Why David Cameron has decided to copy Tony Blair

August has been a very bad month for Tony Blair. A mood of surly, pettish despair has overtaken the Labour party. Ministers, protected by official cars and red boxes, are scarcely aware of this. But it is out there, palpable and menacing. New Labour has reached a dead end, and nobody knows what to say or do.

The government’s foreign policy is not far from collapse, though this too is not yet apparent to ministers. The Defence Secretary John Reid wrote an article in the Times last week which attacked the press for its failure to celebrate the many successes of the Iraqi invasion. Dr Reid’s article was not that distant in tone from Vice-President Cheney’s remarkable recent announcement that the insurgency is on its last legs. It is very difficult for governments to admit even small errors; perhaps impossible to come to terms with graver miscalculations.

On the domestic front there is greater cause for concern than at any stage since New Labour took power.