In last week’s magazine, I set out how David Cameron was recognising the merits of a “Yes” vote in the forthcoming AV referendum for the sake of sealing the coalition with the Liberal Democrats. I followed up with a blog on how Cameron was “considering” backing AV.
The story was dismissed by Tory observers and one cabinet minister even texted me to say he doubted it. However, Cameron himself said very little publicly on the question — certainly not that he will campaign hard for a “No” vote — while AV burst on to the scene as an issue in the past week.
Now, I note with interest that the cover story of tomorrow’s Spectator will make pretty much the same point. This just in from that magazine’s press operation:
Coalition forever. In public, David Cameron will oppose Lib Dem plans for voting reform. But in private, says James Forsyth, he is actually warming to the idea. AV could be used to share votes between the Tories and the Lib Dems — making their coalition permanent, and freezing out Labour.