David Cameron Vows To 'Cut Through Dither' With Challenge To Tory Right Ahead Of Reshuffle

Cameron's Challenge To Tory Right

David Cameron signalled the start of his political fightback on Sunday, vowing to "cut through the dither" which is holding Britain back.

As MPs prepare to return to Westminster on Monday following the summer break, the Prime Minister promised a series of high-profile initiatives to get the country moving again and breathe new life into the flagging economy.

Cameron offers his bullish riposte to the Tory Right in The Mail On Sunday

His comments will be seen as a riposte to discontented Tory MPs who have slated his leadership during the recess, with one senior backbencher suggesting he was a political "mouse".

Cameron's bluster came on the same day that his deputy, Nick Clegg, came under increasing pressure from within his own party over his leadership of the Liberal Democrats.

Adrian Sanders, a veteran Lib Dem MP, told The Sunday Times that Clegg had to stop "just bumbling along worrying about the future" and to take action to rebuild support in the party.

Speaking on Radio 4 on Sunday, business secretary Vince Cable, said: "David Cameron's come under a lot of fire in the past couple of weeks. Nick Clegg has got the same but he’s sufficiently resilient to ride through this, I think."

Writing in The Mail on Sunday, Cameron made clear he was ready to take on his critics - bringing forward controversial measures to boost growth by relaxing the planning rules.

He warned that the country could not afford the "paralysis" which causes new housing developments to be held up by entrenched local opposition and lengthy planning inquiries.

"Frankly, I am frustrated by the hoops you have to jump through to get anything done - and I come back to Parliament more determined than ever to cut through the dither that holds this country back."

His comments will raise fresh concerns that the Government wants to open up Green Belt land for development - a move that will prove highly controversial within the coalition.

The Prime Minister also used his article to brush aside complaints by teachers over the fall in the latest GCSE results, promising further measures to reverse the "dumbing down" in the classroom.

He said he would not "cave in" to teaching unions who wanted to "pretend standards are rising each year".

"'All must have prizes' is not just patronising, it is cruel - and with us it is over," he said.

However Cameron faced fresh sniping from within his own ranks, with backbencher Brian Binley publicly calling on him to axe George Osborne as Chancellor in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle.

Also writing in The Mail on Sunday, Binley said Osborne should be made Conservative Party chairman so he could concentrate on winning the general election and be replaced by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, who had the "analytical strengths and broad commercial experience" to make a fine chancellor.

"The state remains as bloated, overbearing and inefficient as ever. Public debt is ballooning.

Meanwhile leading Tory right winger David Davis said that the Government must draw up a new, "alternative" pro-growth strategy to get the economy moving.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Cameron's former rival for the party leadership warned that a further round of spending cuts before the general election in 2015 was now "inevitable".

"The coalition's cuts should have been earlier and deeper," he said. "This is not about individual policy areas. This is about something more fundamental ... something deeper. There is an alternative economic policy."

In his article, Cameron defended the Government's economic strategy, saying it was on the "hard road to balancing Britain's books".

He said ministers would be bringing forward new bills for economic development when Parliament returned.

"We've cut the deficit by a quarter already, and we are sticking to this course: rejecting the easy path; restoring sanity to our finances; keeping Britain safe," he said.

He added: "At every turn we are taking the hard road over the easy path - and we are doing so because we have a clear destination in mind: a truly great Britain; equal to the challenges of the 21st century; a country we are proud to call home not just for this golden month of the Olympics and Paralympics but in every month, all the time.

"I'm confident we're making progress. And I'm more ready than ever for the challenge ahead."

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