The Ken Clarke conundrum

Having let the Ken Clarke hare run, the Tory leadership are faced by what happens to him dominating reshuffle coverage. If after this Cameron doesn’t bring him back there’ll be a lot of headlines about Cameron bowing to pressure from the right. But if Clarke does return, then the press—egged on by Mandelson—will start speculating about ‘Tory splits.’ (If Clarke does return, expect to see rather a lot of this pic from the Britain in Europe launch.)

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Cameron’s dilemma is that Clarke’s return would boost the party in opposition—he is, whatever his faults, a highly effective media performer—but hinder it in government. The problems Clarke might cause would not be just about the Lisbon treaty but also about crime and sentencing policy and immigration and asylum, both areas where the EU limits the British government’s freedom of action.