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Has Tory Party discipline broken down altogether?

September 5, 2012 11:50 am

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This tweet from a Tory MP suggests it has…

Update: Cameron called this a “strong and united government” at PMQs, yet one of the MPs who turned down a job as a whip has described it as:

“part of the process of the divorce with the Liberal Democrats”

http://twitter.com/CllrJonSHarvey Cllr Jon Harvey

I know! The whole IDS story is intriguing too. Why was the information released that he did not want to become Justice Minister? And also Theresa May refused to deny that she and Cameron had not talked about other positions for her on the PM programme on Radio 4 last night.

Are things coming apart at the seams?
http://twitter.com/RF_McCarthy Roger McCarthy

But from the POV of a free-market revolutionary fanatics that the Tories and their Orange Book Quislings really are their work is already done – they have already passed all the key legislation required to destroy and privatise the NHS, the welfare state and state education so they can now basically kick back and piss around for the next two and a half years indulging their personal whims and feuds (which is what this current reshuffle seems to amount to).

And they can afford to do this because of the fundamental weakness and unseriousness they see every day on the Labour benches – who can really believe that Miliband and Balls and Harman have the mettle to restore and rebuild the NHS, welfare state and public education – and even if they had the coalition will make sure that the broken economy and society they inherit in 2015 will not support such an expensive programme of regeneration.

Then in 2019 or 2020 the Tories will be back in power with an even more revolutionary programme to finish the job.
Brumanuensis

I confess I normally despise stories – about either Party – going on about ‘splits’ and ‘division’, which is a invariably a substitute for talking about policy.

However, it is intriguing that Cameron hasn’t got any sort of grace period from his reshuffle. Scarcely 24 hours afterwards and the news is dominated by Boris Johnson’s attack and discussions over whether the Tories are about to u-turn over Heathrow.

Certainly David Cameron seems to be less adept at people-management than I thought.
Brumanuensis

I suppose this could always be the Tory equivalent of the Labour government of 1974-79. Drifting to the left / right, stuck with a difficult economy and reliant upon coalitions of convenience with other Parties, as well as riven by factional disagreements. Meanwhile, intellectually, the tide runs out on its dominant philosophy – the Postwar Consensus for Labour; laissez-faire small-statism for the Tories?

Or it could be the equivalent of Heath’s 1970-74 government. Or maybe we’re just going through the equivalent of Thatcher’s 1980 – 81 phase, when the idea she’d be re-elected seemed absurd. History, frustratingly, never offers clear parallels.
- postageincluded
  
  The Coalition isn’t much like Heath’s government at all. By putting this story about the Tory Right are trying to say “Cameron isn’t a real Tory, like Heath, so he’ll lose, then we’ll take over, like Maggie”, but they’re mostly too young to remember how radically right wing Selsdon Man appeared at the time. Besides which, pretty much all Dave knows about is presentation, something that not even his worst enemies would say about Ted.
  
  As for the comparison to 1979-83, this is the Cameroons’ favourite, because it’s most flattering to them and Dave; but apart from the fact that the first 2 years of both governments were economic catastrophes I’ve yet to see any similarity.
  
  No, Brum, I think your first analogy, ’74 – ’79 has most going for it. You gave the main reasons. Now, can we learn anything about getting into power and keeping it from Thatcher? I think, yes, lots.
AlanGiles

Conservative MP Bob Stewart has told the BBC (“News Briefing” Radio 4 9/9/12 0530) that before the summer recess he was approached by two colleagues to try to persuade him to mount a leadership challenge to Cameron as a “stalking horse”.

What with that and former army officer Duncan-Smith disobeying orders to move to another department (surely when the C.O. tells you to jump you are supposed to say “how high,sir?”), Cameron doesn’t look very secure….
http://twitter.com/shibleylondon Dr Shibley Rahman

That’s why the ‘Gordon loves throwing his Nokia’ line doesn’t work any more. Members of the Coalition are openly at each other’s throats (apart from Willetts and Cable possibly, who seem to respect each other to some extent)

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