Cameron: 'in office but not in power?'..........

The whisperers in the Tory Party are now briefing against Dave’s understrapper, little George Osborne, whose principal qualification to be Chancellor is that he was Dave’s Bullingdon chum. This is obviously a feint, a flanking attack on Dave himself. Wee George himself is beginning to be like a one-legged man at an arse-kicking party.

But don’t expect any surprises in the reshuffle. This is a Cabinet that has exalted cronyism to a virtue. And both Dave and George are getting unsavoury reputations for the dreadful upper-class public school arrogance that delights in putting people down, dropping them without apparent reason in the most wounding way. I had plenty of this in my young days as a Grammar School oik. ‘And what does your father do?’ with a sneer, looking down the nose.

The word in the street is that Dave’s clique of people like himself are the real opinion formers in politics, and he has little time for people outside the magic circle and who are not beneficiaries of Dave’s charm and polished manners. This is a sure way of stoking up resentments that will be put in play the instant Dave is in a risky position.

I have no problems about Dave’s insulting manner in Parliament. Politics is a blood-sport and PMQs is nothing if not gladiatorial. And criticising him for calling the Beast of Bolsover a ‘dinosaur’ may be inaccurate, because the old villain is not yet extinct, but Skinner has made a career out of being rude.

But Dave seems to embody  the Wildean definition of a gentleman as one who is never rude unintentionally. He comes across as a smooth salesman for a firm of West End estate agents; ‘Member for Strutt & Parker’.

In a short space of time, he has gained an unenviable reputation for poor judgment. The appointment of Andy Coulson was the first. With a dodgy track-record from his time at the NoW he should have never been  considered. We are told that Dave made the choice against advice. The original choice was Trevor Kavanagh of the Sun, but he wisely turned it down. And both Murdoch bag-carriers. What a surprise!. Then the hob-nobbing with Rebecca Wade and the rather louche Chipping Norton Set – Jezza Clarkson et al.

On policy, the armed services cuts while increasing the foreign aid budget is incomprehensible; surely a major vote-loser. The amount of aid is almost identical with the defence budget deficit. When budgets are being slashed to the detriment of the elderly, the sick and the poor, foreign aid has not only been increased by 38% but the percentage of GDP for aid has been enshrined in law so no future Chancellor can touch it without further legislation.

Then there are the broken promises; the EU referendum; dumping the ludicrous ban on fox hunting that is unenforceable and brings the law into contempt; relaxation of the draconian ban on smoking; and so on. He has not done a single thing to rid the statute book of the mass of repressive legislation introduced by Blair under the guise of ‘security’. What happened to the promised bonfire of quangos and agencies?

Our problem is trying to get a handle on what Dave stands for. He is clearly not a Conservative. Is he the heir-to-Blair as he himself boasted? If so we can look forward to government by focus group; to obfuscation; to on-the-hoof policy-making; to lies and spin; to debauching yet further the institutions of state such as the civil service. A social democrat? A ‘one nation’ Tory? Just where does he stand on the EU? On immigration? On any of the key issues of the day?

What are his principles? We all had a very clear idea as to what Thatcherism was all about? There seems to be no such thing as Cameronism.

The Tory Party is ruthless with leaders who fail to cut the mustard. Dave failed to get an absolute majority against the most loathed Government in memory. Now he is behind against a Labour Party with a leader so lightweight he could double as the fairy on the Christmas tree. If he fails to get a majority in 2015 he will be instant history. If the party risks facing a landslide defeat, he will be due for an early bath.

He might already have had his ‘John Major’ moment -  in office but not in power.