Strong and Fair and Tough and Bold and Tough

Daveybloke, the Cuddly Conservative, has been having a bit of a burble at the Conservative Party's spring rah-rah. Britain's Head Boy was in full-haloed Late Blair mode, throwing adjectives around like furniture in a restaurant: tough, proud, strong, fair, tough, bold, right, necessary, tough, urgent, unavoidable and everybody's favourite, tough. Daveybloke praised Michael Gove for his "drive to improve education", said drive having consisted mainly of getting his sums wrong, blathering about the Bible and repealing the Equality Act with regard to schools. By contrast, Daveybloke did not praise Twizzler Lansley for his drive to abolish the NHS. In light of the Twizzler's inability to take full advantage of the absolute faith and confidence which Daveybloke has repeatedly stuck in him from behind, it is expected that Daveybloke himself will take tougher control of health policy, particularly the business of disposing of the elderly, who can all sleep easier now.

Apparently there is some unease among the troops because Steve Hilton, the man who suggested fixing the economy by abolishing maternity allowance, has taken a year's unpaid leave to be with his family - which, doubtless for reasons of conscience, he keeps in California. There are worries that Daveybloke's grief at the loss of one of his most radical and least elected influences will push him yet further into the arms of the Deputy Conservatives, who have already done so much to take the edge off the Government's right-wing agenda. After all, Europe is still there.