Leader: David Cameron must show mettle and deliver
They were like starry-eyed lovers, with the world at their feet. Now the Cameron-Clegg union is very much a marriage under strain with a growing band of doubters.
They were like starry-eyed lovers, with the world at their feet. Now the Cameron-Clegg union is very much a marriage under strain with a growing band of doubters.
Nothing has a more salutary effect on politicians than a drubbing at the polls. It is as if the voters are drafting out their P45s.
Hence their joint attempt to relaunch and revitalise the coalition which, although it has fared better than many predicted, has received a damning verdict from the electorate.
While the renewal of the marriage vows was a sombre affair, it is the contents of the Queen’s Speech outlining the coalition’s programme which will determine whether the Cameron-Clegg axis can ride out the increasingly choppy political seas.
It looks a monumental task. They need each other, but they also both need to impose their own stamp on the future agenda.
The Lib Dem rank and file are asking what they are getting out of the arrangement. Clegg and Co have to prove to supporters that the coalition is truly giving the party a hand on the tiller of power, and that they are not just making up the numbers which allow the Tories to push through their policies in the Commons.
Things are not easy for Mr Cameron either. The feeling that the Lib Dems are holding the Conservatives back is tangible among grass roots Tories.
Is it not time that David Cameron proved that he is a Conservative Prime Minister, rather than somebody whose chief talent is for sustaining cosy arrangements?
And the people who need convincing most are the ordinary voters who are being hit hard by the recession and are looking for some clear, strong leadership.
Mr Cameron has to show his mettle and start to deliver.
Comments for: "Leader: David Cameron must show mettle and deliver"
Doubter
A conservative prime minister who with his puppet Clegg would be even more in-effective with a minority Goverment.
You moan that that ordinary voters are being hit hard by the recession, imagine if you will a full blown Tory majority, even bigger tax cuts for the rich than the one they have just recieved whilst the real "Ordinary" voter will get pounded driven by Tory Idealogies to appease the rich and Right wing.
Mike
Always the way with the Tories yet we have the believers sad lot!
Roger
We are in a recession. We had a banking crisis at the route of out problems. It was the banks worlds wide that caused it not the Labour Party or Brown. No matter what you think of Brown as a personality, we were starting to come out of the dip when Cameron took over and, rejecting the advice of the time, cut to far and to fast which has lead to the double dip. What he seems to forget is that this effects real people creating greater poverty and unemployment. That is why they got battered at the poles. His current offering is more of the same with softer words. A move to the right which you imply would be disastrous because that would mean even more cuts and unemployment, reduced GNP and having a higher debt ratio. No solution at all.
What the people are saying is start to listen and move toward more growth and employment. Borrow to invest not pay out benefits. Our major debt problem is that we have the wrong sort of debt. Money borrowed for investment has a return to pay it back. Money borrowed to pay benefits is lost and only taxation increases can repay it. Maggie sold off the assets which had a return to pay off debt and reduced debts overall insignificantly. It was all shorttermism which we are paying for now. Most of what she sold off is now in foreign ownership with the dividends flowing out of the country. We need to learn from the successful economies and start making goods for domestic consumption instead of importing them with the consequent balance of trade deficits. The financial sector has failed us totally and we are over dependant on it. Stop playing politics and start applying economics is what we need, not more of it.
Peter
Amongst the things he has decided to deliver are fewer employment rights for ordinary workers, thus driving us further to a hire and fir sweatshop economy as part of a longstanding Tory race to the bottom of the heap.
His party's obsession with lining the pockets of the rich has already driven us back into recession - do we really need him to do us more harm and 'deliver' his policies? I think not - the recent council elections were a clear indication that his policies are not wanted. He and his puppet mates should either change their direction or go!
DevilsChair
Clegg is still Camerons human shield - I heard a radio 4 interview with Clegg some time ago and the interviewer put it to Clegg that it was all Tory things getting through Parliament and all LD things getting dumped - he wouldn't answer or take up the question... was today his answer.
Like 'Chalk and Cheese' are these two parties and one day the LDs are going to realise the 'patsies' they have become.
Cameron has somehow got to do things to please his unruly mob but the voters just let him know they didn't want it. It would be entertaining if it wasn't our cash to pay for their mistakes.