Cameron stirs up the Tory party even more

David Cameron's decision to "go negative" on his critics in the Tory party is relatively mad. He is stirring up the hornet's nest which is the Conservative party, even more than it was stirred up in the first place.

Virtually the whole of BBC Radio Four's World at One was devoted to chronicling the woes of the Mr Cameron's party.

A spokesman for David Cameron was reported as accusing Ali Miraj of "blackmail" in allegedly asking for a peerage in return for not criticising Cameron.

Miraj, in return, accused Cameron of conducting a "smear campaign" against him, rather than addressing the concerns he raised. He accused Cameron of a "lack of integrity" and "complete lack of judgment".

Francis Elliot in The Times comments that Ali Miraj is not a mirage:

The attempt to cast him as a nobody overlooks the fact that the City businessman sits on not one but two of the six policy groups that were set up by David Cameron to advise him on the next manifesto.