David Cameron needs to become a man with a plan

‘I’m a man with a plan,’ David Cameron told the Conservative party conference in 2008. Now the Prime Minister is struggling to give the impression he does have a plan for dealing with the Europe problem in his party: and he needs one, because things are going to get a lot stickier.

The furore around tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech amendment is in many ways rather amusing because however backbenchers, PPSs and ministers vote, it doesn’t change a thing outside the Commons chamber. It simply says the Tory party wishes there had been an EU referendum bill in the Queen’s Speech. For all the criticisms that he’s running behind his party on this, it is fair to say that the Prime Minister has learned from his mistakes in past Europe votes. At least PPSs are being given a free vote, which significantly neuters its power. There will be no martyrs in the Chamber tomorrow over an unnecessary vote, even though the Tory party contains plenty of MPs who quite fancy a public resignation over a point of principle.