The PM is preparing for another coalition. His colleagues have other plans

Conservatives have been returning to their Westminster offices this week to find the wind behind them. Something suddenly seems to be going right: there’s good news on the economy, jobs and immigration and Labour seems to be in gentle meltdown. The idea of an outright majority in a 2015 election suddenly seems a lot more plausible.

Which is why ministers and advisers are so dismayed at reports last week that David Cameron was planning for a second coalition after 2015. Just when a Tory election victory seemed possible, the Prime Minister has been mulling over a change in party rules so that MPs could vote on a new coalition agreement. Cameron was fortunate that his backbenchers were relaxing with their buckets and spades when the story broke: if parliament had been sitting it would have caused an almighty row in the party.

Cameron’s ministers, far from joining the Prime Minister in planning a second coalition, would much rather imagine how wonderful life could be without the Lib Dems.