So, what on earth was Michael Howard thinking?
He has set out his stall to support a stealth tax project, which is vastly unpopular with his party and his MPs and the voting public! Worse still, he’s done it in a way which has utterly infuriated his supporters; he’s deliberated the subject in camera with a few of his inner circle, and has mis-represented the feelings of the rest, and sprung the decision on them. They are, quite simply, furious. The result is that several of the senior Tories have gone public with their opposition. So Tony Blair, the only person left who has a personal stake in the ID card proposal, now faces a choice. He must be pretty mad about what happened to his friend, Blunkett, but just how mad is he? He didn’t want to have this issue in the public eye before the election; and now, he’s lost one of his most important Party allies from his Cabinet. That would make anybody mad – but would it make you insane? Does he insist on pushing ahead with the legislation, to demonstrate his loyalty to his old friend? Or d
