Well, even this blog did not expect quite this amount of confusion so early on in the first Tory government for eighteen years. It perhaps explains why there was such a long gap. We had forgotten just how split the Tory party is and how undisciplined it becomes as soon as it takes power. At a time when the country needs leadership to guide it through difficult times and bring fruitful outcomes back from the EU negotiations, it is just not good enough for the prime minister to say something one day and then for some spokesperson in Downing Street to make out he didn’t say it, and instead blame the political correspondents for the muddle. Correspondents, unlike politicians, are not fools. Now Cameron has had to backtrack and cover himself in the protective cloak of ambiguity, because of an outcry from all across the eurosceptic wing of his party, which is perhaps most of it.
The old one nation sensible and reliable Tory party of the spinner’s imagination is long dead, killed off by Thatcher. She ruled her new creation with a handbag which none dare challenge and the sight of which was reputed to reduce weaker members of her administrations to tears. Then they turned upon her. Once she went they became uncontrollable, drove through four leaders, and were muted only by the fifth taking them into the unfamiliar territory of coalition. Now they back in power we are once again forced to look on, while the interests of our country take second place to holding this fractured party together.