Cameron stamps on Clarke
David Blackburn 9:12am
Ken Clarke was summoned to Downing Street yesterday, the BBC reports. He spoke to David Cameron for half an hour, after which the controversial sentencing review was dropped: there will not be a per cent
fifty discount in plea bargaining and Clarke will have to find £130m of savings from elsewhere in his department.
Clarke has paid for last month’s rape victim fiasco, which so incensed the party leadership. The government is adamant that this is not a u-turn; rather, it argues, it has consulted on extending plea bargaining from the current level of 30 per cent and decided against such a move. It points to a report issued by the Howard League, which finds that community services and further sentencing discounts will lessen the deterrent element in criminal justice and do nothing to abate re-offending, the central aim of Clarke’s reforms. The report chimes exactly with Professor Ken Pease’s findings last July. On the other hand, the Prison Reform Trust is square behind Clarke’s proposals.
But there is a wider context here too. Downing Street has been openly wary of Clarke’s liberal crime agenda, fearful of surrendering vital ground on law and order to Labour. As Jonathan Jones noted during the recent rape fiasco, a large majority of the public oppose the reforms. That probably concentrated minds in Number 10. However, after the retreats on privatisation forests and the NHS, there is a growing sense that this is a government that runs for cover at the first whiff of unpopularity, a weakness it may yet come to rue.
Where does this leave the justice secretary and his programme? The sentencing discount was a key part of his reform package. Clarke still has radical plans to tackle re-offending, but his resources will now be further constrained because he can’t substantially cut prison numbers. He was already one of the Cabinet of the Walking Dead; now he’s like in the old boy in the club who sinks into an armchair and never rises again.
Ironically, Gabrielle Browne, the attempted rape victim for whom all of this is being done (metaphorically at least), met Clarke recently and, after having the sentencing proposals clearly explained, she said they were “fair enough” and backed the policy. Lucky that Clarke has a sense of humour.
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Michael
June 8th, 2011 9:43am Report this commentThey could start to find savings by stopping Azil Nadir from claiming legal aid for example. It would still appear to be a complete racket aimed at lining the legal "profession's" pockets.
Hugo Chav
June 8th, 2011 9:46am Report this commentIt's deja vu:
David Cameron = Tony Blair.
George Osborne = Gordon Brown.
The backtracking, the political scheming, the tax & spend, the no-growth agenda, ignoring the plight of youth with tuition fees and not allowing house prices to fall due to ZIRP, the list goes on and. In opposition Team Cameron swallowed the New Labour doctrine and once in power they've followed it.
2013/14 is when the fan will truly be hit by the flying stuff as the economic cycle will be turning down and the over indebted countries will say hello to nemesis.
Axstane
June 8th, 2011 9:52am Report this commentDavid Cameron is the Prime Minister and that does not mean first amongst equals. He appoints the other Ministers. Where they make policies that fly in the face of good snse and public opinion - and the public good - he has every right to intervene. He has, quite correctly, done that.
We cannot prejudice public order and safety for the sake of £100-million which is only one-sixth of what we gave Pakistan schools and only 1.2% of our annual foreign aid givings.
Rhoda Klapp
June 8th, 2011 10:13am Report this commentChaaaaaaarge!
Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away!
Maggie
June 8th, 2011 10:15am Report this commentI expect the PM and Clarke had a sensible civilised conversation along the lines of "this is more trouble than its worth so let's go back to the drawing board and see if there's another way".
Fergus Pickering
June 8th, 2011 10:19am Report this commentI think you should resist vilent prose, Mr Blackbrn. I'm sure Mr Clarke wasn't stamped on. Indeed, didn't he point out himself that the shoter sentences were only a tiny bit shorter than the ones already in place. So he doubtless accepted Cameron's decision like the good team man he is and didn't even break a window. There is a tendency among the scribbling brgade to bare hairy chests and bellow 'No Surrender!' but politicians (most of the time) quite rightly resist this. They go with the grain of public opinion wherever possible. £130m should be easy to save somewhere. Deporting criminal foreigners ought to do it. The law needs changing i expect, but that ought not to be to difficult. If Ken can't go along with it, then he really wil have to hang up his bat, or whatever you do.
strapworld
June 8th, 2011 10:24am Report this commentAxstane...Great line, overlooking the fact that Cameron supported Clarke in his proposals and Lansley in his. That does not show leadership it shows moral and abject cowardice.
Cameron is to leadership what Balls is to economics.
Justathought
June 8th, 2011 10:39am Report this commentThe bottom line is this represents yet another example of slippage in the fiscal plans. Thresa May has now postponed the crucial sentencing and legal aid bill. Clarke is on the right side of the argument and as a former chancellor he knows that the ratings agencies are not in the habit of having a little chat before making any future announcements.
(Reuters) - The outlook for Britain's prized triple-A credit rating remains stable but weaker growth and slippage in the government's fiscal plans could lead to a reassessment, credit ratings agency Moody's said on Wednesday.
Eagle Owl
June 8th, 2011 10:42am Report this commentWell, it appears the tabloids and reactionaries are inching inevitably closer to getting their man.
It's very sad to see, because clearly the critics haven't read a word of his policies. Pure prejudice and flies in the face of everything the Conservative party (not just Ken Clarke) was backing when in Opposition.
Mirtha Tidville
June 8th, 2011 10:50am Report this commentTo think this man once stood for the leadership of the Tory Party..Terrifying
tom jones
June 8th, 2011 11:01am Report this commentI'm actually quite happy to have a government that listens and changes its mind (albeit a bit too often!) When they get things wrong they scrap policies and think up new ones - pragmatic not weak. When Gordon Brown went through his 10P tax debacle I'm sure many would've been happy had he dropped the idea and gone back to 10P. Instead, he went on and on and it damaged him forever. I DO think we can be tough on crime and pour resources into rehabilitation. Less reoffending would be a proper law&order legacy for us rather than "we've locked up '1000' new criminals." More guidence should be given at an early age to those who are more likely to offend - kids in care homes & kids from poorer areas. Prevention is a million times better than cure for the individual and for taxpayers.
oldtimer
June 8th, 2011 11:12am Report this comment`Cameron stamps on Clarke` shouts your headline. Is this what is meant by firm government?
A pattern has emerged not of firmness but of uncertainty at the heart of this government. Perhaps the folks over at PoliticalBetting.com can persuade Ladbrokes to open a book on the subject of the next U-turn. This would neatly fit in with the odds available on the next cabinet minister to leave the government.
It does not sound like a recipe for a healthy, functioning cabinet. It suggests seriously disfunctional processes within government for developing, agreeing and implementing key policies.
Faceless Bureaucrat
June 8th, 2011 11:34am Report this commentOh Dear! - and we all had such high hopes of Mr. Cameron in the early days...
FB
Vulture
June 8th, 2011 11:37am Report this commentWE must all devoutly hope that Eagle Owl is right and that the reactionaries and tabloids do get their man ( if he means Clarke). I hope that in the fullness of time they will also 'get' Cameron - who is merely a slightly younger, yellower, and marginally thinner version of Clarke.
The worry is not that the Govt. is abandoning policies at the first whiff of public opposition, but that they ever adopted such idiotic ideas in the first place.
Dave is not only a coward, he's a fool too.
commentator
June 8th, 2011 12:05pm Report this commentCameron is the leader of the Vichy Tory Party after all so what do you expect.
martin sewell
June 8th, 2011 12:06pm Report this commentIsn't the truth that the economies will be made in other areas of high need such as legal aid for the poor. They are non vocal. many don't vote, and there is no glamour in this area of legal practice. Child Protection cases are financially capped - yet yesterday we learnt that Asil Nadir and his City lawyers will take millions from that same budget.It is an outrage. Complex financial crime should not compete in the same budget as child protection for funds.
An unconsidered possibility is cheaper prisons. A fine defaulter, petty thief could be tagged and under house arrest in cheaper local Bridewells without the high security of the Scrubs... or cost of the tv,gym etc
Fedupwithtrains
June 8th, 2011 1:43pm Report this commentInteresting to note that it's Cameron that cuts and runs, not Clegg who defended the tuition fee changes despite the attacks on him and the (mostly Conservative) policy. There's a good chance we'll look back in 5 years and find it's Clegg with the vision and guts and not Cameron.
Maggie
June 8th, 2011 2:22pm Report this commentThey could save the money in no time by flogging off the grandiloquent Palace of Justice. It serves no other purpose than to pander to the vanity and glorification of the Law Lords.
Verity
June 8th, 2011 2:31pm Report this commentHugo Chav is right. It's déja vu all over again. Blair and Brown in their second incarnation.
Mirtha Tidville - More "terrifying" than the pusillanimous, opportunistic, manipulative and feral Dave?
Vulture: "Dave is not only a coward, but he's a fool, too." Yes, ça va sans dire.
lescam
June 8th, 2011 2:46pm Report this commentMirtha Tidville
June 8th, 2011 10:50am
"To think this man (Clarke) once stood for the leadership of the Tory Party..Terrifying"
It wasn't just once, it was three times. IWhen Major resigned, when Hague resigned and when Howard resigned. Thank God the Tories had more sense than to elect him, although I believe it was his pro-EU stance that did for him on those occasions.
lescam
June 8th, 2011 2:48pm Report this commentMirtha Tidville
June 8th, 2011 10:50am
"To think this man (Clarke) once stood for the leadership of the Tory Party..Terrifying"
It wasn't just once, it was three times. In 1997 when Major resigned, in 2001 when Hague resigned, and in 2005 when Howard resigned. Thank God the Tories had more sense than to vote for him, although I believe it was his pro-EU stance that did for him then, rather than his decidedly wet, liberal views on justice.
lescam
June 8th, 2011 3:06pm Report this commentSorry for the double post, my PC developed a stutter!
Verity
June 8th, 2011 6:03pm Report this commentFaceless Bureaucrat - "Oh Dear! - and we all had such high hopes of Mr. Cameron in the early days.."
No, we didn't. We all loathed him in "the early days" when he took over the prerogative of the local Conservative Associations to choose their own candidates and hammered in unsuitable, unlocal women and ethnics.
That was Clue No 1 that this was a weak, controlling individual who placed his future in the EUSSR ahead of the future of his country.
I would say he is a slimy rat, but actually, I like rats. They have one advantage over Dave. They're intelligent.
And next to Dave, my cat is a Nobel Prize for Physics winner.
TGF UKIP
June 8th, 2011 6:12pm Report this commentTories - the law and order party, ho, ho, ho! Yet another vital reputation that has been comprehensively blown by hoodie hugging dave!
As I recall, when the Mouth & Ego was appointed to the Front Bench, a substantial number of CHers predicted exactly this sort of mess would result. To be fair many also predicted trouble from Ken on Europe but given that Dave has been and is demonstrating himself to be every bit as Europhile (see Oborne in the DT at weekend) Ken has been only too happy to keep quiet on that front.
Once again another fine mess that Dave has got himself into, though I would like to think that he was egged on into appointing Ken by my mate the Labour Mole who would have known only too well that the appointment could not possibly end up a happy one.
Cogito Ergosum
June 8th, 2011 8:12pm Report this comment@Verity 6.03pm
You should meet my sister's cat: cogitat ergo est. I think of hime as the Cogitat Cat.
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