Lord Ashcroft and collateral damage

They think it’s all over, Lord Ashcroft is in the clear. It’s not.  Far from it.  And while Cameron allows that little saga to drift along, up pops Lord Tebbit:

Putting politicans in charge of businesses is proverbially a risky business. We shall see if the converse is true. The great hoo-hah over whether a non-dom should be barred from politics here, or whether Ashcroft was economical with the truth or whether Hague and Cameron should have made a closer inspection of the mouth of this gift horse, is another matter.

It’s this other matter that should have been resolved long ago.  The Ashcroft saga is of the Tory party’s “own making”, as Coffee House correctly points out.

Liam Fox revealed yesterday that Cameron has known about Ashcroft’s tax status for over a month.  Guido Fawkes pokes his finger in that one:

Guido has been hearing that Fox has been having quiet words in dark corners recently, discussing what life would be like in the party if there was a hung parliament. He also has a little score to settle from his very public dressing down by Cameron and Hague on the back of this cock-up in 2007. Fox has played dirty before and still harbours the delusional notion that he could one day lead the Tories.  Has he really dropped Hague in it by accident…?

Meanwhile, in the latest poll from those all important marginal seats the swing to the Tories is not good enough for an overall majority.

Finally, to boost Team Cameron's confidence along comes Robert Mugabe to offer his support to the Prime Minister-in-waiting.

We need to remind ourselves that while all this is happening, we are just under nine weeks from polling day.

It may very well be that Daniel Finkelstein’s penetrating analysis will hold.  Certainly the top line polling figures have been steady during this week’s Tory party storm, but for how much longer.

Cameron can certainty communicate, but this picture of a not-so-happy party calls into question his leadership and management abilities, not to mention his judgement.

Whether the Ashcroft saga causes collateral damage to the Tory party remains to be seen.  The signs are all there, and any action Cameron now takes may not be enough to stop this happening.