No 11th hour deal?

Yesterday in The Sun, David Cameron said:

My message to the union leaders today is: Think again. I urge public sector workers to put the people of Britain first and work normally next Wednesday.”

That certainly seems to imply that the PM is still hopeful of a resolution before November 30th. But as is often the case with our PR-man PM, appearances can be deceptive.

Yesterday – according to Jon Craig of Sky News – Michael Dugher argued that:

“It increasingly seems that the Government is happy to see a disruptive strike.”

“David Cameron has privately said that he is ‘delighted’ that the unions have walked into his ‘trap’.”

In response, Number 10 “emphatically denied” that the Prime Minister wants the strikes to go ahead so he can have a showdown with the unions.

If that’s the case then it would be right to presume that Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude will be pushing for an 11th hour solution to the dispute, clearing his diary and preparing to negotiate right up until the last moment. You’d presume that – but you’d be wrong.

What does Francis Maude have planned for the eve of the strikes? He’s speaking to Kings College Conservative Future.

Just hours before the biggest strike in 85 years, the minister responsible for negotiations is speaking to young Tories – not trade unionists. That’s his priority. And yet the PM still has the audacity to claim that he doesn’t want the strikes to go ahead…