Prime Minister Cameron's first TV interview

SUSAN HILL

One thing he is better at - so far - is avoiding the patronising tone both with the rest of us and with journalists. NuLab ministers became unbelievably patronising, Mandelson in particular, and it grates. Cameron can talk direct and pleasantly, telling us things we need to know when we do, but without speaking to us as if we were mentally deficient 4 year olds.

Chris

Any "senior backbenchers" who vote against the 55 percent rule will simply be demonstrating that they are too stupid to understand the difference between a confidence vote and the dissolution of parliament, or that they think they can get away with dishonestly pretending to the public that the two are the same.

In either case they are unfit to be MPs and should resign.

charles hercock

Delighted with this attack on waste

Ensure Andrew Landsley blocks all IT spending and developments thereof in the NHS,pending this

These are chewing up billions

David Ossitt

“First, George Osborne will commission an independent audit of the public finances and state spending on Monday. I suspect that this audit will reveal that things are even worse than the official figures suggest.”

Will he dare to publish the true results?

Or will he; for whatever reason try to hide the truth?

If he wants our trust and if he wants to carry the country with him when he makes the cuts that are necessary he must be scrupulously honest, if he is not he will be a failure.

Jorge Enfermo Como Loro

Cameron impressed me greatly. Not so Marr, who is so keen to ram through with his next question that he very often fails to listen to the current answer.

His manner is that of the Grand Inqisitor: he makes denunciations and gives speeches rather than eliciting information and exploring its significance.

Ed Milliband preceded David Cameron and was allowed much more converssational space.

I'd like to see accurate measurement of of the balance of time between questions and answers in both cases. As it is I was yet again appalled by Marr's stridency. My wife walked out of the room disgusted by his noisy belligerency.

We both deeply resent the cost of the licence fee. How does one set about making complaints to the BBC?

Simon Stephenson

"I also expect that the new Office of Budgetary Responsibility will provide a new, more cautious set of economic forecasts."

It may seem as though I am splitting hairs, James, but there was nothing cautious about the economic forecasts that underpinned Labour's justification for minimal action to be taken to resolve the problem of public overspending. Like everything else Labour, projecting the future involved incessant over-promising in the hope, presumably, that this would outweigh the public discontent that arose from frequent and predictable under-delivery.

So, to me at least, "less absurd" would read better than "more cautious" in describing the difference between the new forecasts and the old.

Wight Tory

I agree with Susan Hill, shame the same couldn't be said of Andrew Marr...

A shameful example of the interviewer trying to become the story, those leftward leaning TV journalists are in need of a course or two on what it takes to be an invisible narrator and despinified after the years of being used and abused by Mandlestoat et al.

Publius

"the vote on the 55 percent clause will be whipped."

-- Ignore the whip and vote as you please. That would be a refreshing example of "new politics" and an assertion of the independence of Parliament.

Publius

@Chris
"demonstrating that they are too stupid to understand the difference between a confidence vote and the dissolution of parliament" etc.

-- Not necessarily. There are other reasons to be opposed to the idea.

Ghengis

David Ossitt: I agree an audit is a necessity, without it a "budget" is meaningless.

Gawain

I liked the fact that he intends to abolish 'sofa' government and return government to identifiable process. Politics has become a television and radio soap opera in the last fifteen years. Labour encouraged and generated this with armies of spin doctors feeding the media beast "narratives" that constantly changed. Instead of parliamentary democracy we have been thrown the sop of a 24 hour "circus" for the people. In the real world, politics is a hard, dull grind. Arguments have to be tested debated and adapted. If we are going to have any chance of reducing our deficit and addressing some of our social problems it is important that the boundaries between the legislature and the executive, politicians and civil servants, political spin and journalism are clear. Dull, boring, cabinet and committee meetings need to be properly constituted, properly minuted and properly reported. That is the way things get done. Labour spent so much time wrapped up in its own propaganda it disappeared up its own fundament.

It strikes me that a large number of media players have not yet adjusted to the changes which are occurring. Plattell and Whelan on the Marr show came across as grotesque. One of the strongest arguments in favour of the survival of this coalition is that it might make politics more mundane and human. Journalists might have to search for real news instead of feeding us spin doctor "narratives".

Colin

Well said, Chris...

On another note. Shouldn't the collective noun for a group disgruntled former Lib Dem leaders be a "Heath"?

The behaviour of Steele, Ashdown, Campbell and Kennedy has been depressing, if predictable. I do hope they'll shut up soon.

alexsandr

Hmmm

Should he not announce this stuff to the Commons, not on TV????

And surely a Treasury minister should announce it. Hope Dave doent think he should run everything from No 10 like the last lot

Ian Walker

"Prime Minister" is not an honorific. Please ditch this nonsense, which Blair cultivated to his shame, and the republican left at the Beeb are happy to promulgate.

He is either '(The Right Honourable Mr.) David Cameron, the Prime Minister' or 'The Prime Minister'

Molly

Come on Fraser, where's your self awareness this morning. "Journalists, including myself, are ""understandably"" obsessed by process questions"

More self justification from the Fourth Estate. Unquestioningly, unthinkingly, unhelpfully, and a whole series of other "un's", but not "understandably"

Richard of York

Oh what a surprise!
Oik will use some vested interest to tell us the books have been cooked....yawn
Some people will buy it for sure speccies will lap it up.
Just as the Anti Blair groups have spent 10 years trying to keep Iraq an open wound they try to make Brown the economic villan for a global failure of the capitalist systems.
Anyone would think it was Brown sitting in his study with a calculator preparing Treasury statements on his own...yawn.
How interesting would it be to find that the black hole is not as bad as they thought, the need for drastic cuts are more a desire than an necessity.
Tory justification for VAT rises and more job losses.....Paranoid symptoms treated with amputation and crude surgery....when micro non invasive options are available.
The Budget is already written all Oik awaits is the blotting paper to stop his signature smudging.

We have seen the last new hospital and the last new public building for years to come. Cuts cuts and more cuts. Honours for NI rebels and money making schemes for cronies will be the orders of the day.

Ken

I hope everyone has read the Times's scorched earth piece today.

Many on here warned repeatedly what the ruinous Marxist was up to, now will some one ensure the former cabinet, that is all of them, are taken to court?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7127819.ece

Roy Simpson

Ian Walker: Well said. Mr Forsyth,(and others), please take note.

Publius

"How does one set about making complaints to the BBC?"

-- You can email them, and you will receive a smug, self-satisfied non-reply.

Marr is a disgrace. He revealed his true colours in his History of Modern Britain series.

JONNY

'Oik will use some vested interest to tell us the books have been cooked'

But Richard is 'A Believer'.
He's one of the Monkees.
Nothing on earth will destroy his baboo trust in Gordon,Mandy & Balls.
The zomby conviction of the utterly thick.
He's attached to them with an umbilical cord.

Tom Pride

Had to have a bloody good laugh. Never thought I would see old socialist Marr attack a tax rise so vehemently. Oh! Jackie and he have got a nice second home in France – no wonder the prospect of a 50% Capital Gains Tax rate looks a touch on the high side.

I suppose they could get a quickie divorce and then have two principal private residence exemptions. That’s a bit odd! I thought there was a policy somewhere of not penalising marriage.

Well there is good news at least. While the innocent get hammered cause the naughty city boys turn income into gains, the business exemptions go on. So those same private equity and hedge fund managers can avail themselves of those exemptions to keep on paying lower tax rates than their cleaners. That is, the ones who have not yet relocated to Switzerland because of the new EU rules which the new government has given up opposing.

And even better, those multi-billionaire foreigners need not worry about mansion taxes on their multi-million pound London bolt holes. (On which of course they don’t pay 5% stamp duty because the properties are owned by off-shore companies – oh almost forgot, that means no capital gains tax when they sell them either because CGT ain’t paid by non-UK resident or ordinary resident persons.)

What a bundle of laughs! Oh and while you miss that promised easing of the inheritance tax penalty – don’t forget the double exemption for farm land carries on. Handy when like the new PM the in-laws have a few thousand acres to pass on.

A future fair for all.

Kestrel Sprite

One way for the new government to circumvent NuLabour's "scorched earth" contracts would be to introduce a windfall tax on the the contractors of 100% of the total value of the contract, payable immediately. The government, in its mercy, would graciously permit affected contractors to cancel the contact unilaterally without penalty.

Blofeld's Cat

Richard of York - wow! You've surpassed yourself.

I expect that the independent auditors will produce an independent audit and the results will be put in the public domain. The politicians who have to set a budget will act with the professional advice of financiers, the Bank of England and the Treasury civil servants. I'm not seeing any vested interests here.

If, gloriously, things are not as bad as we feared - then I expect the professionals will advise that less strident measures need to be taken to reduce the deficit and debt - if the converse is true, then it will be the worse for us all.

The one thing that you can't escape is that, whatever its root cause, the financial situation has developed because of the decisions taken by Brown and his team. Independent audit may demonstrate that those decisions were right. I suspect not.

TGF UKIP

What seems to be being comprehensively dodged on here is Dave's confirmation to Marr, that his goverment would be a liberal, egalitarian progressive one campaigning for greater "fairness", the current code word for wealth re-distributing socialism.

In short Dave confirmed what some of us had long ago divined, that the Blue Labour stance was no mask, it was the reality.

So sorry Tiberius, you'll have to face the grim reality that the ugly duckling is going to stay exactly that. No morphing into a beautiful conservative swan, I'm afraid.

SUSAN HILL

Richard of York. An independent audit will NOT be in composed of vested interests. It cannot be. And they will not be trying to show that the books have been cooked they will be doing an auditm pure and simple. If the books HAVE been cooked it will be discovered and I hope made crystal clear as to how and why to the public. If they have not, but there has merely been incompetence, waste, inefficiency and overspending leading to a dire failure to balance, this will be shown too. Do give adults credit. It seems you are incapable of believing that anyone can ever do anything without evil intent other than those of your own party. That is a classic sign of immaturity.
Labour, in its 13 years, certainly did some good things and we should never forget that. Give at least some politicians on all sides credit for some integrity.

David R

Richard of Cock

Fuck off you lying lowlife.

No, you have not touched a nerve, it simply felt like time to say, fuck off, you lying low life.

Verity

Ian Walker - Well said! The ignorance is cringe-making. The journalists who employ this incorrect usage want to elevate themselves to reporting on the US president, who is indeed properly styled President So-And-So.

Verity

Having written in my previous post that any journalist who styles Mr Cameron "Prime Minister Cameron" just wanted to feel American, I scrolled to the top of the post to see who wrote it. But, of course! James Cameron who just feels so "inside the Beltway" that he once referred to Westminster Village as "inside the Beltway"! What a hoot!

echo34

Rich,

forget florida mate, try cuba, i think its more your cup of tea.

Fox in a box

Richard,

do you actually read the crap you write?

In all your time lurking around this board that has to be the biggest lot of drivel you've written yet.

Cheerio

RKing

After all that diatribe Dicky the Dork what is the size of the "Gordon Brown National Debt" which he has left the Country in and makes all of the cuts you so eloquently describe necessary?

A figure to the nearest billion will do.

Funny it's a question you never want to answer!
Are you hiding something or does reality not fit in with all the shite you keep spouting?

We're still waiting!! ....... happy days

THX1138

How long before it's Camerons economy? It took the Republicans a month to give Obama ownership!

Norman Dee

Sometimes I cannot take my own advice and just ignore you, but you do talk some crap, I know that desperate measures are needed in desperate times, but you working Sundays is too much, the ever open box you used to get paid from is now shut, and for your information, if no new buildings are planned for the immediate future thats because we still have to pay for all the PFI chickens to come home to roost from the buildings that your lot built but didn't pay for. Give up and go just go away please.

Richard of York

@David R

Such a nice man you must be a rabid tory upset that his idol has failed to live up to his dreams. Shameron is not only a sham to me but every real Tory who reads these blogs.
How long will he survive? There will be some serious knife sharpening in the Monday club me thinks.
Liberals seem to think they have got their way and the next 5 years will be an example of good liberal governance, with left of center policy and progressive reform.....ouch!

Hurdy Gurdy and Tarzan will find their poached eggs hard to swallow soon.....might even put them off breakfast altogether.

Nash

Everytime I see Andrew Marr try to interview someone I realise how much I miss David Frost.

The lady newsreader who filled in for Andrew Marr was so superior that the BBC should give her that slot permanently.

Andrew Marr likes the sound of his voice too much - he also does not know how to ask questions that lead to interesting answers. Such a shame (for the viwers).

denis cooper

The 55% threshold for an early dissolution motion should be for the duration of this Parliament, only, to reflect the arithmetic of the present Commons and to reassure the markets that the coalition partners fully intend to maintain a stable government capable of cutting the budget deficit. Thereafter, in future Parliaments, a motion for an early dissolution should only need the normal simple majority. The way to do this is to make the 55% subject to a sunset clause in the Act, which would probably persuade most of the potential rebels to allow it through.

THX1138

"An independent audit will NOT be in composed of vested interests" To misquote Michael Corleone: "Oh, who's being naive, Susan?"

And who will carrying out this "independent audit" but the bean counters in one of the big four accountancy firms who whatever the Gov say about cost cutting & cutting down on consultants etc have £100's M's of public sector contracts at stake. And telling the client what it wants to hear, and that it's all the other lot's fault never hurts. You should pick up Private Eye sometime to see the Shenanigans the big four get up to .

Let's us not forget that as TGF UKIP pointed out "Oik" was spotted recently with snout planted firmly in the hospitality trough in the PWC box at Lords.. I doubt they invited him for his sparkling conversation. Do you?

Swiss Bob

Dick Head,

Five more years of futile posting on here.

Shame you won't prosecuted for the criminal you almost certainly are (having no doubt been part of the previous bunch of fuckwits in Government), but watching you whining here is some recompense.

Tiberius

A slightly premature judgement, TGF.

Even the Great Gordo used the excuse that he'd only been in the job a few days.

I'm sure our argument will switch to questions of degree now that Cameron has rained on you parade, and not blown winning the premiership.

Holly ......

Hi Richard.
Sorry to be asking you this,but who's our new Prime Minister.
Oh yeah...Cameron/Clegg.
That must really hurt.Ha ha ha ha.
Looking forward to hearing Bozo's first stupid question from the backbenches.
DC wants to tell him,"I'll get back to you AFTER the audit".
Gosh life's brilliant!!!!
Never mind love...Only FIVE more years.
There's that bloody smile on my face again.
It just won't budge.
Love
Holly
xxx

Simon Stephenson

Richard of York, THX and others.

Sure, Osborne's going to get the report that he needs from the "independent" auditors. He doesn't need this report to find out the scale of the problem - the Bank of England and the Treasury, between them, already know all the details - he needs the report to add weight to the unpleasant business of what has to be done to remedy it.

He's just behaving as all new brooms will behave, which is to make sure that as little of the sh1t he has inherited is left to stick to him, personally. Do you blame him?

This doesn't take away the fact that the UK economy is in an unholy mess, nor that there is plenty of evidence that the policies of the Party in charge for the last 13 years are at least partly responsible for the depth of the hole we find ourselves in.

If you're not prepared to accept this, then I'm afraid there is nothing to be gained from trying to have a rational discussion with you.

JohnBUK

R.O.Y. "We have seen the last new hospital and the last new public building for years to come. Cuts cuts and more cuts. Honours for NI rebels and money making schemes for cronies will be the orders of the day."
Yes, we've some lovely buildings I'm sure and lots of new public employees (almost 1m I believe) are beavering away on our behalf as well - not to mention a tad or two of wasted "investment".
The trouble is the Credit Card bill has just dropped on the mat and we find we can't afford it.
So, I suspect I will be asked to pay for it all AGAIN, having paid ever increasing forms of tax over the past 13 years.
And the poor are still with us!

TGF UKIP

Sure now Tiberius, and isn't it just the way you tell 'em.

I can honestly say you had me laughing out loud over your final six words. Even your youthful alter ego acknowledges he blew it big time but can't quite bring himself to say so too loudly, leaving it instead to James Delingpole.

All that "not frightening the horses", all that "not deluging the voters with doubt" all that pissing off of so many natural Tory supporters for what? To go from 33 to 36% of the vote against Britain's worst government of modern times.

Time to face reality old boy about your lad.

Snowman

SUSAN HILL @ 10.51:

Cameron's very good at the talking, will he do the walking as well? Hmmm.

THX1138 @ 3.51:

Good point, but given that this ain’t America, I would give the boys until after the first budget, unless the bond market intervenes.

Verity

"Good point, but given that this ain’t America" ... oh, God, Snowman, is there no end to stupid little wannabee Britons trying to sound American? You all fail.

Why?

Because you're not American, and you're copying, and they're not. Give it a rest. It doesn't sound ironic. It sounds needy.

Richard of York

Oik is a risk to the economy...right call!

His attempt to build up a smoke screen for his ideological slash and burn theory will do what exactly?
PFI was a tory idea used to build a bridge if I remember correctly...it is also not captial expenditure its service and maintenance not debt....(is your TV license a debt or a running cost?) rightly off balance sheet as all accountants will tell you.
Pensions are also off b/s as ALL EU govt's do because the revenue that pays them is also off book.
The city will be pleased to see investors scared off and the debt interest rates rise just to please Oik and his form of gerrymandering and scaremongering.
The risk of a double dip is real...Oik is disregarding this possibility at OUR peril.
Nobody will thank him if he calls wolf and the markets run away.

Simon Stephenson

Richard of York : 8.25am

"[Osborne's] attempt to build up a smoke screen for his ideological slash and burn theory will do what exactly?"

Has it actually been established that this is what the debt-control policy is about? Ideological posturing?

Or is this just you, the relativist, saying that under the only view of truth that allows you to maintain your assertions, your opinion of what the situation is is as valid as anyone else's?

"PFI was a tory idea used to build a bridge if I remember correctly...it is also not captial expenditure its service and maintenance not debt....(is your TV license a debt or a running cost?) rightly off balance sheet as all accountants will tell you."

PFI includes both debt and service/maintenance. The debt element is indistinguishable from on-balance sheet debt, and should be included as such.

I'm an accountant, and I tell you this. Although, I'm sure that in your mind, the fact that I do this means that I can't be an accountant.

"Pensions are also off b/s as ALL EU govt's do because the revenue that pays them is also off book."

The revenue that pays down on-balance sheet debt is also off book, so this is not the reason why pensions should not be treated identically to on-balance sheet debt. The actual reason is that the capitalisation of future pension liabilities would create the need, for consistency, also to capitalise future commitments on, for example, defence and education.

What is needed is much greater recognition of governments stealing from the future in order to window-dress the present. This isn't being done properly at present, nor can it be done properly by treating every future funds outflow in the same way as bond-indebtedness.

"The city will be pleased to see investors scared off and the debt interest rates rise just to please [Osborne] and his form of gerrymandering and scaremongering."

Can you put a bit of meat on this assertion, or is it just a petulant jibe that we should treat as such?

"The risk of a double dip is real...[Osborne] is disregarding this possibility at OUR peril."

What makes you think that the Chancellor is "disregarding" the possibility of a double-dip? Isn't the fear of interest rate rises through failing to convince about addressing debt just as valid a precaution against double-dip as Labour's prescription of continuing to spend as though international financiers were powerless to do us damage?

"Nobody will thank him if he calls wolf and the markets run away."

But to call "wolf" is to knowingly cause alarm unnecessarily, and so far it's only in the closed minds of you socialists that Osborne is established as being wrong. If you have the power to define what's right and what's wrong then, of course, your opponents can always be accused of being "wrong", can't they? But only "wrong" subjectively to yourselves.

P.S. - I'm not sure Mr Osborne has indicated his acceptance of the playground soubriquet by which you refer to him, so I've chosen to amend your text to extend to him the courtesy of using his actual name.