A setback for Tory radicalism
James Forsyth 1:01pm
Radical reform of Britain’s public services must be a priority for the next Tory government. But today’s reshuffle was a blow to the reform agenda. This morning, two of the three key public service jobs—education, welfare and health—were in the hands of committed reformers. Now, only education is.
The reformers have long given up on making progress on health until, at the earliest, Cameron’s second term. A political decision was made right at the beginning of Cameron’s leadership to simply try and shut down the debate on health. Consequently, Tory health policy has been subcontracted out to the British Medical Association. But on education and welfare there were signs of real boldness. The Tories appeared ready to craft new settlements that would further equality of opportunity and make Britain a more dynamic and competitive country.
On education, that agenda has made astonishing progress. Under Michael Gove, the Tories have come up with a well thought-out policy platform that will be ready to be implemented from day one. I expect that Labour will have to accept this new settlement on education, a settlement that is supported by the Lib Dems and the Blairite reformers, before it can return to government.
But the decision to replace Chris Grayling with Theresa May calls into question the Tory commitment to fixing Britain’s broken welfare system. If Cameron had wanted to carry on the policy progress the party has made on this front under Grayling he would have appointed either Nick Herbert or Greg Clark to the brief, the two best policy minds in the shadow cabinet after Gove. But the decision to move May to this brief suggests that the Tories are now happy just to score cheap political points about Purnell’s desire to have single mothers prepare to enter the workforce.
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David
January 19th, 2009 1:16pm Report this commentIt's political, based on the Nixon/China rule. The Tories start talking about welfare and health reform gets them nowhere, as people have a knee jerk reaction that they will cut both areas and leave people to die. As it were.
Wait til you get into office, when you can show that your reforms aren't necessarily like that by actually putting them into effect, rather than allowing people to think what might happen.
geoff
January 19th, 2009 1:19pm Report this commentAgree with this. the strategy is clearly now to shift to the left of labour on welfare and inflict maximum political damage.
Sad thing is it will probably work and the welfare tightening will be scaled back.
luke
January 19th, 2009 1:22pm Report this commentInstinctively a very disappointing move. But Im sure CCHQ will just say grayling was due a promotion and we cant read more into it?
Susan Hill
January 19th, 2009 1:27pm Report this commentSame old New Labour then. He didn`t say he was the heir to Blair nothing.We now have no effective opposition.
Forlornehope
January 19th, 2009 1:30pm Report this commentWelfare reform cannot be isolated from tax and pensions. The real challenge for a Conservative government is to sort out all three so that they encourage the right kind of behaviour: work, saving, investment, responsible parenting. Looking at each separately is exactly what created the present mess that disincentivises every type of useful activity.
David Bouvier
January 19th, 2009 1:40pm Report this commentNot as close a follower of this as some - but Grayling was sending off 'mean' rather than 'caring' vibes that were potentially toxic, whatever the actually policy was.
I suspect the Purnell policy point is broadly correct, and this may have allowed the change, but that if anything is an indictment of Grayling.
Theresa May seems to be unpopular around here, I guess because she was the forlorn hope of 'brand detoxification'.
Obnoxio The Clown
January 19th, 2009 1:52pm Report this commentTory radicalism, what an oxymoron.
Tiberius
January 19th, 2009 2:10pm Report this commentIf you're right, James, perhaps Cameron has made the judgement that (rather like sharing the proceeds of growth)the economic crisis has to forced a reconsideration of priorities, welfare reform being a casualty.
There is still no doubt education reform towers above all the other social policy areas because it influences so much of what follows.
jon
January 19th, 2009 2:55pm Report this commentWelfare reform would actually be a solution to the economic crisis. Instead of importing labour, 130,000 work visas this year, we could encourage those on incapacity benefit to do the work. Instead of money going to those on benefit, they now pay taxes reducing the government borrowing requirement.
Verity
January 19th, 2009 3:05pm Report this commentCameron can't carry a tune. He has a tin ear.
David
January 19th, 2009 3:11pm Report this comment"We now have no effective opposition."
That doesn't follow from the premise put forward. If anything, the complaint is that they will be opposing for the sake of opposing, which , from the comment, you would seem to want.
nikc
January 19th, 2009 3:13pm Report this commentDoesn't matter, the UK is screwed.
Billions pissed away on bailing out banks, with 80% going overseas.
Nick
George Laird
January 19th, 2009 3:25pm Report this commentDear All
It seems that Cameron has decided to help Labour achieve a hung parliament.
*Leader of Her Majesty's Official Opposition & Leader of the Conservative Party - Rt Hon David Cameron MP;
Fine
*Leader of Her Majesty's Official Opposition in the House of Lords - Rt Hon Lord Strathclyde;
Fine
*Shadow Foreign Secretary - Rt Hon William Hague MP;
Fine
*Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and General Election Campaign Coordinator - George Osborne MP;
Mistake
*Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change - Greg Clark MP;
Who cares
*Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform - Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP;
There but not there job.
*Shadow Leader of the House of Commons - Alan Duncan MP;
Fine
*Shadow Secretary of State for Defence - Dr Liam Fox MP;
Mistake
*Shadow Minister for Europe - Mark Francois MP;
Who cares
*Shadow Secretary of State for Wales - Cheryl Gillan MP;
Who cares
*Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families - Michael Gove MP;
Mistake
*Shadow Home Secretary - Chris Grayling MP;
Mistake
*Shadow Secretary of State for Justice - Dominic Grieve QC MP;
Fine
*Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury - Philip Hammond MP;
Fine
*Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs - Nick Herbert MP;
Fine
*Shadow Secretary of State Culture, Media and Sport -Jeremy Hunt MP;
This guy tipped for Chairman?
*Shadow Secretary of State for Health - Andrew Lansley MP;
Fine
*Chairman of the Policy Review & Chairman of the Conservative Research Department - Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP;
Fine
*Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - Rt Hon Francis Maude MP;
Fine
*Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Shadow Minister for Women - Rt Hon Theresa May MP;
Mistake
*Opposition Chief Whip - Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin MP;
Who cares
*Shadow Secretary of State for International Development - Andrew Mitchell MP;
Mistake
*Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland - David Mundell MP;
Who cares
*Shadow Security Minister & National Security Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition - Baroness Neville-Jones of Hutton Roof;
joke
*Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland - Owen Paterson MP
Fine
*Chairman of the Conservative Party - Eric Pickles MP
Mistake
*Shadow Minister for Housing - Grant Shapps MP;
Fine
*Shadow Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government - Caroline Spelman MP;
Joke
*Shadow Secretary of State for Transport - Theresa Villiers MP;
Who cares
*Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion & Social Action -Baroness Warsi of Dewsbury;
Joke
*Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills - David Willetts MP
Who cares
*Chief Whip in the House of Lords - The Baroness Anelay of St Johns (attending Shadow Cabinet).
As if this means something
This reshuffle doesn't address problems, although Cameron was smart enough or lucky to stick Grieve in at Justice.
As Obama says what a lightweight!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
DSR
January 19th, 2009 3:32pm Report this commentVerity - predictable (but tiresome)
Hawkeye
January 19th, 2009 4:22pm Report this commentFor heaven's sake - sod reform! Get ELECTED. Only those who are elected can enforce reform. Labour will implode when it loses the next election and the tories will then have 15 - 20 years to implement reform.
Get elected first!
Henry Rogers
January 19th, 2009 7:26pm Report this commentGeorge Laird writes:
"It seems that Cameron has decided to help Labour achieve a hung parliament."
Followed by a long tedious post some of which is bollox and some not.
George, old boy, why not learn to write as pithily as Verity? If you want to be read you have to be readable and frankly none of your posts grab the attention. All Verity's do, whether you agree or not. And, frankly, your involvement with student politics doesn't necessarily increase the accuracy of your predictions.
For what it's worth you might find a quick visit to Political Betting worth your while. Crystal ball gazing is a difficult task, but I'm more impressed by those people over there, who are risking their hard earned beer money at the bookies, than by academic pontificators.
The Masked Marvel
January 20th, 2009 4:59am Report this commentHow do any of you expect Cameron to get elected when he can't even mount a decent response to the Brown mantras of "Fairness" and "Do-Nothing Tories"? The media works differently these days, and all the echo chambers and choir preachers on the internet will only make it worse.
If there are no real policy statements after this cabinet reshuffle, then the whole thing will have been pointless, and Labour and the BBC will smell blood in the water.
Muhammad Haque
January 20th, 2009 9:32am Report this commentWriting from Tower Hamlets, in inner city East End of London which of course contains the officially designated zone of “the most radicalised” in all England, it is odd that you should use the word radical!
George Laird
January 20th, 2009 10:10am Report this commentDear Henry Rogers
I am a reasonable type, here is some free advice.
I have noticed and I am sure that you have, that some people on here write lengthy posts.
I have never seen them being given the same advice by you.
Why is that?
Allow me to assist you, if you struggle to read a long post of mine, then don't bother reading in the first place.
Finally, as to none of my posts grabbing your attention, is there an assumption that I would care?
I don't believe I gave that impression.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Henry Rogers
January 20th, 2009 6:45pm Report this commentGearge writes:- "I have noticed and I am sure that you have, that some people on here write lengthy posts.
I have never seen them being given the same advice by you.
Why is that?"
George,
Because even the ones I flatly disagree with are much better written. You might do worse than to take Tiberius and Verity as your literary models, whatever political point of view you want to advance.
Klaus
January 21st, 2009 3:27pm Report this commentJust for the record: George Laird has NOTHING to do with Glasgow University - except he was thrown out of the place a few years ago.
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