Could Cameron Be Next?

If the Government were a majority Conservative government, I think Cameron would be safe because I don't think he knew a shred of these new allegations. But since this is a Coalition, it cannot be ruled out that the Lib Dems will bolt out of the Coalition and force a general election, even despite their toxic opinion poll ratings.

WHY Should Cameron ever resign? when all of the major hacking problems took place during and on Labour's watch. Ed Miliband has rode a Bandwagon of attack, good at the start but in the last few days as the wheels have started to come off he and his minister have been allowed to run wild without any Government firmness to rebuke them. I believe people are seeing through this now. Today such as Ivan Lewis came over as pure Manic shooting bullets any where possible but closer to home. Same with Chris Bryant like a kid at a party: It is Time and this should have happned last week The PM, Ministers should show how firm they are and not playing the petty boy like games of labour: So Why should Cameron need to resign? None!

I don't think David Cameron has handled this situation well. I believe if it wasn't for Nick Clegg, we would not have a Judge led inquiry.

Cameron needs to do something special, the BBC and media are not going to let this one go. They will continually slow drip all this information until public confidence has been lost.

YOu are right all this happened under New Labour, and they need to be screaming this from the roof tops. Surely NI will release some skeletons on them soon, they can't keep taking this beating!

Not sure his MPs ill stick up for him too uch though, I am not sure he gets on that well them, why would they risk associating themselves with the dodgy looking PM.

Nobody knows where this will go, maybe its time for Ashcroft to come out and get Baldwin, that should get MilliE and deflect some.

At the end of the day though, why did Cameron employ Coulson? Why oh why?

What Cameron did or didn't know is less an issue thatn his ability to do his job. Stephenson is saying that he couldn't inform No 10 about Wallis because No 10 was compromised by its relationship with Coulson.

I woke up thinking this would be a slow news day.

But what seem to have happened is the the Met and News International have gone to war, and both now also hate Cameron.

Ed Miliband, who I was dismissing as Gromit on Labour List two weeks ago, may now find his inability to do small talk and mingle is working his way.

I think Sir Paul was a decent copper, but NI went after him today in the Sunday Times. So the met arrests Brooks, but Stephenson felt he had to go within 8 hours.

James Murduch may resign, so may Yates, but after that resignations won't cut it (there is almost no one left to call on to resign - Hayman is already retired).

Thant leaves Rupert Murdoch, and he ain't gonna go down lightly.

And Cameron.

And Osborne

And all those Govish and Purnellish people at Brooks party two weeks ago quivering.

Sorry Iain but this article is plain daft. Why on earth should Cameron resign, has there been any hint of illegality at his hands? He is dealing with Labour's mess again and they may end up looking a bit silly if they go for his scalp.

The liberals would also be mad to try and force him out, they are history without the coalition and they won't find another Tory Leader who would give them as much in terms of policy.

The only case against Cameron seems to be his association with News Corp execs. It certainly calls into question his political judgement but, unless someone can point to real corrupting influences on Cameron's government, he should lose any sleep... http://fullabeanz.blogspot.com/2011/07/guilt-by-press-association.html

Previous Premiers may not be able to sleep so easily.

You are right that Cameron is a weeble, the frenzy that is happening in progressive circles right now, that this is the beginning of the end, is premature. Cameron will be PM at the Tory Conference (unless, of course, something *really* serious is linked to Cameron's Chipping Norton set).

However, the wider issue is that this is yet another situation where Cameron is seen as lame. Cast your mind back two years ago during the height of the MPs expenses. Whatever you think about that storm in a teacup one thing was clear: Cameron was ahead of the game. He was seen as decisive and leading the agenda. Brown wasn't; he was constantly on the back foot. I think this had a significant effect on the public, whether they liked the Tory policies or not, Cameron showed that he was solid during a crisis. That is statesman quality.

However, what we have seen over the last two weeks - when Cameron was personally tested - was that he was not up to scratch. He has not acted like a statesman. The whole "second chance" story is shifty. A statesman would have been firm and sacked Coulson on any whiff of a scandal (statesmen may make mistakes, and they do apologise, but they act firmly). I disagree about "regained the initiative last Wednesday", he didn't. His performance at PMQs and his Commons statement was shifty and convinced no-one. The only time that he showed any statesman-like quality was his fulsome declaration of an inquiry. However, when questioned by MPs, he was evasive.

When you take Cameron's shifty behaviour over News International and couple it with the plethora of avoidable u-turns (most of these policies could have been fixed *before* they were published; this is sloppy government), what you get is a lame Prime Minister.

So, Cameron will still be in Number 10 at the time of the Conference, but Osborne (not seen him for weeks, have we? he does not want to be tainted by this) is ready for when Cameron needs to spend more time with his family.

Why on earth would it be any surprise that the phone hacking scandal would bring down David Cameron?

The "Connimet" scandal has existed for years, and those who had an interest, for example The Guardian, were very well aware of it.

The Conservative Party, News International and the Metropolitan Police Service have been involved in collusion, cover-up and corruption for many years.

In 2003 Rebekah Wade testified to a Parliamentary committee that payments had been made to police officers for information but the Met did not merit this worthy of investigation.

She was asked to return to address the committee but refused, and nobody thought this merited further action?

The country has been at war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, the phones of senior politicians were being hacked but the police and intelligence services were completely unaware of this?

The problems and issues that will bring down David Cameron and the government are not about phone hacking and celebrities, these just happen to serve as the catalyst to reveal the sinister reality that exists at the nexus of politics, business and policing.

After the disclosure of the phone hacking involving the murdered child Milly Dowler, subsequent revelations about the Soham girls made things worse. Next it was the victims of domestic terrorism, then members of the armed forces who gave their lives for their country.

Finally, it appears that policemen ignored the death of Louis Montabetten and decided to sell information about the Queen herself.

All very shocking events in themselves, but what about the repercussions in British society? After the MPs expenses scandal, the Parliamentary system of regulation was questioned.

The banking debacles called into question the Tripartitie regime of the Treasury, Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority.

What of the latest events? How about the performance of;

- The Press Complaints Commission
- The Independent Police Complaints Commission
- Ofcom
- The Metropolitan Police Authority

All four of these quango's are fully staffed and have CEO's on salaries north of 200K plus benefits.

Ian Dale is indeed correct, this scandal has legs and will run and run!

The trouble is that there are so many skeletons rattling in the Labour cupboard that the noise is drowning out pretty much all else.

And it must be one of the few times when someone has resigned because he hadn't done anything.

Actually, coming to think of it, Sir Paul Stephenson did nothing. He could have nailed the corrupt officers and their friends in the press (not just News International) but didn't. Why?

There's a part of British society while appalled by hacking isn't equating just Cam and the Tories with it: the general public.
If he was bold he should call a general election now, Labour moralising would be drowned out by the campaign and their own complicity with Murdoch. When it comes down it to it, the voters aren't going to pick Ed M over Cam.

Shame on you, Iain, giving succour to our political adversaries with this article which achieved quite a bit of notoriety in the Twitter-sphere last night!
Let's not forget that your Old Mate David Davis is still at Haltemprice-Les-Deux-Eglises awaiting the call (in his own mind anyway)....
There is an unholy alliance at the moment between the "Dark Blues" and the "Red in Tooth and Claw" - normally implacable enemies - in an attempt to dislodge David Cameron.
Be careful what you wish for, Dark Blues! You have no wish to be singing "The Red Flag" any more than we "Cameroons"! You may end up destroying this country as we know it by your factioneering.

of course he won't go, you forget the resilience of modern day politicians! Chris Huhne, still in post is a case in point.

Also, the more important factor is that Cameron has done nothing wrong. Unlike the Police commissioner who is head of an organisation embroiled in widespread and endemic corruption. There is no comparison whatsoever with DC.

Time and time again we're told how damaged Cameron was/is/is going to be by this Murdoch affaire.
Time and time again we're told how wonderful Miliband has been/is/will be.

Time and time again the dates of various events (2003; 2006; 2009) are being mentioned - but time and time again journalists, bloggers, commenters refrain from pointing to the glaringly obvious, which is that all of that took place under Labour government!

Why is nobody going after the true culprits here - those who had the power to do something but didn't? That includes Miliband, who was a cabinet minister when Brown decided not to start an inquiry in 2009.
And what about Tony Blair? why didn't he order his home secretary in 2003 to investigate the police bribery allegations?

The moral outrage - always a nice political weapon - from the Labour Party reminds me powerfully of a pickpocket who shouts 'thief, thief' in a crowd to make people look away from his own thievery.

Cameron is a rabbit caught in the headlights...and Milliband is driving the car...!!

Iain is entirely right to pose the question, and the fact that other Conservative commentators are also posing it is significant in my view.

What makes Cameron's position especially difficult is the number of warnings he received about making Andy Coulson director of communications and the fact that he decided to ignore them.

Whether or not Alan Rusbridger's indirect warnings were passed on, and Steve Hilton and Ed Llewellyn seem to be disagreeing about this, Cameron was warned directly about it by both Nick Clegg and Paddy Ashdown during the post-election Coalition talks. At some point, he will have to give a detailed explanation of why he decided to ignore those warnings.

The other factor is the Lib Dems. As Gary Barford points out, they could choose this moment to ditch the Coalition and force an election. I have argued from the start that this Coalition is politically disastrous for the Lib Dems and they somehow need to find a way of getting out of it alive before the Tories get a chance obliterate their power-base in the South. This could be their best opportunity.

This is probably the LibDems best opportunity to regain any credibility after their university fees disaster. Holding Cameron's feet to the fire of public scrutiny would show them as acting responsibly on behalf of the country. If they are seen to help him avoid any incoming from the Murdoch imbroglio then they will have lost it for the next election.

Seems to me Cameron needs to out do Miliband on both Press Reform and in criticising News Corp .

on Press Reform , Cameron should announce a commission to be established looking at possibilities for regulating Press Ownership and Transparency , as well as establishing a definition of Public interest so as to be able to strongly regulate methods used in non-public interest stories, whilst not limiting the press in using arguably unethical methods for public interest goals . He should float radical options to out-do Miliband . ie. limiting press ownership to one 7 day newspaper or one 6 day and one 1 day paper ; banning or limiting foreign media ownership; requiring full discolsure of political and commercial interests of both owners and writers and of investigate methods used .

He should also out-do miliband's early veiled call for Brooke's Resignation by saying he thinks it inappropriate for James Murdoch to any specific responsibility for oversight of News Corp Owned Media in the UK.

It is imperiative Cameron out-does miliband in these ways as an image of a cosy relationship with news corp feeds into the 'old boys network' image many swing voters have of cameron

Well let's hope Cameron does go, yet again he's off poncing around the world giving OUR money away when he should be here sorting out the mess.

I'd actually like a Tory PM for once.

As for Red Ed ,I'm getting fed up hearing him bring up Milly Dowler's name at the start of EVERY speech he gives and every interview, especially for political reasons.

What gets me is we know Labour were up to their necks in this as well.

Oh and the pillock has just gone on about empires getting too big, so does that include the vile BBC then, who have been on an anti Tory hunt for years.

The BBC want the Tory party smashed and Sky at the same time.

This is not only an opportunity for politicians to throw off the yoke of the Murdoch empire. It is an opportunity for backbench Tory MPs to rid themselves of the control that the Bullingdon Club has on Tory Central Office, which has been a stifling the connection with the ordinary Tory voter.

I would be delighted if this scandal brought down David Cameron. He has been a dreadful Prime Minister, particularly for reneging on his commitment to give us a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and not standing up for Britain as Margaret Thatcher would have done. The only thing one can say in his favour is that a Labour government would be even worse.

The reason why I would love to see Cameron fall is that whoever wishes to win the ensuing leadership battle would have to promise an in/out referendum on EU membership to stand a chance of winning - such is the current mood of the Tory Party. Regaining our freedom is more important that the fate of News Internatonal.

He's done for, Tory MPs have been quiet today, only May out there doing some leg work and probably only because it's her dept.

Add to that Boris' press conference and subsequent, 'Ask #10 about that' comment and you can pretty much see the writing on the wall.

It's time to see the scramble for political lives and let us see if the BBC reignite Clegg's Achilles heel of the tuition fees.

Cameron will go, one day, never fear. It'll be before the growing bald spot destroys the elfin charm.

It just won't be over this business.

It's not an insane to imagine this, Iain. I've thought it since day one. How could it not engulf Cameron? When was politics ever fair or rational once a story develops legs and the circus comes to town?

I get the impression Cameron's a bit sloppy; not on top of things, too laid back? He has very truly loyal political friends on his own side and his list of enemies grows by the hour.

Clegg's role will be crucial (he's pretty finished anyway so may as well shore him up) and Ed Miliband may not yet believe in himself enough to force the pace.

This is nonsense on stilts.

The Phone Hacking Scandal is ridiculously overblown: no real damage was done only some feelings were hurt by the hacking. In the midst of economic crises, wars etc.. it's rather pathetic to see how this is overplayed by an obsessed media.

Corruption of the police is a lot more serious. But there is no suggestion that Cameron was in any way implicated in that.

The Met Officers that sat on the enquiry and had undisclosed relationships with suspects are one thing. No-one can say that Cameron's relationship with Coulson was undisclosed.

Iain you're right to pose the question. However, as you wrote with regards to Sir Paul Stephenson yesterday, resignations are often far too easily called for. Cameron will just have to see himself through this tricky patch, but he should be fine in the long run.

Only if he fails to start fighting. Not only for his own corner but against the capering BBC, a deeply embarrassed Met and a typically hypocritical Left - the latter toxic faction upon whose sorry governmental watch the entirety of this latest tawdry saga unfolded. At double PM, multiple Home Secretary and London Mayoral level. At a level where Labour were empowered to deal with it. And failed, through a mixture of fear, expediency, incompetence and mendacity.

Coulson is already six months out of his job at No.10 and counting. Cameron has been in power for for 14 months. No foul in relative terms. For a former corporate PR man, Cameron should know that he needs to raise his game and start using a straight political razor to slice through the crap. And he needs to start by cutting Miliband, Bryant and Watson off at the knees - quickly, politely, surgically and mercilessly.

It would be nice to have a Tory as leader of the party...!!