Last year, after a lot of restless foraging, David Cameron found a plausible story to tell about his government. The UK is locked in a “global race”, the prime minister warned, in which only the fittest economies would keep up. Policies that cause pain now – cutting spending, taming welfare, reforming education – are the minimum required to keep us competitive against rampant rivals from the south and the east. Think of these reforms as intensive physical conditioning, with the prime minister exhorting from the sidelines like an upmarket personal trainer.
This worldly narrative got its first outing at the Conservative party conference in October, where Mr Cameron gave one of his rare memorable speeches. The theme now seldom goes unmentioned during his appearances, including last week’s midterm review of his Conservative-Liberal Democrat FOR UK REVERT TO “the coalition”]coalition. And the government has policies to substantiate its vision, even beyond deficit reduction and public sector reform. British diplomacy, for example, has lost its squeamishness about promoting commercial interests abroad. Mr Cameron has toured the Middle East on behalf of British exporters and visits India next month with similar intent. George Osborne, the chancellor, is trying to establish London as the offshore hub for renminbi trading.
The trouble with a political narrative, however, is that living up to some or most of it is not enough. Any deviation is noticed and there is none quite as flagrant as the government’s immigration policy.