Knives out For Cameron

Under two years in Government and certain Tory MP's have already got the knives out for their leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron.

There will always be politicians in any party that do not like their leader and even at times let the public/press know they are not happy. But I am sure many of us are surprised how quick his own party has turned against Cameron.

I don't think Cameron is either a great leader or Prime Minister but the Tory MP's are not rebelling because they are concerned about the state of the country it seems that most are just bitter as the junior minister posts they were expecting have ended up in the hands of Lib Dems. So many posts that at times it seems that the Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth and Bob Russell at Colchester are the only Lib Dems still on the backbench.

The latest attack by a Tory MP came this weekend with Patrick Mercer accused of calling the Tory leader an 'arse' it makes interesting reading - more here

Cameron would have expected a small rebellion on the Europe referendum but he would have still been surprised by the size of the mutiny, the Tories still confused on where they exactly stand on Europe. Some of those who rebelled will be well known Euro sceptics, others would have been in 'disgruntled because Lib Dems got my job' band and a third group would be those who will state that they rebelled because their local association members expected them to vote for a referendum. Note 'what their association expected' rather than their constituents.

Where does this leave Gummer and his fellow Suffolk Tory MP's? All voted with the Government and all are seen as ultra Cameron loyalists and it could also be said that they voted for what is best for their constituents. We must remember that 60% East of England trade is with EU, one-third more than other UK regions.

I expect our Tory MP's to stay loyal to Cameron, Coffey is allegedly rated highly and may be close to a junior minister post, Dan Poulter seems to be in the Evening Star every day and has taken the role of 'saviour of Ipswich Hospital' from Ben Gummer. But Gummer does seem to have a problem with his own association and in particular the Tory activists.

Gavin Maclure makes it quite clear that he has fell out of love with Cameron and some of his posts have more of a UKIP feel than Tory Party but he at least states that they knew Ben Gummer's view on Europe before they elected him but will Ben find it hard to get people to campaign for him when so many seem anti - Europe? James Spencer their habitual Bridge Ward candidate has made a number of attacks on Ben Gummer and as usual his 'follower' Kevin Algar also seems keen to join the anti Europe brigade. Ben Gummer was probably not surprised that may of his association are so anti Europe but I am sure that he is disappointed that at one of their flagship lectures they have invited Mr Campbell Bannerman MEP to be the guest speaker. Now Gavin describes Bannerman as a Conservative MEP, but in fact he was elected as a UKIP MEP and that there is a call for him to resign as we elect political groups as MEP's rather than individuals - more on this at the Ipswich Spy site.

So what does Ben Gummer do? Turn up to the lecture to confront Mr Campbell Bannerman, to tell the association members the benefits of being part of the European Union, or does he just keep a low profile, and hope that come the next General Election, the activists will forget his pro Europe stance and get behind him in his fight to keep Ipswich as a Tory seat?

The good thing about so many Tory activists now tweeting or using blogs - we will soon find out.

The Tory MP's, the Tory activists and the Tories in Ipswich- all falling out of love with David Cameron, Gavin Maclure even suggested that putting Cameron on their leaflets in St Margaret's Ward may have been a contributing factor to their defeat last Thursday.