Reports on the David Cameron interview with Andrew Marr play up the support that he gave for primaries as part of a drive to recruit more people into Parliament. However, this assured performance was far more important than this opening, and we shall have to see if Cameron lives up to this promise. The opposition leader stated that he was supportive of institutional reforms in the House of Commons that would rebalance the power of the House against the executive. Indeed, the acceptance of primaries and dilution of whipping fits in with the promotion of direct democracy that has been championed by Douglas Carswell and others on the liberal wing, right and left..
More importantly, Cameron has signalled an intention to renegotiate with Europe, whatever the outcome of the Lisbon treaty ratification process. Either a referendum will give the new Prime Minister a mandate to demand the repatriation of powers or post-Lisbon, Cameron will prepare the ground for negotiating our membership in its entirety.