Cameron and national service

I thought this bloke was supposed to be going for the middle ground? Since when have calls for national service come from the centre? The Guardian tells me;

"Every 16-year-old will be expected to devote their summer to "patriotic" national service, under radical proposals being launched by David Cameron today... Mr Cameron told today's Sun that he felt "very passionate" about the idea of a "national citizen service"...

"To complete the course youngsters would need to meet the organisers, pledge allegiance to Britain, and declare what charity they had chosen and why. "This could really help change our country for the better," Mr Cameron said."

Who on Earth is he trying to win over with this meaningless bit of froth? I'm all for people being able to go litter picking in Wales for six weeks, or whatever, but surely dressing up another youth voluntary scheme as national service is just vapid pandering to the right - and probably unlikely to occur even if the Tories did win the next election.

I have previously been worried that Cameron was a dangerous leader of the Tories. He had looked effective and on the ball - but that's all wearing off now. He looks disorientated, attacked by his own supporters and completely baffled by how to take on Brown, who arrogantly swats him aside from time to time. If the Labour Party wasn't broke I'm sure Brown would be taking the advantage and calling an election right now - thankfully it is, so he isn't.