Whatever he says in public, privately Lord Mandelson
thinks the Tory leader has pulled a masterstroke

If today’s Daily Telegraph is to be believed, then David Cameron may well have pulled a big fluffy rabbit out of the hat at the eleventh hour. His alleged decision to ‘rule out’ a coalition with the Liberal Democrats sounds categorical enough to put so-called ‘tactical’ voters on the spot. His message is clear: “Don’t vote LibDem in the hope of electoral reform, because I ain’t doing business with them”.

In particular, his declaration that he will bring forth a Budget and “dare the Liberal Democrats to vote it down” is a long-overdue gauntlet with which to slap Clegg’s smiley face. Nick too now finds himself on the spot: it’s one thing to jockey for power, and another to do so while looking unpatriotic. Although many voters still claim to question the need to cut now, my partially informed gut feeling is that even the majority of public sector workers know not too deep down that this is what must be done.

This sense of reality has been snowballing as the Greek problem unravelled before the startled eyes of those who were shouting ‘scarmongering’ just a few weeks ago. Despite Gordon’s steadfast 110 academics worried about an economy that doesn’t exist, the rest of us – and almost all the foreign press – know that without an early sign of determination to act big-time, a Greek-style insolvency in Britain is inevitable. The maths on both non-existent recovery and debt roll-up do not point in any other direction.

A usually reliable source told The Slog last night that Peter Mandelson knows this. It’s odd how sometimes, one writes something speculative – and a source pops up to then either confirm or deny it. Last week a Slog piece said that Mandy was ‘too cute to argue with the maths’, and this evoked an immediate email.

The message from this was clear: he’s far too cute for that, and has thus played his last (and somewhat low-scoring) card – let’s remind people of Gordon’s tough experience. It isn’t going to wash, and having begun to try demolishing the Clegg statue he carved so carefully two weeks ago, in private the Peer accepts that the voters have woken up to the lightness of Nick’s being. But Mandelson has also pored over the economic numbers in detail, and decided that the game’s up – so better the wicked Tories should cut than somebody else with a more progressive pedigree.

Cameron’s bravery could easily backfire – but that’s often the way with honest courage. Wavering voters in search of real reform could easily see his remarks as the smug arrogance of an Eton toff. But at least David Cameron has nailed his colours to a mast; and even though I’m definitely not on that ship, I wasn’t beforehand anyway. I think he’s snubbed his converted enemies, and for once sounded tough. And I hear that, on hearing this declaration of intent, the Business Minister smiled to himself, and muttered, “Nice one”.