The dangerous rows behind the scenes are between Tories and Tories

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics

Coalition politics has thrown political journalists for a loop. For years we have been used to members of government claiming that there is not a cigarette paper of difference between them and their colleagues — even when the disagreements were obvious. But now Cabinet ministers happily admit that they differ. And when they disagree, the coalition partners set about resolving their differences in a civil and reasonable fashion. The lobby journalist’s bread and butter — the splits story — is in danger of disappearing.

But the old politics is not dead. There are still vicious rows going on in government, but they are blue on blue: Tory versus Tory.

This is not as odd as it might seem. The Tories and Liberal Democrats expect to disagree. No one feels betrayed when they find out that someone from another party has a different view. Vince Cable and David Willetts know that they are not of one mind on the question of how to fund higher education.