Gossip

It is interesting what one can sometimes learn hacking a little white ball around. From someone who knows him I heard that Craig Oliver, Cameron's new communications man, knows no MPs nor any of the Westminster press corp and has a very short temper, which seems a great asset for any chief government press officer. I also heard confirmation that many Tory MPs are unhappy as few are Cameron fans or ever have been and that their unhappiness has been exacerbated because a number of them who thought they should have got jobs in the administration did not do so because the jobs went to LibDems instead. Apparently although most of the Westminster press corp believe the coalition will last 5 years there is a minority who think it will last only a couple of years because of the tensions it has caused. It seems strange to me though that you would risk a General Election before the hoped for benefit of the cuts becomes apparent and therefore I agree with the majority that it is reasonable to assume that the coalition will last the course with several hiccups on the way. Pickles is not thought to have been a success and Vince Cable is supposed to be a broken man who will be moved from his present job and replaced by Laws as soon as he is able to re-join the administration, if he is cleared over his expenses muddle. Ed Miliband is thought to be doing quite well and although Cameron has not wiped the floor with him I doubt Ed will appeal to enough voters to beat Cameron.