Is Cameroonism just an electoral liability?

The idea was simple: the Tory brand of 'nastiness' was toxic and needed to be flushed out of the blue rosette. 'Dave' was the man to make the Conservative Party electable again after repeated drubbings by Labour at the polls.

Thatcherism was to be expelled. Out went meritocracy. Cameron surrounded himself with the likes of George Osborne. Small-c conservatism was banished. David Davis, Cameron's leadership rival, has promised a grammar school in every town and city. But Cameron turned his back on selective education, on tough immigration controls, on proper committed Euroscepticism and other such policies in favour of a tree logo, climate change and bike riding. Right on.

Tory members blindly believed that it was all a game. Cameron had pitched his tent on Blair's so-called centre-ground, but only to win the election and make the Tories more electable. Once he was in, he'd be their man. He'd really roll up his true blue sleeves and make a dent on the destruction Labour had brought to Britain.

Except Cameroonism isn't strong in belief, communication or ability. It didn't win over the public and so despite a virtual open goal against a hugely discredited Gordon Brown, Cameron couldn't get the job done. Instead he has had to sit with Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. As Clegg himself once put it, 'the more we spoke, the more we found we had in common'. Just how far away are LibDem ideology and the Cameroons? I've never been convinced of the difference.

And so this clucking, awkward government has come to prove a bit of a disaster. No street wise Cabinet Ministers to provide firepower, Cameron just seems to enjoy the position without any real vision, narrative or goal. Britain is still borrowing billions, is still subordinate to Brussels and the Conservatives' only notable reforms have come on welfare and free schools.

It is the type of one-term legacy a PM without principle would create. Far from making the Tory Party more electable, Cameroonism has left the Tories looking weak and feeble - and very open to attacks from the prospering UKIP. That is one battle I'm certain Cameron doesn't have the guile or bottle to take on. The Cameroon logic survives by dismissing and ignoring such right-wing rhetoric.