The Prime Minister will produce a series of measures that he hopes will give “red meat” to Conservative backbenchers, who are calling for action to appeal to their core voters after poor local election results.
And he will offer an olive branch to his critics by avoiding Parliamentary legislation on the controversial High Speed 2 rail link and watering down plans to reform the House of Lords.
But he has faced criticism from MPs who said the party needed “sanity” — and Boris Johnson made a jibe at the Prime Minister’s misfortunes as he celebrated winning a second term as Mayor of London.
“We survived the rain, the BBC, the Budget and the endorsement of David Cameron,” Mr Johnson told supporters early on Saturday — then spoke of tax cuts and cutting waste as Mr Cameron went to London’s City Hall to congratulate him.
The joke emphasised the stark contrast between Mr Johnson’s victory and the Tories’ overall showing as one back-bench MP said he would be “very happy” to see the mayor as party leader.
Mr Cameron will start his fightback this week with the Queen’s Speech. » | Patrick Hennessy and Robert Watts | Saturday, May 05, 2012
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