Alex Massie Alex Massie

First Lord or First Among Equals?

Well, James, hang on a minute. The three “schools of thought” you identify in relation to last night’s Tory rebellion on Europe are not three distinct schools at all. That is, one may consider the Tory party “unmanageable” on europe and believe that the leadership got caught up in the madness yesterday. But it is your final school that really have it wrong:

The third lot are the ones who have grasped the significance of last night’s events. Despite being loyalists, they are in no doubt about the need for Cameron to change his style of party management. They want him to stop acting like a medieval monarch and start behaving in the manner of someone who is first among equals when it comes to his parliamentary colleagues.

Up to a point. Doubtless Cameron really does have a problem with some of his backbenchers and some of them are never likely to warm to him.

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