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SIMON HEFFER: Think they can't axe David Cameron? Don't bet on it

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These are particularly turbulent times for the Tories. Despite claiming to have learned from the defection of many thousands of their traditional voters to UKIP in the council elections, the party’s leadership has failed to act.

As a result, frustration is boiling over, with many backbenchers in open revolt. It is likely that the Commons Speaker will accept an amendment from them next week that condemns the absence of an in/out referendum on the EU from the Queen’s Speech. 

This will bring divisions into the open and fuel the mood of sedition stoked by party grandees Lord Lawson and Michael Portillo, who have attacked David Cameron for his prevarications on the EU.

Losing voters: Despite claiming to have learned from the defection of many thousands of their traditional voters to UKIP in the council elections, the party's leadership has failed to act

Both men say the PM’s hopes for a renegotiation on Europe either won’t be successful or, if it is, will bring little change. 

They are quite right, and have exposed Mr Cameron’s casual attitude towards reality.

For the truth is that while Europe wasn’t the only reason the Tories did badly and UKIP did well a week ago, it has become emblematic of why core Tory voters are deeply unhappy. They prefer UKIP’s policies: to reduce immigration, taxes, public spending, overseas aid, the number of wind farms and to promote selective education.

  More... Nice but dim: Voters' damning verdict of Ed Miliband who they do not think will take the unpopular decisions that Britain needs Leaving the EU would not be 'cataclysmic' for Britain, Boris Johnson insists as Tories increase pressure on Cameron Rattled Cameron gives MPs free vote on Europe: Tory ministers could vote against their own Queen's Speech

They waited for signs in the Queen’s Speech that the  party might move in a more conservative direction — but were sorely disappointed.

Admittedly, there was no pledge to legislate on homosexual marriage — but there was no red meat to throw to the Tory faithful either. The PM’s supporters argue that his hands are tied by the Lib Dems.

But that excuse, like Tory patience, is wearing thin. Mr Cameron is not, I suspect, in favour of Britain withdrawing from the EU — which increasingly looks likely to be the result of any referendum. 

Many in David's party are realising how his lack of principle and Tory spirit is making it very hard for them to win the next election

And his Leftist foreign aid and anti-new grammar schools policies were formed some years before he established the Coalition.

But then I have long thought Mr Cameron was not really a Conservative. Many in his party, having made excuses for him during his eight years as leader, are increasingly coming to the same view — and realising how his lack of principle and Tory spirit is making it very hard for them to win the next election.

Yet the fact is that this is a broadly conservative country. Almost half the votes cast in the council elections were for the Tories or UKIP. 

It should not be hard for a genuinely conservative party to win an overall majority.

But Mr Cameron does not seem to embrace this mindset with a conservative vision of Britain. 

Party members are especially frustrated by his refusal to hold a referendum on the EU in this parliament, which would undoubtedly take the sting out of UKIP. Here, again, Mr Cameron blames Lib Dem opposition. But hang on a minute — there was only one party before the 2010 election to promise voters such a referendum. And that was the Lib Dems.

So, why have they changed their view and refused to help the Prime Minister of the Coalition — of which they are a partner — to get such a measure through? 

Was his manifesto promise just another monumental lie by Nick Clegg in order to get votes, similar to his lie about  opposing tuition fees for university students?

So why on earth doesn’t Mr Cameron force an early referendum and show voters the arrogance of the Lib Dems and Labour who ignore public opinion on such an important issue.

But in the absence of such a sane approach, brooding discontent is building up among Tories towards their leader. This, I believe, could end in a leadership challenge.

For history proves the Tories are ruthless. If Mr Cameron’s refusal to change policies looks like bringing certain defeat, they will dump him. 

And if they do so, it will happen in the best Tory tradition — suddenly, stealthily and causing the maximum rancour.

  Nigel needs to face facts Nigel Lawson's policy of shadowing the Deutsche Mark in the Eighties when Chancellor was disastrous for Britain with catastrophic results

Nigel Lawson was never a euro-fanatic, like his colleagues Ken Clarke and Michael Heseltine. 

However, his policy of shadowing the Deutsche Mark in the Eighties when Chancellor was disastrous for Britain, not least in the encouragement it gave his successor John Major to blackmail Mrs Thatcher into joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1990, with catastrophic results. 

Lord Lawson, like the economist John Maynard Keynes, says that when the facts change, so does he. 

But the facts haven’t changed: rigging an exchange rate was as idiotic then as now, as the eurozone’s implosion proves.

A third of government infrastructure projects are late, over budget or both. Given our disastrous record of managing such things, it is ironic that the Queen’s Speech proposed paving legislation to build the £32 billion high-speed railway between London and Birmingham and carving up some of England’s most beautiful countryside. Why not sort out manageable, smaller transport problems instead?

  Queen CamillaThough the Queen has said she won’t attend this year’s Commonwealth conference, any talk of abdication or a regency is absurd.

Her Majesty is 87 and simply wants to avoid long-haul flights and have the odd day off.

It means more work for Prince Charles and his wife, who deserves a reconsideration of her status. It is ridiculous that she can’t use her husband’s rank and title.

It is time to re-open the debate about making her Princess of Wales and, eventually, Queen.

 

Political anoraks enjoyed the new memoirs of former Labour minister Lord Adonis spilling the secrets of the Coalition negotiations in 2010 — he says Nick Clegg hoped discussions would drag on for months. Why? Did the profoundly fourth-rate Lib Dem leader want to postpone the day he would have to form part of a government — and start breaking promises he had made to voters?

Did the profoundly fourth-rate Lib Dem leader want to postpone the day he would have to form part of a government - and start breaking promises he had made to voters?

  Insult to UKIPIn due course, Lib Dems who lost council seats last week, because of their and their party’s dishonesty and ineptitude, will be appointed to the House of Lords. 

Why, when UKIP — a party that has three times as much support — isn’t offered any life peerages? 

Eating humble pie last week, the PM said Tories should respect those who voted UKIP. 

Shouldn’t this respect extend to giving a party with more than 150 council seats and 11 MEPs a fair representation in the upper house?

  Tough China      More from Simon Heffer...   Why Drummer Rigby's killers should be charged with treason 24/05/13   The ugly truth is a smug Tory elite has sneered at the party faithful for decades 21/05/13   SIMON HEFFER: A serious contender? The grey man who could be David Cameron's nemesis 17/05/13   The gentle giant of British cinema: If he'd been a Yank, he'd have won Oscars galore. If he'd been a Leftie, he'd have been knighted. Why Bryan Forbes was a cruelly unsung genius 10/05/13   SIMON HEFFER: There's only one way for Dave to stub out Farage 03/05/13   Could he trigger a snap general election? 26/04/13   Vote Red Ed, get Red Len as the Labour dinosaurs roar back to life 25/04/13   SIMON HEFFER: The week he woke up to the folly of the modernisers 19/04/13   VIEW FULL ARCHIVE

Predictably, scare stories are circulating about Britain losing trade with China as a result of David Cameron’s decision to meet the Dalai Lama — an enemy of the Beijing regime.

China is embarrassed about its vile treatment of his Tibetan people.

But if it wants to stop trade with Britain, it would suffer heavily, given  the scale of our imported Chinese goods.

In any case, I am worried that Mr Cameron has started to cave in — saying Britain recognises Tibet as part of China.

He should stick to his principles and keep supporting Tibet’s demands for autonomy.

Though the Chancellor took a penny in tax off a pint of beer in his Budget, it’s reported that 26 pubs are shutting every week. This threatens a change to our culture because the closure of a village pub tears the heart out of a community, as well as costing jobs. George Osborne must act and introduce tax breaks to protect this way of life.

Scots missed?

However hard he pretends otherwise, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond cannot convince his country-men an independent Scotland could keep the standard of living it enjoys now, with its economy cushioned by English subsidy.

This week it was predicted mortgage rates would rise in an independent Scotland because the cost of servicing the Scottish debt would increase.

Following George Osborne’s suggestion that Scotland could not stay in the sterling zone, the number supporting independence is falling precipitately.

That being so, isn’t it time that the English were asked if they are happy to keep bankrolling Scotland?




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