David Cameron must restore order below decks to steady the ship In celebratory remarks about the Olympics this weekend, the PM has been making clear that the Coalition still has a mission worth fighting for and that, in its deficit reduction programme, education blueprint and welfare reforms, the Lib-Con partnership is bound by more than parliamentary arithmetic. Tomorrow, he and Clegg will make a joint appearance to reiterate their shared commitment to the Coalition Agreement and undiminished determination to honour its original spirit of ambition. Last week's shambolic antics at Westminster - goldfish savaging each other in a bowl - have made such an outing necessary. But both party leaders should beware contrivance or anything that looks like a stunt - for the public will rumble it. Rule One of Coalition Maintenance should be: remember Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford. The second rule ought to be: learn from your mistakes. Last week's fiasco showed that the Lib Dems have yet to make the full transition from protest group to party of government. To demand an innovation repeatedly is megaphone politics; making it happen requires the subtleties of statesmanship. The Tory high command, meanwhile, revealed itself to be more distant than ever from the parliamentary party. This problem has distant roots in the expenses scandal of 2009 and the resentment felt by Tory MPs of modest means, instructed to pay back sometimes considerable sums by the affluent young leadership. It may be that some of the backbenchers who rebelled on Tuesday misunderstood the signals being sent by the PM, or were misinformed. But those around the Prime Minister concede that there was a serious failure of political intelligence-gathering. Consider the lot of the average Conservative MP, the type who knows in his heart that he will never make the Cabinet but fancies his chances as a minister - perhaps, with a bit of luck, a minister of state. He waits patiently for his turn on the dodgems. Then, the necessities of Coalition change all that, jobs must be found for a bunch of Lib Dems, and his chances of hearing the purr of the ministerial car in the mornings and the snap of the red box closing on his desk fall appreciably. Next, he realises that this Prime Minister really does hate reshuffles and that the number of people who will enjoy preferment is going to be even smaller. And now he is told that, because the Lib Dems wish it so, the House of Lords is to be replaced by a mostly elected Senate. Every time Clegg and Co assure MPs that the new chamber represents no threat to the primacy of the Commons, our backbench friend counts the constitutional spoons. At the 1922 Committee meeting last week, Cameron reassured his parliamentary colleagues that he would not let Lords reform destroy the Conservative Party. But those warm words need to be matched by actions. As John Major and Iain Duncan Smith discovered to their cost, the Tory parliamentary party is capable of savage independence. Cameron should not assume that this is as bad as it gets. There is no glib answer to the conundrum of Lords reform: little has been agreed, except that the Coalition will give it one more try in the autumn. But, over the summer, Cameron should brood on this episode as a political failure as much as a PPE Finals question on the constitution. One thing Blair undoubtedly understood was the need to assemble a cohort of aggressive and dependable political operatives: Alastair Campbell, Anji Hunter, Peter Mandelson, Philip Gould, David Hill, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, Peter Hyman, Matthew Taylor and others. When necessary, all could be mobilised in different ways to political combat, to troubleshoot, brief the media, or twist arms. The opprobrium they attracted was sometimes justified but - no less often - a measure of their success. Where is the equivalent Cameroon cohort? There are many able individuals in No 10. But they do not act as a coherent attack unit, ready to be scrambled whenever trouble arises. It is fine for the PM himself to project a laid-back steadiness, a reassuring sangfroid. But those around him should be frenetic ex officio, their nerves jangling, straining at the leash for battle. If that sounds unappealing - well, welcome to modern politics. It is fashionable to declare the Coalition dead, dying or at least signed up to Dignitas. But it is also far from the truth. Cameron would be courting defeat and Clegg collective extinction if they risked a general election this year. Some time apart over the summer will be good for both men. It may even remind them why they got together in the first place. And, if the power of positive thinking doesn't do the trick, they might say the words "Prime Minister Miliband" out loud a few times. That, to adapt Dr Johnson, should concentrate the mind wonderfully.