Cameron’s effort to relaunch his government will fail if he thinks it is just about fresh faces

David Cameron may not want any advice from me as he sits in his bunker preparing for his relaunch.

But you know what? I don’t work for him so I’m going to tell him what I think anyway.

There is no doubt this is an important reshuffle, coming after a truly disastrous eight months for the Government.

In January, some misguided commentators were suggesting Cameron might be the greatest Prime Minister since Churchill. Now some of those same commentators are openly speculating about his successor.

The Budget for millionaires was followed by spreading panic at the pumps. Donor scandals involving the Tory treasurer have been followed by the access scandals over the Government’s handling of BSkyB. Economic failure with a double dip recession has been followed political failure with the wrangles over Lords reform and parliamentary boundaries.

So Cameron’s first task with this reshuffle is to convince people that he hasn’t completely lost his way.

A lot of people voted for him two years ago because they thought he would change the way Britain is run. But he is only offering a series of old ideas which are making life even tougher for working families. Why else does he think the solution to the growth crisis is give tax cuts to the very richest – while making everyone else pay more?

What happened to all that talk of being a different kind of Tory, one who cares about the environment, the NHS, and the most vulnerable? There must be somebody on his backbenches with some fresh ideas, who not only parroted – but also believed – the idea that “we are all in it together”.

His second task is to produce a Cabinet which is less out of touch than those around him and he is himself.

Too many Tories take to the airwaves to declare that a million young unemployed people are lazy, suggest British businesses are going bankrupt because they don’t try hard enough to export, or to dismiss women’s concerns over domestic violence. He could try to make the Government more representative of Britain itself.

There must be somebody out there in the wilderess of the Conservative backbenches who understands even a little bit about the struggles families and businesses are going through.

His third task is to show he is not a feeble and feckless Prime Minister who now has to make some concessions to his party’s reckless Right.

We have all read about their demands for him to feed them some red meat on Europe, on gay marriage, on employment rights.

I would like to think there are some under-promoted Tory MPs out there who represent a different tradition from before the Conservative Party succumbed to their 1980s ideology. There might be one or two but we shouldn’t forget who is making these demands: it is the Tory backbenchers.

In the end, Cameron’s effort to relaunch his government will fail if he thinks it is just about fresh faces. He needs some fresh ideas too.

Jenny Chapman is the Labour MP for Darlington

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