Joe Murphy has a rather amusing story in the Standard this afternoon about Tory malcontents’ latest manoeuvres against the Prime Minister. He reports several MPs saying Cameron will need to meet five key tests in order to secure his position as leader. How very democratic of them, measuring the Prime Minister’s performance against a set of targets, rather than just saying they don’t like him, or comparing him to a chambermaid.
But when you read what those targets are, you see the problem that the Prime Minister has with his backbenches. This is what Joe’s story says:
Several MPs said Mr Cameron needs to pass five “key tests” over the next three months: A victory over the Lib Dems in the Eastleigh by-election, avoiding wipe-out in May council elections, preserving Britain’s AAA credit rating, averting a triple-dip recession and a successful spring Budget. “If all these went badly together, it could create an unstable situation,” said a Tory MP.
Now, Grant Shapps and his team are already on a war footing for the Eastleigh by-election.
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