Is Dave tempted?
WHEN I heard that Dave had invited Maggie round to Downing Street for tea recently, I imagined a conversation like the kind Bertie Wooster would have had with his Aunt Agatha:
DC: And this is the Cabinet Room, Lady Thatcher. You’ll have some fascinating memories of this place, what?
MT: Hmm. We implemented a lot of party policy in this room – Conservative Party policy.
DC: Yes, well, um, would you like to have a sit down in one of the chairs… ? Ah, yes, well, that’s mine, actually… No, no, that’s quite alright, you sit where you want, Lady Thatcher. I’ll just sit here in Nick-… er, the Deputy Prime Minister’s chair.
MT: Remind me, Mr…?
DC: Cameron. David Cameron.
MT: Remind me, Mr Cameron, what your majority was at the election?
DC: Ah, well, y’see, it’s not quite as simple as that, I’m afraid…
MT: I won three majorities, you know.
DC: Yes, I’m well aware-…
MT: Forty-four – that was my smallest one. The others were more than a hundred.
DC: Yes, you were very lucky-…
MT: Lucky?
DC: Er, well, what I meant was, you were lucky to be able to enjoy such large majorities.
MT: We didn’t have coalitions in my day. I don’t approve of Liberals.
DC: Well, in an ideal world-…
MT: Even Major won a majority, and he was useless.
DC: Yes, I remember Prime Minister Major very well.
MT: Heath!
DC: Pardon?
MT: Even Heath won a majority. Mind you, he lost three others. Still, even he didn’t have to rely on the support of Liberals!
DC: Um, would you like a spot of tea, Lady Thatcher?
Many Conservatives are disappointed and frustrated that after 13 years in opposition, up against a dreadfully unpopular Labour leader, in the middle of the biggest economic slump for 70 years, Dave still couldn’t win an overall majority.
However happy the happy couple appear, there’s no doubt that for Dave, it’s a marriage of convenience, even if, for Nick, it’s true love.
But look at the polls:
There’s no doubt that government has done the Conservatives some good – their poll ratings are healthier than they’ve been for a long time. Meanwhile the LibDems are in freefall. Labour is up on its election showing, but not enough to win an election.
At least, not yet.
There are difficult times ahead, and although it’s conceivable that the Coalition may turn out to be the most popular thing in Britain since Rubik’s Cube, it probably won’t work out that way.
If the Tories really want to govern on their own, they may have to strike now, while Labour remains leaderless and their own poll ratings are high enough to make a healthy majority likely.
Unlikely, of course, but you can’t tell me that no-one is considering this audacious, though admittedly cynical, strategy. Just think (Dave’s advisers will be whispering in his ear): no need to give away ministerial posts, no need for a referendum on electoral reform, no need to compromise…
It must be tempting, surely? And if he doesn’t strike by calling a snap election for the autumn, he will run the risk of eventually retiring as the first Conservative Prime Minister since the war not to have won his own mandate.