David Cameron was received in the usual desk-thumping way at the 1922 Committee. But what was striking about his appearance was his message that the NHS reform pause is his idea not Nick Clegg’s and that he won’t let the Lib Dems take credit for the coming changes.
The robustness of this message took even Tory MPs by surprise. But I understand that Tory high command feels that Clegg’s decision to list the Tory policies he had blocked this morning means that they are allowed to make points like this.
There were some hostile questions to Cameron but the general mood of the meeting was positive. Cameron’s list of Tory achievements to his troops on this the first anniversary of the coalition were the immigration cap, the cut in corporation tax, the freezing of council tax and the expansion in the number of academies. There was no mention of the big society or the promise to be the ‘greenest government ever’.
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