By Bagehot
DAVID CAMERON summoned the press to Downing Street today to hear the latest in a series of policy about-turns, this time the abandonment of a plan to offer criminals a 50% tariff reduction on their sentences in exchange for a swift guilty plea. On paper, it was something of a humiliation for the prime minister, marking the latest in a lengthening string of U-turns and the latest to appear driven, at least in part, by ferocious lobbying by the tabloid press.