If David Cameron can't get the floods right, all his hopes will wash away

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[/audioplayer]It is all hands to the pump in Downing Street. The entire No. 10 operation from the Prime Minister down to the Policy Unit is focused on the floods. ‘We are all on a war footing,’ declares one official. David Cameron is spending his time poring over maps of the affected areas. ‘It is quite remarkable,’ says one minister who attends the Cobra meetings on the floods, ‘to hear the Prime Minister asking Gold Command about individual farms.’

Cameron knows that the floods will be a defining moment for his government. If he is still to be prime minister after 2015, the Tories must be seen to be in control. When a government loses its reputation for competence, it forfeits credit for the good things that happen on its watch. If voters think that the coalition is out of its depth in its response to the floods, they won’t give it credit for the economic recovery.