Having given the matter some thought I’m really rather hoping that Mr Cameron doesn’t get forced to resign due to the current kerfuffle about people listening to other peoples voice mail (really it’s not hacking). As Dizzy observes what has he actually done, compared to say the scandals that Blair sailed through? Which isn’t to say that he shouldn’t resign after all Blair should have, just it would seem unlikely. But looking at the scandal as Archbishop Cranmer notes the Murdochs control of the media is a tad over hyped:
“But it’s all a bit of a show. Rupert Murdoch owns three (non-profitable) newspapers and a minority share in BSkyB, the output of which is regulated by Ofcom. In what sense is this an ‘empire’ which exerts ‘too much power over British public life’? So much so that it needs dismantling, regulating and controlling?”
But if we’re to hang Cameron and Murdoch for this then we need to look at what the other papers and politician are doing, after all Cameron’s hardly the first to suck up to the alleged power of the Murdoch empire. Given how they behaved over the expenses scandal which was a far more direct case of corrupt behaviour amongst MPs I really can’t see them risking a wider investigation of the collusion between a crooked press and MPs. For that I am actually terribly grateful – really I am and for very simple reasons. Cameron may be a uselss drip with no convictions at all but if he resigns what will happen is this:
1) There may be a by-election in Witney
2) Nick Clegg will take over as PM until the Tories choose a new leader
3) The Tories will pick the next best Cameron clone they have who hasn’t been too close to the scandal.
4) Err.. that’s it.
Now I really don’t care if Witney has to pick a new MP, I’m sure they’ll cope and if we get a new Cameron clone I doubt we’ll even notice the difference. I don’t think we’d actually get a PM with real convictions as the main parties have done a fairly good job of getting rid of all of those. So no for me the rather troubling idea is that for as long as it takes for the Tories to pick the next wet rag we’ll have Nick Clegg in charge and whilst in theory he shouldn’t be able to do that much damage I’m sure he’d find time to sign a decent fistful of misguided environmental treaties perhaps committing us to a carbon negative tofu based economy by Michaelmas 2012?
So by all means lets string them all up from the nearest lamp posts, but lets not let Nick “I won’t raise tuition fees” Clegg into power during the process.
As the Daily Mash asks “Are you scared yet?“
