David gauke

Ministers are clearly mindful of the potential damage that Tim Loughton’s amendment to the Finance Bill calling for tax breaks for married couples could cause. This is one of those issues that could become a rebellion if it is poorly-managed by the leadership, or equally could be a bit of a damp squib if enough backbenchers are reassured and feel they should show loyalty to George Osborne. David Gauke has sent out a letter to Tory MPs trying to do just that. This ‘dear colleague’ message, which I’ve been passed, tells backbenchers that the Chancellor will announce the details of a transferable tax allowance ‘in due course’, which is what the

If you’re the tax personality of the year, as David Gauke is, the pressure’s on when you give an interview to be as lively as possible. Gauke’s interview with the House magazine today doesn’t disappoint, with the Exchequer Secretary accusing those who oppose the child benefit cuts of ‘fiscal nimbyism’. He says: ‘I think there’s a lot of people who are in favour of reducing the deficit but then when it’s something that affects them there can be a degree of fiscal nimbyism. The reality is that every section of society is having to make a contribution. ‘We can’t pretend that there can be sections of society which we can

David Gauke was only elected in 2005, but it’s impossible that he can’t remember the Back to Basics campaign, and how well that moral campaign worked out for the Conservative Party. Its 1993 launch precipitated revelations of all kinds of non-traditional behaviour in the party, from affairs to cash for questions. Had the Exchequer Secretary who bears the outstanding achievement of being named Tax Personality of the Year thought about the damningly long list of revelations that the Major government had to endure, he might have thought twice before declaring that it was ‘morally wrong’ to pay your plumber or cleaner cash-in-hand. The problem with Gauke’s moralising was so obvious