Sadly, I think that Dr Alf and Simon Heffer are going to be disappointed by David Cameron, the man whom when asked why he wanted to become Prime Minister said “Because I think I’d be rather good at it”.
To me that phrase does not smack of conviction of the kind Lady Thatcher possessed but of vacillation, trimming with the wind and following secret orders.
The real David Cameron is a human hologram presenting whatever people wish to hear at any given moment and then morphing into a different role when speaking to someone else. Thus President Erdogan of Turkey is reassured by words about EU membership fast tracking, the UK public are told in stentorian tones that Turkey will not be an EU member until the year 3000.
He never was a true Conservative but is in fact rather liberal and a proponent of the Committee of 300’s agenda of de industrialisation and the hollowing out of the middle classes.
Simon Heffer, who is a ginger haired florid faced Englishman and who writes thundering pieces of reporting has just discovered that the Prime Minister is not a true Conservative as have his MPs and the people who work tirelessly to get Conservative MP’s elected.
Unlike Dr Alf, I do not yet find myself attracted to the ideas of moderate Labour MPs and do not believe that the Labour Party is electable. The Conservatives need a new leader, ideally someone like Andrea Leadsom, so as not to split the party and have a sharp telegenic spokesperson for sound policies on taxation, fiscal policy, defence, law and order, health, business, transport and family life.
Dr Alf's Blog 
My concern about Boris Johnson, whom I have been watching carefully for a few years now, is that he can change his opinions faster than a spin of a coin.
This, I conclude, is partially because he is an NLP “auditory” type who in the course of an internal dialogue with himself can talk himself into and out of positions at the same time as he is agreeing with someone he is talking to or appearing to do so.
Secondly, he has a propensity to not consider detail and to tell people what they want to hear rather than get them to face up to the truth which they might find distressing.
Thirdly, he does as you say think of his personal ambition ahead of the interests of the nation. Looking ahead, I think the UK has to have someone in charge who has some convictions, is pragmatic, telegenic and able to understand that “little people” have the right to be represented as well as those with incomes in excess of £250,000 GBP a year.
To me, that sounds like skipping a generation and getting someone really switched on like an Andrea Leadsom who also talks sense, is telegenic and has business experience.
If the Conservative party does split, then one can see the right wing elements of the Labour Party (people like Tristram Hunt, Liz Kendall and Ben Bradshaw et al) joining with the “One Nation Conservatives” to form a new party whilst UKIP is subsumed in a more right-wing party, including people like John Redwood. The Labour Party under Corbyn, or anyone else like him, is unelectable, as are the Liberal Democrats who represent hardly anyone.
The monarchy is safe for another generation as long as it slims itself down and skips a generation (Prince Charles is too much of a fuddy duddy) for the modern world.
The EU, in its present form and in its two stage enlarged form, is not democratic and not conducive to small government and is being shaped and directed by Germany, its strongest member. It needs to reform itself which to date it shows little sign of doing, so after the Referendum, which I suspect the Remain side of the argument will win narrowly, we will see what the future holds after Merkel eventually steps down in several years time.
Corruption is endemic and embedded in the UK which is 30th in the world in terms of value per taxpayer pound and which has fragmented governance, policing, fire and health services and procurement processes made deliberately complex to the point where financial irregularity is commonplace but is explained away as “mission creep” or mistakes or the favourite “changed requirements”. Within the EU there is also corruption which is why no-one from your former profession is prepared to sign off the EU’s accounts as “A true and fair representation” of anything other than a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale by numbers. Clearly there is much work to do on corruption and you and I will be long gone or very long in the tooth before major inroads are made.
We clearly live in troubled and turbulent times.
John, thank you for your posting.
Let me me remind you of my political views which are clearly set out of my blog, namely:
1. Libertarian, rather than authoritarian
2. Internationalist and Pro-Europe
3. Right of centre, favouring strongly individualism compared to state
4. Strongly anti-bureaucracy, favouring small government
5. Pro democracy
6. Anti corruption
7. Pro Keynesian and anti monetarist (I favour and braces approach with sound monetary policy, good fiscal discipline but leaving room for state intervention where necessary)
8. Pro Monarchist
I am not in favor of moderate Labour policies as you state. But I do favour compassionate conservative policies – this is often described as one-nation toryism and can be traced back to the policies of Benjamin Disraeli. In my view, the Tory right wing has been discredited, parading as right-wing populists.
I think that right-wing rebels will bring the Conservative government down.
I note that you no longer favor Boris Johnson, presumably because he has placed personal ambition ahead of the country’s best interests?