Cameron backs down over 1922 proposals

David Cameron’s coup attempt on the 1922 Committee has been routed. In pretty much full retreat David Cameron has backed down.

Last week he ambushed his own MPs with a plan that was long ago (way before the election, I hear) put in the grid. It was like the management demanding seats on the union negotiating team.

And it was probably better suited to the goodwill that would’ve followed a more successful election campaign.

In the colder and changeable climate of a coalition, David Cameron simply didn’t have the authority to pull this off and, as former Tory MP Paul Goodman worked out last week, he ended up with a result that suggested he’d failed to secure support for this venture from the majority of Tory backbenchers.

So as of tonight he has backed down on his proposal for ministers to vote in elections of the officers of the 1922 Committee.

The elections will go ahead in the normal form and Graham Brady and Richard Ottoway remain the only candidates. “Shows we have a listening leadership,” said one Tory MP.