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Immigration speech: PM right to put Tories first
The Mole: Cameron highlights coalition divide once again - this time on immigration
Proof - if proof were needed - that you can't make a big political speech about immigration without opening a can of worms comes today with news that Vince Cable has already labelled David Cameron's speech today as "very unwise".
The Prime Minister was due to say that, under Labour, Britain allowed immigration levels to get out of control and that he plans to take the annual influx back to 1980s levels, cutting net immigration from hundreds of thousands a year to tens of thousands.
He warns that immigrants unable to speak English or unwilling to integrate have created a "kind of discomfort and disjointedness" which has disrupted British communities.
In short, Cameron is going for it. He's taking on one of the most contentious political issues and it is, of course, no coincidence that it's only three weeks to go today before the May 5 local elections at which the Tories need all the help they can get - though not as much as the Lib Dems.
Which brings us to Vince Cable. Few issues mark the divide between the coalition partners as clearly as immigration and the Lib Dem Business Secretary told the BBC this morning not only that Cameron's speech "risked inflaming extremism" but that a 'new deal' on immigration was never part of the coalition agreement.
Cable is sticking to the Lib Dem line that "much of the remaining immigration from outside the European Union is crucial to British recovery and growth".
Nick Clegg is reported to have "noted rather than approved" Cameron's big speech.
Tory activists - to whom Cameron was addressing his speech in Hampshire - will doubtless "approve" wholeheartedly. Today, Cameron is putting their interests ahead of those of his coalition partners. ·
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Mac Donald, sir. It is good to have confidence in an elected government. The coalition should have a coherent short term policy on immigration. Long term the government can only slow the inevitable on the movement of the strong around the world. As for suggesting that the Libyan and Afghainstan enterprises are worth all the billions they cost, please justify. Gadaffi has had to press the multiplier button to deal with the allied bombings. Many thousands bleed for the UK government action. It is pathetic.
I've got to hand it to you - you are working very hard to try and break up the coalition which seems to be working quite well in spite of your efforts.
By your own admission, the Lib Dems will be devastated if they pull out and cause an election - so why keep "banging on?"
We are seeing a return to real politics, as the fools on the hill are being forced to deal with realities like the socialist overspending and the intentional social re-engineering via immigration of all the governments since Thatcher. Let's hope for a proper in-media punch-up, right up to voting day. I know that I am of the generation we have been waiting for, and I am sure that I am hoping for change.