Cameron’s obstinate defence of Maria Miller against the large majority of his own party and the public who want to be rid of her for her greed, arrogance and sheer callous disregard for decent standards in public life needs some explaining.
Maybe he wanted to put in the knife himself in his own time in the reshuffle after the European elections. Maybe he didn’t want to be pushed around by the media or his own party (again), and preferred to tough it out. But he’s shed political goodwill by the gallon over this shoddy episode. Sooner or later he was bound to have to call it a day. The rule for Prime Ministers is, if the media keep up a barrage for 5 days or more and if the political hostility in Westminster is still growing, he’ll always have to staunch his losses and cut her loose. Continue reading
What is really striking about the UK’s biggest problems today is that they are all insuperable unless there is a strategic change in policy which almost always requires a big shift in the power structure.