James Forsyth reviews the week in politics
David Cameron is only taking a week off this Christmas. This is a pity, because he is facing a year that would test the stamina of a Spartan. From the moment politics resumes in the New Year, he’ll be in constant campaign mode. Then, if he wins, he’ll be governing a country in crisis; trying to push through unprecedented spending cuts and embarking on nothing less than the reordering of the relationship between the individual, society and the state. This may be his last chance in four years to recharge his batteries.
A proper holiday would also give him some time to reflect on his style of leadership. It would be churlish not to acknowledge that he is the most able and successful Tory leader since Thatcher; or that his opinion poll lead is the strongest of any postwar opposition leader other than Blair. Yet there is room for reasoned reflection on why the Tories are struggling to break the 40 per cent mark in the polls when they are up against a government that has nearly bankrupted the country.
Talk to any Cameron loyalist about why this is the case and they’ll cite the anti-politics mood in the country that has been exacerbated by the expenses crisis. But the Cameroons haven’t grasped that this mood requires a far more fundamental change to the way politicians operate than just transparency over expenses.
Take the Tory reaction to Labour’s plan to make both employers and employees pay more National Insurance. They rightly denounced this increase in the tax on jobs. It will lighten the pay packets of the ten million people who earn over £20,000 a year and make a ‘jobless recovery’ far more likely because it will be more expensive to employ people.
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