Peter Mckay

OMINOUSLY for David Cameron, he has now fallen below Labour leader Ed Miliband in an opinion poll. Previously, Dave enjoyed a personal lead on Ed while his party lagged behind Labour.

At the same time Dave’s deputy, Nick Clegg, has suffered a virtual challenge for the future Liberal Democrat leadership by his colleague, Business Secretary Vince Cable, 69.

Also, Chancellor George Osborne is accused of wrecking the economy by the director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, John Longworth.

As if all this wasn’t bad enough, alleged Tory leader-in-waiting Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, pops up on TV talking about the need for ‘ political will’ to organise Britain’s economic recovery.

This is not how it was supposed to pan out for Cameron & Co. They might have expected to bask in public satisfaction over the Diamond Jubilee and 2012 Olympic Games.

But the dreadful early summer weather and BBC TV presenters’ inane commentaries during the Thames river pageant reduced any prospect of the Jubilee being a plus for the Coalition.

As for the Games, the crass commercialism and embarrassing collapse of the multi-million-pound, private sector security arrangements created another ordure storm.

Now the Games are upon us, cheerleaders have replaced whingers. We’re urged to forget the maladministration and get behind the athletes. But this doesn’t translate into getting behind our ruling politicians.

Yesterday, two of their predecessors poked their heads above the parapet to talk fondly about their part in bringing the Olympics to London — former Labour premier Tony Blair and his ex-Culture Minister Tessa Jowell.

Tony reminds us of his role lobbying the International Olympics Committee: ‘Having travelled to Singapore for the last few vital days, I had to fly back before the vote was taken to host the G8 meeting of world leaders in Scotland . . . It was perhaps the nearest I am ever going to understand how it might feel to win an Olympic gold medal myself.’

Such modesty. Ms Jowell told BBC1’s Andrew Marr that civil servants advised her we shouldn’t even apply for the Games to be in London. But, of course, she knew better . . .

Having ‘won’ the Games for London, some Labour worthies fretted that — thanks to Gordon Brown losing them the 2010 election — David Cameron and his Lib Dem Coalition crony Nick Clegg would steal all the Games glory.

HOWEVER, that’s not how it has worked out. Although the commercial deals and security were largely worked out while Labour was in power, it’s Cameron and his Lib Dem allies who get the blame for them.

Chaos and chicanery are as much hallmarks of Labour as they are of the Coalition, but the latter is in power and hence takes the rap.

Tessa Jowell’s successor as Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was mauled over the scandal of how his office seemingly co- ordinated strategy with Rupert Murdoch’s executives when the media tycoon tried to take over BskyB. The minister survived only because he served as a lightning conductor, protecting Cameron.

Now Hunt feels secure enough to boast in The Sunday Times that the Olympic opening ceremony will be ‘absolutely stunning’ and will ‘knock us sideways,’ adding: ‘I believe we’ll be better than the Beijing Games.’

Trying to manage our expectations, or prompt our goodwill, is more or less all the Coalition can do now. By failing in the most elemental task of government — to inspire confidence — Cameron & Co. are seen by many to have let us down badly over the past two years.

But does Ed Miliband seem a suitable alternative PM?

Not to most of us, I’d say. However, those who get close to the top in politics sometimes find something extra in themselves when it’s crucial to do so — just like Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, whom experts are now calling our greatest-ever athlete.

Whatever Cameron’s shortcomings, he is likely to remain in office until the election in 2015, but there’s a question over George Osborne’s fitness to remain as Chancellor.

Business people tend to be Tory supporters, so their conclusion that he’s ‘stifling economic growth’ is pretty devastating.

So is the comment by his supposed mentor, former Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson, saying Osborne should concentrate on the Treasury job rather than concern himself with Tory strategy. In other words, he’s not doing his job. (This perception has been commented upon for several months now. Has Osborne failed to address it for fear of losing his place in the No 10 pecking order?)

Politicians used to recoup their strength over the summer recess but that’s not possible in today’s modern, 24/7 media circus. Neither can the Coalition leaders rely on us thinking well of them even if Jeremy Hunt is proved right that the 2012 Games were better than Beijing.