Cameron who is normally so accomplished when it comes to interviews with the media had something of a rough ride thanks to John Humphrys on the Today programme.
The bulk of the interview was devoted to Cameron doing his best to defend and explain the government’s planned reforms to the NHS, but for such an assured interviewee Humphrys' questions left Cameron frustrated. This led to two key mishaps.
First, in his haste to get out the the key message of the day, namely "don't settle for second best" in the NHS, the PM blurted out that people shouldn't have to settle for "second rate" healthcare.
Clearly calling the healthcare provided by the NHS as "second rate" is toxic, though he immediately corrected himself, acutely aware of the political trouble that can be created by criticising doctors, nurses and others in the NHS. The PM may have been quick to correct himself, but I doubt this will stop Labour from hammering him hard.
Second, when asked if Andy Coulson had offered to resign, he for obvious reasons sidestepped the question by saying that he would not comment on private conversations. This is a clear shift for yesterday when Downing Street attempted to deny the story. The PM then fell back on language he has used before, saying that his communications chief deserved a ‘second chance’ and he had decided to give him one.
Clearly everyone inside Downing Street would want Coulson's involvement in the phone hacking story to go away, but as long as Labour keep trying to make political capital out of the story, it will continue to hangover No.10 as long as he remains in post. Cameron's ‘second chance’ line also opens himself up to questions from Labour over precisely what Cameron thinks Coulson did wrong at the News of the World.
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