Coalition

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Laws calls for unity — but faces trouble

The personal and the political. They mesh to readable effect in David Laws’ interview with the Times (£) this morning, his first since resigning from government last year. There are the observations about his personal life, about why he concealed his sexuality and the relief of having it out in the open. And there are the political ramifications that tumble on from that. We know that Laws came close to standing down as an MP when the scandal over his expenses first emerged, but here it is revealed that, “he would have quit as an MP last week had the commissioner rejected his explanation that his Commons claims were to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Is Clarke’s fate sealed?

Ken Clarke is in the middle of a media firestorm following his comments on rape. The remarks were typical of Clarke’s dismissive attitude to the victims of crime and Downing Street is clearly furious about them. It has ruled out sacking him, but I suspect that Clarke’s fate is now sealed come the much expected March 2012 reshuffle. Clarke is of the never explain, never apologise school of politics. But Number 10 clearly want him to ‘clarify’ his remarks. I suspect that Clarke, who has been busily defending his comments, will not want to do that. This could well be the cause of the next row between Clarke and the

Peter Hoskin

PMQs live blog | 18 May 2011

VERDICT: That was probably the most straightforward PMQs that Ed Miliband will ever experience. Thanks to Ken Clarke, the Labour leader had several shots into an open goal — and most were excuted efficiently, if not skilfully. Cameron was left in an unforgiving position, and he just about hung in there, eventually mustering some sort of defence and then turning it around to Labour’s mismanagement of the criminal justice system. It was an intriguing exchange, not least because it presaged what could become a major problem for the Tories — their crime and justice policy — and how Labour might exploit it. And it was all supplemented by a set

Peter Hoskin

Clarke’s calamity

Has Ken Clarke just signed his own political death certificate? Whether you agree with his liberal sentencing reforms or no’, there’s little doubting that the Justice Secretary has just stumbled quite emphatically on Radio 5. It looked bad enough for him when, discussing an idea to cut the sentences of those who plead guilty to sex attacks, he blustered that, “No, I haven’t put this idea to women who’ve been raped because I haven’t met one recently.” But then it turned even worse when a rape victim called in to describe her tragic case: she had been dragged through the courts for almost two years in search of justice, only

Cameron must defeat Clegg and break the NHS’ monopoly

‘NHS good, private health bad’. ‘State good, market bad’. ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’. Whenever political leaders get into a tight corner they have to find allies fast. There is no time for reasoning to work its gentle magic. Basic sentiments need to be stirred and the popular favourite is usually hate. Yesterday Mr Clegg used this classic strategy to rebuild his support base. The cold-hearted Tories were at it again, dismantling that icon of compassion the NHS. In public they were declaring their undying love for it but out of sight they were promising fat profits for ‘health care corporations’ once the new law was passed. Mr Clegg

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Coalition’s NHS battle turns personal

David Cameron’s ‘love for the NHS’ is a critical part of his political persona. It is, his advisers believe, what proves that he is a different kind of Tory. So it is remarkable that Nick Clegg is questioning it in semi-public. In a speech to Lib Dem MPs and peers last night — that Clegg would have known was bound to leak, he criticised politicians — eg, the Prime Minister — who express their love for the NHS but take advice from people who see NHS reform as a chance for private companies to make big profits. What makes this intervention all the more remarkable is that Downing Street has

Tuesday

David Blackburn

Clegg’s great rejuvenator falls a little flat

‘Constitutional reform is a waste of time, pure and simple. It never actually achieves its avowed end of reconnecting the voters with democratic institutions,’ wrote John McTernan, the former advisor to Tony Blair, recently. There are signs that the current government agrees.   Nick Clegg has unveiled the next stage of his constitutional reforms today by revealing draft plans to reform the House of Lords. The coalition speaks in unison in public: the Cabinet discussed reform last and apparently there was “very strong support for the proposals around the table”. But dissenting voices must have sounded in private.   The inestimable Rachel Sylvester reveals (£) that Clegg’s draft is very

Peter Hoskin

Cameron’s personnel issues

The past fortnight has been instructive in just how little control David Cameron has over the make-up of his Cabinet. Every choice he makes, it seems, has to be weighed against the fragile balance of the coalition, as well as against the internal divides of the two coalition parties themselves. I mean, Vince Cable calls the Tories “ruthless, calculating and thoroughly tribal” — only the latest of a series of provocations — and his position doesn’t look precarious in the slightest. Chris Huhne is mired in a scandal that may still terminate his political career, and yet there is little indication that the scythes of Downing Street are moving to

Monday

James Forsyth

Leak shows that Fox objects to plans to spend more on overseas development

A second letter from the Defence Secretary to the Prime Minister has leaked out. Tomorrow’s Times reports on a note that Liam Fox sent to the Prime Minister opposing the government’s plan to legislate for Britain to spend 0.7 percent of gross national income on overseas development aid. It won’t come as a huge surprise to anyone that Dr Fox is sceptical of aid spending. But for another letter from him to the PM to reach the press will further strain relations between the MoD and Downing Street. There will be those in the Cameron circle who think that it is not a coincidence that both of the missives that have leaked out have

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The battle over the 4th carbon budget

At the weekend, it appeared that Chris Huhne had won his battle with Vince Cable and George Osborne over whether or not the government should sign up to the 4th carbon budget. This budget covers 2023 to 2027 and is all part of a plan to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 compared to the level in 1990; they have currently been reduced by 26.5 percent from the 1990 level. But it now appears that the greens in government might have been premature in declaring victory. First, the next set of cuts in UK carbon emissions is dependent on the European Union agreeing to embark on an equally

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Huhne story takes another turn

The Chris Huhne story has moved along a fair bit today. It is now being openly reported that it was Huhne’s estranged wife Vicky Pryce who allegedly took the points, though Huhne repeated his denial of the whole story earlier today. The BBC is also saying. that Pryce was that evening at an LSE dinner. (The fact that the BBC is now actively reporting this story shows just how much it has moved into the mainstream.) If, and it is a fairly big if, Essex Police have retained a copy of the picture taken by the speed camera then this case should be resolved fairly easily. The time and the

Peter Hoskin

Osborne pledges more and more transparency

The Post-Bureaucratic Age — mostly just plain and simple transparency, to you and me — barely got a mention once the Tories alighted on the Big Society, of which it is a component. But the thinking behind it never went away, as George Osborne’s speech to the Google Zeitgeist conference testifies today. It may be unusual to hear an address from the Chancellor in which he doesn’t mention the deficit, not even once. But, in talking about publishing details of government spending and contracts online, this is natural territory for him. The thinking behind much of the transparency agenda is simply to cut down waste and extravagance in the public

Peter Hoskin

Huhne digs his feet in

Chris Huhne has, at last, responded to the allegations set against him — and he has done so with some defiance. In a statement this afternoon, the Energy Secretary said that the claims made by his former wife are “simply incorrect,” and that he welcomes the police looking into them. Here’s a more complete transcript, courtesy of Andrew Sparrow: “All I want to say is simply that these allegations are simply incorrect. They have been made before and they have been shown to be untrue. And I very much welcome the referral to the police as it will draw a line under the matter. I don’t want to say any

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

Lansley stands up for his reforms

If there’s anything that stands out from Andrew Lansley’s interview with the Sunday Times (£) it is his air of quiet defiance. Of course, the Health Secretary sounds some of the conciliatory notes that have crept in to the government’s rhetoric since they decided to pause, listen and engage on NHS reform. But he also stands up for the original reforms as he conceived them. “From my point of view,” he says, “the White Paper was setting out what sensible, intelligent people inside the NHS were saying.” For him, the concerns that remain are not with the general thrust of his reforms, but with “implementation, the nuts and bolts of

Matt Cavanagh

How to fix the National Security Council

The National Security Council was a sound idea. But it has disappointed, both inside and outside Whitehall. The Ministry of Defence has complained that it “failed to give strategic direction”. Among previous supporters in the media, Con Coughlin has commented sourly that “all it has achieved so far is the replacement of Blair’s much-derided ‘sofa government’ with a new, back-of-the-envelope approach”. James Kirkup was even driven to ask “What exactly is the point of it?” Where did things go wrong? First, it seems that more effort went into spinning it to the media — it was a ‘War Cabinet’ to Sun readers, an end to ‘sofa government’ to those disaffected

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Huhne story speeds up

Looking at today’s papers, it is clear—as Pete says—that Chris Huhne’s political career is in real danger. The most striking thing about the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times stories about the allegation that he asked someone to take driving penalty points for him is that the person who took the points appears to have taped a recent conversation between the pair about the matter. This suggests a total breakdown in trust between them. The Sunday Times also includes the allegation that Huhne “is alleged to have entered another person’s name on the form, without consulting them.” It goes onto claim that “The person Huhne allegedly identified as the driver

Peter Hoskin

Huhne falls victim to another secret microphone

The vultures appear to be circling closer and closer to Chris Huhne — does he have enough strength to shoo them away? After all, he was already diminished by last weekend’s claims about his delinquent motoring practices. Today, he is diminished further still. Both the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Times (£) have published extracts from a taped conversation between the Energy Secretary and an unnamed someone who is alleged to have taken the fall for his speeding tickets. “There is no evidence for this story,” says Huhne in one extract, “unless you give it some legs by saying something.” Another crucial exchange appears to be this one: “When

Saturday

James Forsyth

Another blow to the Lansley plan

Number 10 has now taken charge of coalition health policy to such an extent that the Department of Health press office was caught unawares by the news that the Prime Minister was to deliver a major speech on health next week. David Cameron is determined to present the coming substantial changes to the Lansley reform plan as the changes he wants, not the ones forced on him by the Lib Dems. To that end, the head of the NHS future forum, a body Cameron has set up to oversee the NHS listening exercise, Steve Field telling The Guardian that he thinks all competition should be removed from the bill is

Peter Hoskin

Cable talks similarities, not differences

Vince Cable, it seems, has notched his Tory-baiting down from 11 to about 8. Last weekend, in the bitter wake of the local elections, the Business Secretary labelled his coalition partners as “ruthless, calculating and thoroughly tribal”. Today, in an address to the Fabians, he would only argue that the Tories will benefit most from tribalism in politics — and it was an argument delivered soberly and without obvious malice. He even praised David Cameron (along with Tony Blair) as someone who has tried to suck the poisonous partisanship from Westminster’s bloodstream. Sunder Katwala has quoted the speech extensively here, so I won’t dwell for too long on what was