As predicted yesterday by this Blog, the pressure on Cameron is building. First we had Coulson, then the tardy response to the erupting phone hacking scandal, followed by the arrest of Rebekah Brooks and now the coded complaint from Britain’s resigning top policeman that he could not give the prime minister full details of what was going on because the PM was matey with a prime suspect in the case. As this news sinks in and it is so peculiar that it will take time to register, it will be seen that this crisis is now at the centre of the government.
Everything now hangs by a thread. One more disclosure, an unforeseen arrest, a leaked email or whatever can hit Downing Street below the waterline. Politics is about events and there may yet be some event that comes to Cameron’s rescue even now, so an anxious Number 10 will not yet despair. The Tory party needs to ready the lifeboats, however, just in case. A succession plan needs to be drawn up, because hour by hour anything can happen.
A neat one would be Hague for premier and Clegg to the Foreign Office. The post of Deputy PM could lapse. No other moves would be needed. Or is Hague too damaged by that room share episode? In which case there is no other credible candidate. Perhaps that will be the nature of Cameron’s survival. Hardly ideal, but then again in politics you can never tell.
We must not forget that there is in the wings a simmering sovereign debt crisis both in Europe and America. This is not the time for a government led by someone hobbled by scandal. The country has been stoic through first the crash and then MPs’ expenses. Now it deserves better.