Cameron needs to take this opportunity

Libya has elbowed the riots off the front page. But, in the medium-term, how Cameron responds to them remains one of the big tests of his premiership.

In the Evening Standard today, Tim Montgomerie vents the frustrations of those Tories who fear that Cameron is missing his chance. Tim’s complaint is that Cameron has actually done — as opposed to said — very little and that the chance to use this moment to push through a whole bunch of big, necessary changes is being missed.

With every day that passes, action on — say — the Human Rights Act becomes less likely as the Liberal Democrats become more dug in. Indeed, I expect that the Liberal Democrats will use their conference to lay down their opposition to several of the measures that Cameron and the Conservatives have floated in the past few weeks. If Cameron does not move quickly, he will find that he has missed his opening.