Who is the coalition’s tough guy?

Next week the Prime Minister will make his much-awaited law-and-order speech. This should, under normal circumstances, be the third or fourth such speech by a Tory leader who’s been in government for more than a year. Normally, it would be an occasion to score easy points from centre-right voters.

But these are not normal times. The PM has rebranded the party to such a degree that it has nearly lost its law-and-order credentials. In addition, the U-turn over sentencing policy now needs to be explained. So this is a claw-back kind of speech, where the PM has to restore trust and win friends anew.

The real problem is, of course, policy. But more superficially, the government has a problem of voice. It does not have a tough guy that articulates the concerns and views of a middle class, who worry about criminals not crowded prisons. Someone who can give the coalition a bit of law-and-order umpf.