ love David' or just plain ‘ x' to Ms Brooks and they are likely to be made public as part of her evidence to the inquiry.