Big Society's Big Mouth Powered by v

By making the Big Society his personal ‘mission’ David Cameron appears to be staking his reputation as Prime Minister on a project that many believe is doomed to fail.

This is a project which Cameron was under no obligation to assume such individual responsibility for and one which – given time and the right amount of spin – could have been made to fade into the background long before it became too big an issue to forget. The Big Society was introduced to the public at a very early stage of Cameron’s premiership and with such a long time before the next general election it could have potentially been hidden behind future policies, ideas or slogans had an early diagnosis deemed it too flawed to succeed.

But the more it is talked up the harder that becomes and given that he has effectively had to re-launch it already, not even a year later, there is surely no scope for another re-launch at any point in the future. Either the project succeeds as it is or it fails and, though it remains to be seen, the latter scenario may well inflict irreparable damage upon Cameron’s reputation.

With this in mind I have a few questions:

Does such a public display of commitment to such a widely criticised project indicate that he truly believes it can, or perhaps even will, be a success?

Or does he think that, despite its obvious flaws, abandoning such a flagship idea at this stage would damage his reputation so much that the only course of action available is to commit more resources to it - the best form of defence is to attack, so to speak?

And finally, does Cameron’s personal involvement in such a high-profile, slogan-driven campaign not simply illustrate that creating a memorable legacy is his number one priority as Prime Minister? Read less