David cameron

This was a live blog from 4 September 2012. The latest entries at the top and you can scroll down to read the event as it happened. 20:00: That’s all folks – it’s time to close up the blog. Downing Street have released their final list of ministerial appointments today. We hope you have enjoyed our live coverage of David Cameron’s first cabinet reshuffle and do come back to Coffee House for the latest developments from Westminster. Good night! 1938: Looks like Cheryl Gillan’s ex-PPS Glyn Davies is pleased to free from his shackles: Like frisky young heifer in spring when first turned out to grass – free to gambol. Now my

In Tampa, the Republican conference has heard a line of powerful speakers talk about government debt in compelling and urgent way. There’s a contingent of eight Tories out there, led by party chairman Sayeeda Warsi, but I doubt they’ll be taking many notes. The finely-honed attack lines that the Republicans are coming out are more use to Labour than to the Tories. Take the below, from Paul Ryan’s speech on Wednesday. ‘They’ve run out of ideas. Their moment came and went. They were elected in the middle of a crisis, as they constantly remind us, but they’re now making it worse. They have added £11,000 of debt for every man,

Yesterday David Cameron was a mouse, and today he’s a chambermaid, according to another one of his imaginative backbench MPs. Brian Binley, the Conservative MP for Northampton South, has written a fierce blog in which he tells David Cameron that he doesn’t need a reshuffle that will simply amount to ‘re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic’: he needs a change in direction and a re-think. Binley attacks the way the Prime Minister relates to the Liberal Democrats in government, saying: My point is that Mr Cameron should never have hitched his star to any of the self-indulgent lunacy that has been characteristic of the unreasonable demands of his coalition

The Tories’ shadowy donor-cum-puppetmaster has been given the cold shoulder, yet again. Taking full proprietor privileges at ConservativeHome, he’s taken aim at young Dave’s departed brain, Steve Hilton. It seems that the guru has left the Lord of Belize off his Republican National Convention party guest list: ‘Apparently, the event to be seen at is to be hosted by none other than Steve Hilton. Unreliable rumour has it that he has taken for the occasion an enormous house on Tampa Bay’s prestigious Harbour Island. What can he be up to? Clearly he is keeping his hand in. Unfortunately my invitation has not arrived so I can report no further for

It’s a familiar theme: the Tory conference is approaching, David Cameron is in trouble and knives are coming out for him. But how much of the problems are of his own making, and how many have come from the Treasury? Tim Montgomerie focuses today on No.10 (£), saying that Prime Minister must come out fighting for his own survival: ‘Gay marriage is only the latest issue that is beginning to create the dangerous impression that Mr Cameron is smaller than the events, factions and tides of public opinion that swirl around his Government. The Prime Minister is no longer seen as his own man. People wonder if he’s in command

One of the biggest problems that David Cameron faces at the moment is discipline within his own party. He was astonished by the size of the rebellion on the second reading of the House of Lords Reform Bill, which he had expected to be much smaller. He is now considering what to do with the many talented Conservative rebels as he approaches the September reshuffle: does he promote some more of those who revolted over Europe, but leave the Lords rebels languishing in career Coventry for a little longer? The Guardian carries a story by Nick Watt which suggests Cameron isn’t just going to tackle bad behaviour by keeping rebellious

One of the solutions Tory MPs are mulling over now the boundary reforms are dead in the water is some sort of partnership with UKIP to boost the party’s chances in 2015. As many as 60 per cent of Conservative activists are reported to favour such a pact. But David Cameron has yet to show any sign that he’s warming towards the party he once described as consisting of ‘loonies, fruitcakes and racists’. If he is not careful, Cameron’s hand may be played for him. The Eurozone crisis may finally come to a head, which could lead to a soar in UKIP’s popularity. The Prime Minister might then have to broker a

Are the big Tory donors running away from David Cameron? The Times reports that many of the major backers have held back on coughing up funds, as a result of their dissatisfaction with Cameron’s leadership: ‘Some donors have told The Times that they are pessimistic about the next election. Other donors complain about government disarray, lack of action on the economy, irritation at gay marriage plans and the party’s stance on bonuses and bankers. Boris Johnson is attracting some interest from the donor community, according to two of them.’ So far, the Tories are £1.28 million down on the same period in 2011. But it is the depleted income from

Last week Boris Johnson was in jellyfish mode, drifting along and delivering the occasional sly sting to the coalition. Now that the Olympics are over, the Mayor has launched something of a shark attack on his Westminster colleagues. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Boris accuses ministers of ‘pussyfooting’ and calls for the government to ‘make a very powerful statement of ambition for London’ involving new infrastructure and even a new airport: ‘The government needs to stop pussyfooting around. I don’t think you can rely on Heathrow. Even if the government was so mad and wrong to try to do the third runway or mixed-mode, those solutions would rapidly

As he relaxes on a Majorcan beach, David Cameron might find his mind wandering to his plans for next month’s reshuffle. The latest demand from ‘influential figures’ is, according to Tim Shipman in the Daily Mail, that he replace Europe Minister David Lidington with a more Eurosceptic minister. Supporting those influential figures from the sidelines is a hefty group of Conservative backbenchers who want to see a bit more welly on the European issue. Some of the names mooted by the Mail – Graham Brady and Mark Francois – would certainly do that but they are no friends of the current leadership. Shipman’s story does not say whether Cameron will

Are the Tories about to do a deal with the Liberal Democrats over political party funding? Benedict Brogan intriguingly suggests that David Cameron might offer a post-Lords reform olive branch to Nick Clegg — the state funding of political parties. In return, the Lib Dems would have to support a future vote on boundary change: His side won’t like it, but it will be presented as Mr Clegg’s price for securing a review that gives the Tories more seats. And some Tories, including Mr Cameron, may be secretly delighted to reduce their reliance on donors who are never slow to voice their frustrations when things go wrong. With party memberships

David Cameron has not sought to seek personal or political capital from the Olympics, for which he deserves much credit. It doesn’t take much to imagine how Gordon Brown would  have behaved had he been in power. But this is politics, Cameron is under pressure to establish an “Olympic Legacy” so he will today announce two hours of competitive sport every week in schools. In so doing, he highlights the contradiction in his education policy. On one hand, he wants to devolve power to schools and get politicians out of the education process. But like his predecessors, he also can’t resist pulling the levers of power and telling head teachers

The Prime Minister today criticised schools for filling their compulsory two hours of weekly sport with ‘sort of Indian dancing classes’. He said: ‘Now, I’ve got nothing against Indian dancing classes but that’s not really sport.’ Now, dancing isn’t really sport, is it? It’s dance. But it gets the heart rate going like the clappers, improves core strength, balance, and co-ordination. Dancing was good enough for the Great British swimmers, who took up ballet before the Olympics to improve their technique. Just up the road from Downing Street are the Pineapple Dance Studios, founded by a former model who lost three stone from dancing. David Cameron would do well to

Last week when it first transpired that David Cameron had given up on Lords reform, Conservative backbenchers were thrilled. Conor Burns, who resigned as a PPS to vote against the legislation at second reading, told Coffee House that this was a ‘symbol of [Cameron’s] determination to try to foster improved and friendly relations within the Conservative party’. Rebel leader Jesse Norman was similarly cheery. It suggested that the Prime Minister had a chance to rebuild fractured relations with his party. Not any more. Backbenchers are now livid that Nick Clegg has announced that he will be instructing his party to vote against the boundary review. I’ve just spoken again to