THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron has made an audacious attempt to stamp his authority on Conservative MPs and smother back-bench dissent.
The Prime Minister announced a controversial move to neutralise the 1922 Committee which gives back-bench MPs a forum for criticising the Conservative leadership.
The move turned simmering anger at Mr Cameron’s coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats into fury among many Tory MPs.
One senior Right-winger described it as a “deliberate provocation” that could split the party. Others likened the moment to Tony Blair’s “Clause IV” confrontation with Labour members in 1995.
On Thursday, Mr Cameron will hail his “partnership” with Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, publishing the “historic” document that details the coalition Government’s full agenda for power. At a meeting with MPs on Wednesday in the Commons, Mr Cameron announced that he wanted to change the way the 1922 Committee was organised.
The committee represents back-bench Conservatives and is traditionally used to communicate rank-and-file MPs’ feelings about the way Tory governments are conducting themselves. The committee is named after the 1922 general election, which was called after the Conservatives withdrew from a coalition government with David Lloyd George’s Liberals.
Ministers and other government members are barred from the 1922, a rule meant to ensure that the party leadership cannot influence the committee directly.
Mr Cameron has proposed a change in the rules to allow him and his ministers and other allies to vote in the committee and even take up elected positions. >>> James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Wednesday, May 19, 2010
