Coalition

Saturday

Peter Hoskin

Back to the start on a military covenant

I suppose you could call it an O-turn. First, the Prime Minister declared, in a speech aboard HMS Ark Royal last year, that a new military covenant would be enshrined “into the law of our land.” Then, there seemed to be a U-turn, with the government committing only to review the covenant annually, not to lend it legal force. Yet, now, a U-turn on the U-turn, with the news that it will be etched into the staute books after all. The defence minister Andrew Robathan tells today’s Telegraph that, “we are putting the military covenant on a statutory basis for the first time.” The formal announcement is expected in the

Friday

David Blackburn

Eh?

This photograph adorns the homepage of the Labour Party’s website. It’s rather odd to show the PM and his deputy looking quite so soigné as the starting point for a critique. The New Statesman’s Dan Hodges descibes it as ‘insanity’.

Thursday

George Bridges

The challenge of demographic change

There may be a lot of debate about what the “big society” means, but there’s one thing we should all be able to agree on: we live in a big society – and it’s getting bigger. 62 million today. 64 million in five year’s time. And then on up to 70 million by 2028, according to the government.  (No, I’m not doing my bit, as my wife is about to have our third child.) What’s odd is how little debate there’s been at Westminster about all this. Why? Partly because it means you have to talk about immigration (still seen as toxic by many in SW1); partly because it is

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Remaking Laws

David Laws has just apologised to the House of Commons in a short statement listened to in sombre silence. Laws stressed that he was glad that the commissioner and the committee had accepted that his motivation had been to protect his privacy not to enrich himself. Indeed, Laws pointed out — somewhat boldly — that there had been ‘no adverse effect’ for the taxpayer from his arrangements as he could have claimed more. The report and the punishment are harsher on Laws than many expected. But given that the coalition needs him and, as David has noted, that Laws’ own explanation for why he broke the rules has been accepted,

David Blackburn

Laws punished but in the clear

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir John Lyon, has delivered his report on David Laws’ expenses claims. The headline is as expected: ‘Mr Laws was guilty of a series of serious breaches of the rules’, and it is recommended that he be suspended for 7 days from 7 June. It is a stern punishment for a serious transgression. However, nothing has really changed since Laws resigned from the government last May, because Lyon has not disinterred anything new. Crucially, the report accepts Laws’ explanation that he was conniving to protect his privacy, not to increase his personal wealth. For example, in paragraph 36 Lyon says that Laws would have been

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Lords punish Cameron over policing

In Number 10, they are already concerned that they are losing public support on crime and punishment. David Cameron is planning to give a speech on the subject that will, in the words of one senior coalition figure, ‘throw a lot of bones to his party’s right.’   But Cameron’s words will mean little if he can’t rescue the elected police commissioners policy from its defeat in the Lords last night. By introducing police commissioners who are accountable to the public, this policy will make the police concentrate on the crimes that have the greatest impact on peoples’ quality of life rather than form filling.   Even with the substantial

Daniel Korski

Garnering third party support

Third party support is an important political asset. Nobody trusts politicians any longer (when did they ever?) and so it’s useful to draft in supposedly apolitical backers to support your plans. Yesterday’s PMQs was a case in point, with David Cameron and Ed Miliband competing for support from GPs. As Jim Pickard writes over on the FT blog, having 42 GPs on side is a little less impressive than having support from the Royal College of GPs, which has 42,000 members. So the PM is seen to have emerged from the exchange as the loser. Therein lies a problem for the government. Since the general election, the Tories seem to

Wednesday

Jonathan Jones

The Coffee House A-Z of the Coalition: T-Z

Here are letters T to Z in our A-Z guide the coalition’s first year. A-F are here. G-M are here. And N-S are here. T is for Tuition fees “Broken promises, there have been too many in the last few years.” So said Nick Clegg in a Liberal Democrat video during the last election campaign. It was favourite theme of his — and one that he deployed both during the TV debates and in signing a pledge to scrap tuition fees. This was to be a New Politics. Clegg was to be its champion. Shame it didn’t quite work like that. The coalition agreement was damaging enough to Clegg’s aura:

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron tells the ’22, the NHS pause is my idea not Clegg’s

David Cameron was received in the usual desk-thumping way at the 1922 Committee. But what was striking about his appearance was his message that the NHS reform pause is his idea not Nick Clegg’s and that he won’t let the Lib Dems take credit for the coming changes. The robustness of this message took even Tory MPs by surprise. But I understand that Tory high command feels that Clegg’s decision to list the Tory policies he had blocked this morning means that they are allowed to make points like this. There were some hostile questions to Cameron but the general mood of the meeting was positive. Cameron’s list of Tory achievements

Jonathan Jones

The Coffee House A-Z of the Coalition: N-S

Here are letters N to S in our A-Z guide the coalition’s first year. A-F are here. G-M are here. N is for No Nothing has frayed coalition relations quite like the AV referendum has. This was always going to be the case, but the viciousness it inspired has still been fairly shocking. Need we remind you of Chris Huhne’s outburst in Cabinet last week? Or of George Osborne’s stinging riposte? Even David Cameron seems to have relished taking it out on his coalition stablemates, trashing their pet policies with a vigour that would have been unthinkable only a few months ago. As Tim Montgomerie reveals in his exhaustive guide

Ed Howker

Exclusive: Gove’s free school policy gets Labour support, finally

This week’s Spectator reveals the rather tantalizing fact that Peter Hyman, Tony Blair’s former director of strategy, is setting up a Free School in East London. This – I kid you not – is a very good thing. Newham School 21 will teach kids between the ages of 4 and 18 – an ambitious span of ages – and will open its gates in September 2012 if all goes to plan. Whatever you think about Blair, Hyman is a quietly impressive figure, coining the phrase “Education, Education, Education” and then leaving Downing Street in 2003 to become a teaching assistant. Now, as the deputy head of a school in Ealing,

Jonathan Jones

The Coffee House A-Z of the Coalition: G-M

Here are letters G to M in our alphabetical guide to the Coalition’s first year. A-F were covered here. G is for Gaffes The coalition, happily, has not endured anything like a Gillian Duffy moment. But there has been a decent smattering of embarrassments and gaffes. Below is a brief selection, but CoffeeHousers can nominate others in the comments section: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nOhqo-47P8 H is for Hidden talents A brief mention for those ministers who have exceeded expectations, or who have been quietly effective in their roles. Foremost among them has to be Theresa May, the Home Secretary. She underwhelmed in Opposition, particularly when in charge of the Tories’ welfare brief, but

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Lib Dem polarity

For the Lib Dems this was the first day of the afterlife. Booted off the AV-train which was supposed to fast-track them to power, the minority party now looks politically homeless. Everyone in parliament makes jokes about them but the gags never raise a laugh. Pity intervenes. At today’s session Ed Miliband was haranguing Cameron for ‘dumping on’ his ministers as soon as their policies run into trouble when he broke off to indulge in a Lib Dem-kicking moment which he felt would cheer his troops. ‘And the poor deputy prime minister,’ chortled Miliband, ‘gets dumped on every day of the week!’ Sad laughter followed. No one’s heart was in

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A mixed bag for the coalition at PMQs 

So much for the de-Flashmaning project. At PMQs, a tetchy Cameron doled out his usual number of insults, comparing Ed Miliband to Eddie the Eagle Edwards. Frankly, I don’t think this really matters as long as Cameron appears to be in control of his temper, which isn’t always the case. But Ed Miliband definitely raised a chuckle when he told Cameron to ‘calm down, dear.’ But, perhaps, the most noticeable thing about today’s PMQs was the behaviour of the Liberal Democrats. Nick Clegg joined in with all the jeering at the Labour front bench, something which he very conspicuously didn’t do in the last few weeks. Chris Huhne happily chatted

Jonathan Jones

The Coffee House A-Z of the Coalition: A-F

The coalition is 1 today. Unfortunately, we can’t serve jelly and ice cream over the internet — but we can write an A-Z to mark the first year of Cameron and Clegg’s union. Below is the first part of that, covering the letters A to F. But, first, a little piece of political nostalgia for CoffeeHousers. A year ago today, this happened: And now for the A-Z… A is for Andrew Lansley Rap John Healey, make way for MC NxtGen. The Loughborough rapper may not be part of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition, but his three-minute denunciation of the coalition’s health reforms — video above — did the job better

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

Today’s lesson for David Willetts

What a knotty problem David Willetts has created for himself today. Speaking to the Guardian this morning, he floated an idea to help the universities make a bit of cash: they could, he suggested, sell extra places to students who were prepared to pay exaggerated fees up front. This isn’t yet government policy, and the students needn’t do the paying themselves (they could be sponsored by charities or employers, for instance), but the Guardian pounced nevertheless. “Extra places at university for rich students,” blared its front page headline. Not a good look for the coalition, at a time when access to university is such a general concern. Not a good

David Blackburn

Cameron in new war with his backbenchers

The House is united in loathing of IPSA, which explains why Tory MP Adam Afriyie’s amendment to the Parliamentary Standards Bill 2009 is proving so popular. Afriyie’s aim is ‘to simplify the way in which expenses and salary payments to Members of Parliament are made’ and attempt to limit IPSA’s costs.   The government, however, is wary of Arfiyie’s reform – sensing, perhaps, that the public might not stomach changes to the expenses system so soon after the recent scandal.   The bill’s second reading will take place this Friday and it is now understood that enough Labour backbenchers will support the motion to allow it to pass. It is

Peter Hoskin

Breaking Laws | 10 May 2011

When David Laws resigned from government last year, his return was thought to be only a matter of time. Today, it is looking considerably more indefinite. Not only has Cameron been talking down the prospect of a reshuffle any time soon, but the Evening Standard is reporting that Laws has been found guilty of breaching six — six! — Commons rules related to his expense claims. No word, yet, on the details, or whether there will be any formal punishment for the former Chief Sec. But it doesn’t look good for him, nor for his ministerial prospects in the short-term. Sky’s Sophy Ridge tweets that certain Lib Dems are “still

Peter Hoskin

Cameron sets out the bounds of Lib Dem assertiveness

Our coalition government was forged one year ago tomorrow — and we shall have more on that then. But the Sun has already marked the occasion by publishing an interview with David Cameron today. It is a wide-ranging sort of conversation, touching on everything from the Prime Minister’s workload (“every day feels like a week”) to the shelf life of the government (“five years”), although much of it is unsurprising. It does, however, contain one or two useful insights into how the coalition’s game of give-and-take is going to operate from now on. First up, Cameron’s insistence — contra Clegg — that the Lib Dems should not be portrayed as

Daniel Korski

The Dame departs

Pauline Neville-Jones was a first. She was one of the first women in the Foreign Office to climb the department’s male-dominated ladder, serving as Lord Tugendhat’s chef de cabinet at the European Commission, obtaining the coveted post of Political Director and eventually becoming JIC Chairman. She led the British delegation at the Dayton Peace Accords and she probably thought she would be the first British National Security Adviser. But it was not to be. Her usefulness to the Prime Minister seems to have been mainly in opposition, where she could add a voice of knowledge to a Shadow Cabinet with very little governmental experience. The Tory Green Paper on National