Inside the Tory party, boundaries are shifting

You know things really are difficult in the coalition when neither side is badmouthing the other. These days, when those around David Cameron and Nick Clegg bite their tongues, it tends to be because one jibe might bring down the coalition.

Since 24 July, everyone has been on best behaviour. Over dinner that evening, Cameron and George Osborne told Clegg and Danny Alexander that Lords reform was off: they could not persuade enough Tory backbenchers to support it. The Liberal Democrat duo replied that, if this was so, their MPs would not vote for the boundary changes the Conservatives so dearly want.

But the icy civility of recent days can’t disguise the fact that the coalition — indeed, the idea of coalition government — is in big trouble. When the boundary review is complete, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister will walk into different lobbies to vote on a piece of government business.