In the film Invictus there is a scene at the beginning, the morning after Nelson Mandela was elected at President. The local newspaper printed a headline “He may have won an election, but can he run a country?”. The body guard made a comment about the media being on Mandalas’ back on the first day in office. Mandela simply says that it is a legitimate question. Now while this scene may not be factually true, it does have some relevance to David Cameron and the Tories.

Back in May 2010 the electorate returned a vote of no confidence. The results prove it! The establishment were faced with a predicament, try to rule as a minority party or seek support from the third largest party (the Liberal Democrats). The well documented conversations took place and on 12th May 2010 the United Kingdom was being governed by a Coalition. Tim Farron very eloquently went through the Liberal Democrat achievements in his speech to the autumn conference.

Then fast forward to May 2015, we know the result. The smug face of David Cameron, the headlines and the speech by Nick Clegg. Yes it was a dark day for Liberalism in the UK but I think it will go down as a dark day for David Cameron. The day in which the demise of strong traditions began to become eroded by financial obsessed Tory policies that forgot the people.

There is a housing crisis in the UK. 1.6 million children don’t have a place they can call home or live in over crowded accommodation. Margaret Thatcher single handedly destructed the social housing market. Her policy to give Social Housing tenants the “right to buy” their property at a reduced market rate has led to the 1.6 million people being on housing waiting lists in the UK. Now David Cameron and the Tories are going to re-enact this and force the sell off of even more Social Housing. The Liberal Democrats oppose this. Tim Farron and the Liberal Democrats want to build 300,000 homes a year. It is ambitious but achievable. By lifting the borrowing the lending cap for Local Authorities the much needed financial resources will be available for councils like Somerset County Council to build the homes needed.

This proposal won’t be popular with Conservative voters but then we know that they are more likely to own their own homes outright (including from buying their old council homes). However, if like me you are struggling to get on the housing ladder or worry about your children or grandchildren having a home of their own in the community they grew up in, this Liberal Democrat policy will ensure that those 90,000 children have a place to call home.

So the question stands of David Cameron, he may have won an election but can he run a county? This is the first time the Tories have won control of the country since 1992. David Cameron’s obsession for economics and profit would make him a great Chief Executive (his green credentials would put him in the running for the VW job), but perhaps Mr Cameron should have reflected more on Mr Mandela’s approach to remembering the importance of the person in politics than taking selfies.

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