No Change at the Home Office
So Gordon's new Home Secretary is Jacqui Smith, taking over from tough man John Reid. According to TheyWorkForYou she is:
- 'Moderately against' a transparent Parliament
- 'Very strongly for' introducing ID cards
Oh dear.
Wot Bad News?
Today is a good day for burying things. No, not careers and reputations, but Bad News (© Jo Moore).
First, interest rates continue their upward spiral as the Bank raises the base rate to 5.5%, its highest level since 2001. [OK, it wasn't the MPC's decision that Blair should do his nauseating "what a great 10 years it's been" thing today]. But the pundits seem to be saying: "Don't worry, energy prices are falling [but not at the petrol pumps, in my experience], so the rates will soon come down again". The pundits I listened to 8-10 years ago used to say that a rate change takes 18 months to filter through to the inflation figures. Go figure.
Then, the Home Office has announced that the official cost of the disastrous ID card scheme has risen £400 million to £5.31bn since the last estimate. The Tories and Lib Dems claimed that the Home Office broke the law by releasing the updated figures a month later than they should... Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: "It is bad enough that the government seeks to bury bad news behind the camouflage of Tony Blair's announcement. Breaking the law to do so breaks new ground even for Tony Blair's Labour Party."
The good news is that the removal vans have been booked for 27 June. The day before my Dad's birthday. If only he was still around to enjoy the moment...
Today's the Day!
Today's the day we've all been waiting for. Two weeks ago, the Telegraph predicted that Blair would announce his resignation on 1 May, the tenth anniversary of his election as PM, and – crucially – the eve of the local elections. An attempt, typically, to limit Labour's expected electoral damage. "Even Mr Blair's most loyal supporters concede his unpopularity is so deep that his resignation could actually improve the party's showing".
He didn't. But the Telegraph's source was half right, because on 1 May the man announced his intention to announce the 'timetable for his departure'. On the GMTV sofa – where else? – he said: "I'll make my position clear next week, I'll say something definitive then."
As Nick Robinson says today, "It is now a staggering 952 days since a weakened Tony Blair first declared that he would not seek to go 'on and on and on'."
Now, at last, he has told the Cabinet when he will go. He stays, allegedly, for seven weeks until a new Labour leader is chosen. Brown praised Mr Blair's "unique achievement over 10 years and the unique leadership he had given to the party, Britain and the world"... His comments were greeted by "much thumping of tables" by Mr Blair's colleagues. Whether in agreement or anger we are not told.
The public announcement will be in Sedgefield at midday.
UPDATE: Over at Blairwatch, ringverse points out that 27 June is exactly 1000 days from the moment – on 30 September 2004 – that Blair announced his intention to step down.
9 Jobs in 10 Years Too Many for Reid
In most CVs, nine jobs in ten years would have alarm bells ringing. Incompetent, can't handle the pressure, upsets the team, too interested in his own career to stay the course? Whatever the reason, John Reid has now announced he will resign as Home Secretary "when Tony goes". This just weeks after deciding that the department he called "not fit for purpose" should be split in two.
Ian Dale writes about rats and sinking ships. And a commenter mentions a report that a group resignation of Blairites should be expected, timed to coincide with Blair's departure. Perhaps he just jumped before he was pushed. Whatever, it means one less Scot in Brown's (one assumes it will be him) cabinet pool – I for one can never decode Reid's heavy Glasgow accent.
If You're Nasty, I'll Cross You Off My Christmas Card List
Someone once told me that the most important function of a contact database in a professional environment – such as an architect's practice – is to maintain the Christmas card list. Forget to send one to all the right people at an important client, and their business might be lost.
So it's interesting to note the importance that T Blair assigns to his list. Very very important, apparently. Martin Rosenbaum reports on his Open Secrets blog that the Information Commissioner has ruled that number 10 must reveal which international leaders have been receiving the PM's cards. No. 10 have been fighting the FOI request: [Downing Street's] arguments for keeping the list secret refer to 'private disagreements or tensions with a particular country which meant that a Christmas card was not sent from the Prime Minister'.
We wait for the list with bated breath.
Turn Off Your Lights So I Can Fly
Interesting discussion on Newsnight last night, as 'Ethical Man' Justin Rowlatt came to the end of his year-long experiment to lead a better life. Gavin Esler was joined by Environment Secretary David Milibland, Peter Ainsworth (Con), Chris Huhne (Lib Dem) and Siân Berry (Green). Also from Denmark by 'sceptical environmentalist' Bjorn Londberg.
Amid the discussion of air travel – the Tories' proposal to curtail domestic flights, general agreement from the Lib Dems that air travel should be as high or higher priority as changing the lightbulbs, criticism of the Government policy of building more runways and terminals while berating us all for leaving our VCRs on standby, and so on – two things struck me.
First, Milli said in effect that air travel had been fixed because Gordon had increased Air Passenger Duty. Now a £5 or £10 take-off tax is not going to discourage anyone from flying (unless they're poor). But it is going to contribute significantly to Gordon's bucket of money. Will he use it to provide better public transport (any public transport) where I live? Will he 'eck as like. It's just another tax on 'hard working families' which has nothing to do with the environment.
And second, Milli defended Labour's reluctance to limit air travel by saying that we have to look at the total carbon footprint (and more about that when I can get my words together) so flying is OK provided we don't use our cars and replace our lightbulbs with low energy ones. Justin Rowlatt had already been roundly told off on the programme because after making some quite significant energy savings in his house and lifestyle, he'd pretty much blown the lot on a flight to Jamaica.
But at least Milli seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet as his boss, even if it's the wrong hymn sheet. Blair was widely condemned for flying to Barbados with his substantial family and army of minders and lackies for his hols. But he said: "I'm not going to be in the position of saying I'm not going to take holidays abroad or use air travel, it's just not practical."
The Independent on Sunday has since reported that Tony Blair personally emits more than 700 times as much of the pollution that causes global warming [sic] as the average Briton... Chris Huhne, for the Liberal Democrats said: "Tony Blair can't be taken seriously. He lectures the world on cutting carbon emissions but is profligate in his personal behaviour."
Justin Rowlatt's report, and the debate, currently on the Newsnight website here.
Johnny Foreigner to Blame for Small Companies' Tax Hike
Gordon Brown has blamed immigrants from Eastern Europe for his "need" to increase corporation tax for small companies from 19% to 22% by 2009. In evidence to the Treasury Select Committee... Mr Brown said East European workers were being encouraged to register themselves as companies to avoid paying income tax when they arrived in the UK.
"One of the problems that we have faced – and had to act upon – is that people who are coming to work in this country are being encouraged to form and work through managed services companies even before they come into this country."
He said it was a "problem that every country faces – but it is a problem that we are going to deal with and we are going to deal with in a way that does not penalise the good company that is investing in the future". [BBC]
Gordon's idea of 'not penalising the good company' is to give some improved tax allowances for companies that invest fairly substantial sums in plant and machinery. It's the company equivalent of tax credits for low paid workers. But many companies don't need to make any significant investment in equipment. It sounds good in the budget speech, but it means little.
"I [do] need to act to deal with individuals artificially incorporating as small companies to avoid paying their due share of tax, a practise if left unaddressed would cost the rest of the taxpaying population billions of pounds. And I will take action in a way that will not raise the tax burden on the self employed and small businesses overall." [Budget Speech]
So thousands of small companies will have to pay more tax because of the alleged misdemeanours of a few East European workers. And remember these immigrants are the very people the Government is so keen to have here, "helping to fill gaps in the UK's labour market, especially in administration, business and management, hospitality and catering." [BBC].
It's worth checking back on Gordon's feelings about small companies five years ago, in the 2002 Budget speech:
"Small businesses account for nearly half the economy's output and 55% of all jobs in the private sector – over 10 million jobs in all. And the small firms of today are the big firms of the future.
"We want to see a more enterprising Britain where, in every region, more small businesses are starting up and where you can work your way up – a ladder of opportunity from employment to self-employment, from micro business to growing business – with government on businesses' side as firms hire for the first time, as they invest, as they seek equity, as they export and grow...
"And to send out the strongest signal about the importance we attach to small businesses and the creation of wealth I propose to reduce the starting rate of corporation tax - also with immediate effect - from 10p to zero. Small companies with taxable profits of less than £10,000 will pay no corporation tax.
"With the starting rate of tax cut from 10p to zero and the small companies rate down from 23p in 1997 to 19p this is now the most favourable corporation tax regime for small companies in any of the advanced industrial countries."
And I seem to remember (though I can't lay my hands on a reference) that one reason for introducing either the 10p or the zero rate was to encourage sole traders to form limited companies. When thousands had done so, Gordon later pulled the rug from under them by abolishing the rate. Talk about micro-managing!
Gordon's Pensioner Tax
In what is being billed as his last budget – unless, of course, he doesn't make it to the top – Grumpy went out with a tuppenny flourish, announcing in his final sentence a 2p cut in the basic rate of tax. Clearly he expected that the press and everyone else would have gone to sleep during the boring bit with all the statistics and pre-announcements of distant changes, and hoped that the papers will be proclaiming him tomorrow morning as a tax cutting Labour Chancellor. There was predictably plenty of whooping from the Labour benches.
Sadly for Gordon, though, everyone seems to have noticed that he has eliminated the 10p tax band, which he himself introduced to ease low earners more gently into the tax system. The effect appears to be that anyone now paying tax and earning less than £18,000 per year will be paying more tax. And anyone now paying only tax in the 10p band – which I think is up to about £7,500, or £9,000 for people over 65 (I stand to be corrected on the precise figures) – will now pay twice as much tax. That includes many pensioners with modest private or company schemes.
How appropriate that the so-called champion of the poor should make his Pensioners' Tax his 100th increase. What better way to encourage people into work than to increase the tax on them doing so. And who would have thought that a Labour Chancellor would be increasing the tax on the poor to give more to high earners. Perhaps he's Tony's friend after all, and wants him to be able to hang on to more of his book and speaking deals.
Angry Ming in IDS Déjà Vu
Sir Menzies Campbell has vowed to get angry on behalf of Britain's "frustrated majority" as he marks his first year as Liberal Democrat leader. BBC
He said he is ready to step up a gear and move the Lib Dems into a new phase. I'm reminded of the toe-curling Iain Duncan Smith conference speech which immediately preceded his demise as Conservative leader: "The quiet man is here to stay, and he's turning up the volume."
A pity it ended that way, because IDS is a good man. Sometimes – both in politics and in the real world – people are at their best when they're not playing in the first division.
The Kelly Conspiracy
Long time no blog. I've had too many other things to distract me. And there's so much going on that it's hard to keep up. But I've had two emails from the Prime Minister in the last week and that's cause enough for me to shake my feathers and start paying more attention. For now though, David Kelly.
Last night the BBC showed the long awaited programme in its Conspiracy Files series, on the death of chemical weapons expert Dr David Kelly. Was it suicide, as Lord Hutton concluded after usurping the Coroner, or was there foul play? At the very least there are inconsistencies and unanswered questions, and one has the impression of untidy forensic work which would be unacceptable in a conventional case, but were unforgivable in the death of such a high profile person – Kelly was headline news at the time in the running battle between Alistair Campbell and the BBC. Lord Falconer's insistence that the Coroner should halt the inquest looks as dodgy as the government's dossier.
At the very least, if Dr Kelly did take his own life, the cause of death should go down as 'aggravated suicide', if there is such a thing. I can still remember my feelings as I watched the baying MPs question him. And he had two MOD interviews which we know little about but which were probably not very pleasant. It seemed as if the whole of the Establishment wanted to pin all the problems of the moment onto him, and the support he received from his employers and managers was zero. If it had happened in the real world the employment tribunals would be up in arms.
Personally I found the programme somewhat tame, but perhaps that's because it was telling those of us who've been following the investigations by the excellent Norman Baker MP, and others, what we already know. The creepy thing was this morning, when I tried to visit Rowena Thursby's Dr David Kelly blog, which I've visited several times before, it (repeatedly) crashed my browser; other Blogspot sites were fine. The site was OK in Firefox, but Safari (Mac), my preferred browser, is normally as stable as a stable thing. Weird.
Lunatic Gets Into No. 10
When The Sun headline caught my eye this morning, I thought for a moment that I might have missed a shift – perhaps only a small shift – in the political landscape.
Turned out to be a story about "a berserk knifeman held yards from No. 10... a deranged intruder who climbed 6ft railings... with a 10 inch carving knife" in his belt.
Now the Sun reports him to be "a South Korean national" from New York, who has "appeared before magistrates charged with possessing a knife and assaulting a police officer."
Still, it probably sold a few extra copies of the paper in Bournemouth this morning.
Kitchen Sink Drama
Cool or toecurling? Webcameron has launched, in an attempt to grab the young vote. I did actually watch Episode One right through, albeit with my eyes and ears half covered, but nearly didn't make it. The kids' noises off seemed contrived, but then I'm a long way from being a young voter so maybe all that stuff is cool.
Had to update the Flash player for my browser, which is no big deal but might confuse some (but not, I suppose, young voters).
Anyway, nice to see Dave uses Ecover for his washing up...
Cherie Not Ejected...
A year ago 82-year-old Mr. Walter Wolfgang was very publicly manhandled from the Labour Party Conference for shouting "rubbish" during Jack Straw's speech. The lifelong peace campaigner was then detained by the police under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
According to Bloomberg, Cherie Blair this morning said "well that's a lie" – as Gordon Brown claimed in his speech it had been "a privilege for me to work with and for" her husband – before walking out of the Conference unaided. Presumably she wanted to avoid any embarrassing incidents. There are no reports of her being detained under terrorism laws.
Anti-Establishment 'Blog TV'
Tuesday 10 October will be a big day for political reporting, traditional TV and the blog world as 18DoughtyStreet Talk TV – Britain’s first political Internet TV channel – is launched. Fronted by two of Britain’s most successful bloggers, Tim Montgomerie of ConservativeHome.com and the omnipresent Iain Dale, it will (as I see it) be to mainstream TV what blogs are to the print media. 18DoughtyStreet will broadcast four hours a night, Monday to Thursday.
"From our little house in London's Doughty Street we want to challenge the biases of big media, the tendency of some big businesses to act against the public interest, the consensual nature of too much contemporary politics and the unaccountability of institutions like the EU and UN," writes Tim Montgomerie.
Stuff will go wrong, and the mainstream media will make the best of it, but 18DoughtyStreet will rattle cages and I believe will change the face of political reporting and debate just as blogs have shifted the emphasis of printed comment. We wish them well.
There are two party conferences between now and the launch, which will give the guys a chance of promotion to an audience who ought to be paying a lot of attention, and will give them plenty to chew on in the early days (especially if my prediction comes true!).
Will Blair Resign Next Week?
Well, really! I go on holiday for a couple of weeks* and come back to find the ceasefire in the Downing Street civil war has failed and everyone is briefing against everyone else again. As the NuLab Conference approaches the insults have become muffled, but there's plenty of jostling for position and some dodgy-sounding briefing.
No 10 has announced a series of 'policy reviews' to try to ensure Blairism lasts for ever, just when everyone thought he was on the way out. The announcement came after the 'failed coup' which Gordon claims he knew nothing about. Gordon says – perhaps though gritted teeth – that Blair is his friend. Hoon says Blair must go sooner rather than later: "Labour could be in a very bad place at the next general election if Tony Blair does not quit as leader by May". Milburn (who left in 2003 to spend more time with his family) has given a wide ranging PM-candidate type speech containing all sorts of off message proposals including local income tax and proportional representation for Westminster elections. Hewitt says the public should be able to vote for the next Labour leader, with contenders taking part in a series of debates; presumably we would vote in the manner of Strictly Come Dancing, with a jolly chap like Graham Norton announcing the phone numbers and the eliminated contenders.
But what of the man himself? One thing is certain: he'll jump, he won't be pushed. So he has to make an announcement. If he names the day, countdown clocks will be set up everywhere, and any public appearance, especially in the Commons, would be laughable. If he doesn't name the day, the jostling and briefing and back-stabbing will continue, and even he ought to be able to see that that's no good for his party and his all-important legacy. Everyone knows he'll go before the local and other elections next May.
Blair loves the big surprise announcement, the gasp from the crowd, the adulation. The cameras will be there next Tuesday, the commentators ready to pick at every word of his speech. It could be the perfect moment to say "I resign". Wrapped up in a lot of mumbo jumbo, of course.
[* Yes, I know it's been a lot longer than a couple of weeks since I blogged, but the trouble with going away is the heap of work and email that builds up for when you come back.]
Terrorist Suspect on NEC
Mr. Walter Wolfgang has been elected to the Labour Party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC). I hope he finds his seat on the committee more comfortable than the seat in the audience at last year's party conference, from which the 83-year-old was so roughly and publicly ejected after shouting a single word – "rubbish" – during Jack Straw's speech.
After his ignominious departure from the conference centre at the hands of Labour Party bully-boys, the lifelong peace campaigner was (absurdly) detained by the police under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. His election to the NEC must smell sweet.
"It was an unpleasant experience but it has woken people up to the problem of control freakery in the party and I do think this vote is partially a result of that," he said.
Mr. Wolfgang said he would use the platform to speak out against Tony Blair's policy in Lebanon and Iraq, and against nuclear weapons. He also called on the prime minister to quit immediately and said Chancellor Gordon Brown was not the right man to replace him.
Blair's A-Level Priority
I'm alerted to a piece by Alice Thomson in today's Telegraph, which reports that the Blairs have requested priority treatment for their daughter's A-level results:
"Prime ministers tend to become more whimsical the longer they remain in power. But now, however, Mr Blair may have gone too far. Tony and Cherie have reportedly asked for their daughter's A-level results to be delivered a week early so that 'arrangements can be made' at Birmingham, her preferred university. Every other child taking these exams has to wait for August 17.
"Forget Lord Levy – this is the final evidence that the man at 10 Downing Street has forgotten that, in a democracy, politicians should play by the same rules as everyone else."
Tony Tops George
As Blair hones his public speaking skills ahead of his retirement career, the battle of the speechwriters intensifies. Tony has never forgiven Dubya for his State of the Union Address, in January 2002, when he spoke of the 'Axis of Evil', a term that has since been widely adopted, adapted and parodied across the world.
Now, at last, Tony knows he has a headline grabber that will show that he and his wordsmiths are not just snapping at George's heels. Speaking to an audience of 2,000 at the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles he unveiled their latest piece de resistance: the 'Arc of Extremism'.
No, it doesn't trip off the tongue quite as easily as the 'Axis of Evil', which was penned originally as the 'axis of hatred' by former Bush speechwriter David Frum before being changed to match the more theological language that has been part of the Bush brand since 9/11. But it might score more than Condi's 'Outposts of Tyranny', which upset a few countries but never quite caught on in the same way. And it has been picked up as a headline by, er, the Beeb at least.
Blair supported his submission with that "in respect of the Middle East [we must] bend every sinew of our will to make peace" line. 'Sinew' is a good word in the speechwriters' thesaurus.
But this morning the Guardian reports that "Kofi Annan's deputy at the United Nations delivered a blunt put-down to the PM... Mark Malloch Brown said the current crisis should be dealt with by France, the US, Egypt and Jordan – with the UK 'following not leading' on Lebanon."
[Thanks to Wikipedia for an excellent Axis of Evil entry]
"Thank you, Rupert"
Nick Robinson blogs this morning from California, where Blair has been addressing Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation executives. Blair went on to the Pebble Beach, CA, resort after stopping off in Washington for a few minutes to sort out the Middle East with his own Chief Executive. Nick reports:
This trip to California was timed to ensure that the PM could go to Pebble Beach to speak to Rupert and friends. Those who know Murdoch's mind regard it as a "thank you". A bigger thank you may yet come in the form of an offer one day to sit on the board of News International. There he would join the former Spanish PM and fellow backer of the Iraq war, José María Aznar.
The Beeb itself reports that Blair repeated his old 'I really believe I can do anything' mantra:
"I am sometimes taken to task for being too ambitious in the radical nature of the policy changes I am seeking. I always have the opposite worry: not being radical enough."
I bet the Pebble Beach audience loved it; good groundwork for the US speaking tour which we hope will follow soon. Back home, we can look forward to more targets, taxes and destruction of our liberty.
Freedom to Refuse Information
The Sunday Times reports that Charlie Falconer – Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs – is proposing that the successful 18 month old Freedom of Information Act should be amended to prevent "the most difficult requests" for official information. 'Difficult' preumably includes 'embarrassing'.
He also wants a flat rate fee for requests, as a deterrent, estimating this would cut information requests by a third. In other words, all but the rich would be priced out of the market. This seems to be somewhat against the spirit of the original Act, as I recall.
Unbelievably, Falconer accepts that he is ignoring the wishes of our elected representatives, and reveals that maintaining secrecy will be at a cost to taxpayers:
Falconer admits that introducing a new regime would go against the recommendations of the Commons' Constitutional Affairs committee. But he concludes: "We will be able to argue that our commitment to FOI remains unchanged... but public access rights must be balanced against other demands on public resources.
"It is likely individual flat fees will cost more to collect than they bring in, but their deterrent effect will inhibit many serial requesters from making numerous requests with no regard to the cost to public funds." [source]
Sounds like a classic move to prevent 'hard working families' finding out what their public servants have been up to. They know more and more about us, through ID Cards and vehicle tracking; we know less and less about them. Roll on 1984.
Top People Say 'Stop Now'
Blair is increasingly isolated in his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Lebanon, both at home and on the world stage (and more about the stage later). And what I've found interesting in recent days is the number of 'senior' people, who normally work somewhat in the background as advisers or diplomats, who have gone public to say that he's wrong.
These are people who have made careers of studying and implementing the minutiae of foreign policy. They know in advance the short term and long term effects of a particular action or inaction. They know what they're talking about.
For example Sir Stephen Wall – formerly one of Blair's foreign policy advisers – was interviewed by Jon Snow on Channel 4 News on Thursday. He said the UK should do whatever it can to obtain a ceasefire right now, on humanitarian grounds. He pointed out that Israel's attacks on Lebanon were futile anyway, because they wouldn't destroy Hezbollah. And he warned of the very real dangers of terrorist reaction here.
He amplifies some of this in a New Statesman piece about Blair's overdependence on Bush's coat-tails, dated (for some reason) next Monday:
"There are times, such as the past two weeks, when a British prime minister should have been thinking less about private influence and more about public advocacy. Could the Prime Minister really not speak up for the simple proposition that the slaughter of innocent people in Lebanon, the destruction of their country and the ruin of half a million lives were wrong and should stop immediately?"
Then Friday night Sir Harold Walker – UK Ambassador to Iraq in 1990/1991 and still with a strong interest in the Middle East – was on BBC News 24 discussing Blair's (then current) trip to Washington. Strongly denying Blair was Bush's poodle, he said he could and should do far more than he is to secure an immediate end to the bombing, regardless of the US position.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that Phyllis Starkey, a former Foreign Office aide, told the BBC that Blair's judgment was wrong: "The prime minister has a far too rosy view of the tactics of the Israeli government and does not take a strong enough line with them in telling them when they are going against international law."
The FT adds that "dissent at home over US and UK strategy [is] mounting. One senior minister told the Financial Times of high levels of unease within the cabinet over 'wanton destruction' in the Middle East and Britain's failure to call for an immediate halt to the fighting."
Tony Lloyd, a former Foreign Office minister and a moderate voice on the Labour back benches, said: "Most people would be entirely unconvinced that Bush is being persuaded even remotely by the prime minister... We should have been loudly voicing our concern at the extraordinary levels of violence and should have been asking for a ceasefire."
Saturday's Times front page reported:
Even Mr Blair’s own Cabinet ministers have been privately critical of his handling of the crisis, with one saying that it "could be the end of him". The Times disclosed yesterday that David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, and Lord Grocott, Chief Whip in the Lords – both of whom are staunch Blairites – spoke out against his position at last Thursday’s Cabinet meeting...
Labour backbenchers were not impressed by the meeting. An ultra-Blairite MP said last night: "This is incredibly damaging for Tony. It is not really because people think that we are doing the Americans' bidding. What is dawning on the Parliamentary Labour Party is that Tony Blair actually believes this, and that almost makes it worse. He is now losing goodwill at a pace that is amazing."...
David Winnick, MP for Walsall North, said: "Every day that the conflict continues gladdens the heart of al-Qaeda and its fellow travellers and apologists. A large number of people in this country want it made clear that what Israel is doing is unacceptable."
Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South, added: "The press conference just added insult to injury. Blair and Bush are now alone in their own theatre of the absurd. It is like a plan to offer counselling after a hanging – the corpse is not too interested in what they have to offer."
And tonight the former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is reported to have gone off message in a statement to Muslim community leaders in his Blackburn constituency last week. The Sunday Times reports:
Straw voiced the concerns of several cabinet colleagues, saying: "Disproportionate action only escalates an already dangerous situation... One of many serious concerns I have is that the continuation of such tactics by the Israelis could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation."
Why does Blair do it? Does he really believe – as that ultra-Blairite MP suggested – that it's a good thing for thousands of Lebanese to be killed, injured or displaced in the hope of taking out a few terrorists? Is he labouring under the ilusilusion that his talk and delaying tactics will eventually create lasting peace in the Middle East, so that the historians will finally write good of him?
Or is it just that he likes to be near the centre of attention on the world stage, to catch a little reflected limelight? He is after all an impressive actor – good at learning lines, good at changing character to suit the audience of the moment.
How Not to Say Sorry
Bush has apologized to Blair for not filling in the right paperwork when the US shipped bombs through Prestwick recently on their way to Israel. An apology of sorts, anyway:
"Mr Blair's official spokesman told reporters: 'President Bush did apologise for the fact that proper procedures were not followed, but that was all. It was just one line.
"As part of the introduction, the president said sorry there was a problem.'"
Presumably Blair accepted the 'apology' on behalf of the rest of us, since he doesn't personally care about that or any other paperwork.
But many of the rest of us would like an apology from the US Government – and indeed from the British Government – for continuing to fuel the carnage by supplying weapons at all...
FCO Rewrites History
Last night Channel 4 News broadcast an interview with Margaret Beckett, in which Jon Snow asked her about her about the apparent transfer of US weapons through Prestwick to Israel, without the appropriate permissions. She said she had made a robust complaint to the US, and there were other reports of a slanging match between her and Condi at a press conference.
Channel 4's Snowmail newsletter now reports that the Foreign Office has reproduced the transcript of the interview on their website, but has edited out the Prestwick questions and answers:
"And as for Mrs Beckett? Well, intriguingly the Foreign Office have reproduced our interview with the foreign secretary, conducted in Rome yesterday, but have edited out the section relating to the weapons transfer at Prestwick .
"And it's that omitted section, of course, where Mrs Becket took an apparently off-message stance by expressing anger with the Americans about the Prestwick business, which was the key part of our interview which was heavily picked up by the rest of the media.
"Certainly ones impression today is that both Number 10 and the Foreign Office have been sharing a dig in an extremely deep hole which they have sought to bury the matter."
Fortunately, Channel 4 still has the whole thing here.
To Vote for War?
The cross-party House of Lords Constitution Committee has recommended that the Government should scrap the royal prerogative that allows the Prime Minister to start military action without a Parliamentary vote. PM in waiting Dave is in favour, PM in waiting Gordon is in favour, the military – at least in the person of General Sir Michael Rose, who commanded UN troops in Bosnia – are in favour ("Soldiers don't want to sacrifice themselves for a cause not fully supported by Parliament").
But guess what: King Tony – supported by his old flatmate and lawyer Charlie Falconer, and by Defence Minister and one time computer programmer Adam Ingram – thinks the PM should be able to go to war on his own say-so. None of them, as far as I know, has any experience even of a school Cadet Force, let alone the real armed forces (At school, Blair mocked his Fettes School's Cadet Force, describing boys who joined it as 'toy soldiers' [The Blairs and Their Court
The Commons has debated the issue before of course, in October 2005, when Clare Short introduced a private member's bill. But Blair, never one to do his own dirty work, got poor old Geoff Hoon, then Leader of the Commons, to talk it out.
There was a debate just two days before the 2003 Iraq war, and a vote in favour, but even a vote against wouldn't have been binding. Many MPs were clearly convinced by Blair's persuasive presentation of the lies about incontrovertible evidence of WMDs aimed at Cyprus and beyond which could be used within 45 minutes.
The Lords committee recommends that as well as seeking Parliament's backing before going to war the government should also indicate the war's aims, legal basis, size and likely duration. Can't argue with that.
We're All Going on a Summer Holiday
A caravan train will soon be blocking the M2 as holidaymakers head for Dover en route for France. Caravanner Margaret Beckett will lead the holiday exodus from Westminster, accompanied by aides and security staff, at the beginning of MPs' 76-day Summer break.
The Sun reports: "As the Middle East war rages, [Foreign Secretary] Mrs Beckett and hubby Leo will tour round Europe. Protection officers are now drawing up plans to make sure she is safe. The cops will use tents, mobile homes or static caravans – depending on which camp sites the pair visit."
Friends say the Becketts will be staying at regular campsites, but will stop off at restaurants and wine tastings in France, according to the Telegraph. Not so bad for the spooks, then.
The Blairs, meanwhile, will be doing the decent thing and keeping off the roads. This year they've managed to blag a freebie "with Russell Chambers, a City banker, who entertained the Blairs last year when they stayed at Sir Cliff Richard's Barbados villa." The Telegraph adds that there's speculation that the Blairs have been looking for a holiday property on Barbados. This would add to their £3.5 million London retirement home and the flats in Bristol.
There's a bus-load heading for Scotland, including Dave, Ming, Gordon, Hazel, Darling and Douglas Alexander. Which is a good thing, as Whitehall is normally somewhat overloaded with NuLab Scots and apart from anything else I can't understand what half of them say. They could help save the planet if they did all travel together, though it might not do much for cross party harmony.
The Telegraph states blandly that "While Mr Blair and other ministers are away, John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, will be in charge."
Crisis? What crisis?
Yo Ho Ho, Prescott
The Indy reports that the Fat Controller failed to declare his expensive cowboy outfit to Customs on his way home. Does that make him a smuggler?
"Mr Prescott's office sought to deny the latest breach, insisting that he did not want to keep the Stetson, belt, spurs and cowboy boots, and thus didn't owe any tax." Hang on a minute, isn't that a bit churlish, given the considerable hospitality he'd just enjoyed with his rich new friend? And doesn't he claim a lifelong interest in cowboys? And shouldn't he just declare it anyway, regardless of what he might be thinking of doing in the future?
In his letter to the standards watchdog on 14 July, Prezza said: "Some time after my departure from the ranch, they were sent on by Mr Anschutz to my departmental office." The Stetson, he said, was worth about £97, the boots £120, the belt £207 and some spurs £185.
Tooled leather boots for £120? Well, really!
At Last, UK Criticizes Israel
Speaking in Beirut, Foreign Office minister Kim Howells yesterday criticised Israel's continuing and escalating bombardment of Lebanon. "The destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children and so many people. These have not been surgical strikes... You know, if they're chasing Hezbollah, then go for Hezbollah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation." Source: BBC
Responding to the minister's criticisms of Israel, Blair's spokesman said the prime minister would "not be unhappy about
[Mr Howell's] comments at all". Which thin support rather implies Blair didn't know in advance that Howells was going to step away from the Governments hitherto weak line on Israel. Beckett is presumably away in her caravan for the weekend.
Howells said: "It's very difficult, I think, to understand the kind of military tactics that have been used." Indeed. When criticized by the rest of the world for attacking civilian areas, Israel's response seems to be to put on a pained expression and say: "We're not attacking civilians, we're telling them to leave first, before we destroy their homes and neighbourhoods and everything they have." Well I suppose they might as well go, seeing as Israel has already cut off their water, electricity, food and communications...
Meanwhile, do the Israelis think Hezbollah are going to sit in the area after the civilians have gone, waiting to be attacked? Well, really!
As someone has already said, if we'd taken the same approach with the IRA we'd have been attacking Dublin.
Secret EU Policy Makers
The House of Lords European Union Committee has criticized ministers of the EU 'G6' nations – Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK and Poland – for having discussions and making decisions in secret on their policies for terrorism, illegal immigration and organised crime.
"They discussed almost every aspect of EU policy of interest to them, and in many cases reached firm conclusions on the action which should be taken and the timetable for it. However, in the United Kingdom, the meetings went almost entirely unnoticed.
"The Home Office did not issue a press notice and the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who attended the meeting on behalf of the UK, did not make an oral or written statement to Parliament... The Home Office seems on the contrary to have gone out of its way to disclose little or nothing about the meeting."
The report – "Behind Closed Doors" – says the only way Peers could find information about the latest talks was in an English translation from the German Ministry of the Interior. While it was "inevitable and desirable" for small groups of ministers to meet informally, "they should not try to ride rough-shod over the 19 smaller member states.
Home Office Minister Joan Ryan will publish conclusions [but not discussions] from the next meeting of the G6 this autumn on the Home Office website. The spokeswoman added that the G6 is an "informal grouping" of states that "do not have formal decision making powers".
They just represent 75% of the EU population, so can pretty much make the running, and should be accountable.
Blair Speaks Prescott
In his Politics Show interview with Jon Sopel yesterday, Blair comes over all vague and incomprehensible and Prescott-like, especially when asked about the Fat Controller:
"TONY BLAIR: Look, let me just check my facts on this but my understanding is that the planning is done by the local council and the mayor, so I don't – I mean has anybody got any actual evidence that John has interfered in this process in an improper way. I haven't seen any. I mean I've seen hoards of newspaper allegations about something to do with cowboy boots and some belt or something, but I mean ...
JON SOPEL: So John Prescott, whiter than white?
TONY BLAIR: Well it's – you know, you're not going to put words in my mouth. I mean, the fact of the matter is, unless there is something that someone shows to be wrong, then I'm not going to take action. Look, I have taken action against government ministers in the past. There are ministers that have departed the government for various reasons, so I' m not afraid to do that.
But one thing I am pretty hesitant about and I hope you understand this as, as a Prime Minister, is having a sort of, you know, huge media avalanche of allegation made, and I'm then, just because of the avalanche of allegations, supposed to go and discipline someone when as I say, there is an issue which is to do with the stay at the ranch, as, as far as I'm aware, that's now been registered, and I don't really see what the evidence is that he's done anything improper."
A ringing endorsement...
eDucation, eDucation...
I suppose it's like being royalty and having someone to do up your shoelaces or put another log on the fire. The leader and deputy leader of the fifth largest economy in the world don't need to bother to find out how to send or read an email – they have lackeys to do it for them.
"[Blair] is at heart a pen and paper man, the computer on his desk almost as idle as the one I used to have on mine," said Alastair Campbell, also a technophobe despite then being the country's leading spinmeister. John Prescott also recently revealed his lack of IT skills as he brushed off blogs' allegations about his private life. He told the Today programme: "I think it's called the internet, isn't it, or blogs or something, I've only just got used to letters, John, I haven't got into all this new technology."
But now Blair at least is finding out how most of the ordinary people communicate. He's been given his very own email address. Although he's apparently still having trouble turning up the sound on the TV.
Burying Bad News
With all the shenanigans going on over Prezza, Levy and the NatWest 3, now could be a good time to Bury Bad News (© Jo Moore).
So how about "Brown to slash Whitehall budgets", hidden at the end of Treasury Questions. Former Tory leader Michael Howard said: "Nothing could more vividly demonstrate the contempt which the chancellor has for this House than the way in which he has sought to make what is in fact a statement in this underhand way."
Whitehall savings will go into frontline services, says Mr Brown. Yeah, right.
No Theatre in Westminster?
Following the arrest and later release yesterday of Lord Levy, in connection with the 'cash for peerages' inquiry, Yates of the Yard has been updating the Commons Public Administration Committee on the inquiry's progress.
He categorically denied that Levy's arrest had been in any way 'theatrical' or 'symbolic' – a suggestion made by certain Labour MPs, including David Blunkett on Channel 4 News last night. The suggestion is a bit rich coming from a member of the party whose leader must be the most theatrical ever to tread the boards of the Commons.
We eagerly await the next Act in this drama, to see if Lord Levy's high profile tennis partner is next to receive a knock on the door. As SNP leader Alex Salmond nicely put it: "the water is now lapping around the prime minister's feet".
The Whitehall Cowboy
Well, really! According to yesterday's Mail on Sunday, Philip Anschutz – the billionaire Millennium Dome owner aiming to open a Greenwich super-casino – presented the Fat Controller with a pair of tooled leather boots, a Stetson hat and a belt (a long one, presumably) bearing the initials 'JP' on its silver buckle, when JP stayed at the ranch a year ago. How appropriate.
The MoS calculates the value of the outfit at up to an incredible $20,000 – not the sort of thing to keep in the dressing up box or wear to play cowboys and injuns in the local park.
"The Mail on Sunday has learned that the Deputy Prime Minister galloped around the ranch on a thoroughbred stallion and attempted to lasso livestock." The mind boggles.
"Liberal Democrat Culture spokesman Don Foster said: 'This is becoming more unbelievable than the plot of a Spaghetti Western.'Under ministerial rules, all gifts worth more than £140 are counted as Government property.'" So now they can all join in the fun.
The Other Side of the Street
The Grauniad reports that Ms Rooney – the pensioner jailed and released following her dispute with Derby city council over maintenance of her street – has a history of non-compliance with the council over the upkeep of her own properties.
"Council records show she has owned at least five properties in the street, renting them out as houses of multiple occupation. In 1992 Ms Rooney was receiving around £12,000 a year rent from one property alone. For at least six years after acquiring the properties in the mid-80s, her registered address was in London. She moved back to the area six years ago.
"The records show that at least nine notices have been served on her properties requiring work to bring them up to an acceptable standard, at least four of which she failed to comply with in the designated time. One notice listed 58 separate items requiring attention in a single property. Ms Rooney disposed of most of her portfolio around 1994-95, retaining only the house in which she lives.
"But yesterday the council, which has claimed Ms Rooney refuses to attend consultation meetings to address the street's problem, defended itself. "I have no problem joining with her fight against deprivation," said Fareed Hussain, a Labour councillor for the ward containing Hartington Street. "But Ms Rooney has been complaining about properties that have been changed into houses of multiple occupation, and she has been a major contributory factor in that.""
I guess there's nearly always two sides to a story...
Bookham Busybody
Don't you just hate it when people poke their noses in where they don't belong? Miss Josephine Rooney was sent to prison for three months on Monday for refusing to pay her council tax since November 2004, in protest at the problems of prostitution, drug use, litter and graffiti where she lives in Hartington Street, Derby. She has been paying into a savings account instead.
Miss Rooney is a good woman, a pensioner and devout Catholic, who has spent much time helping and feeding the homeless and the drug users in the street (and receiving a Taking a Stand award from Blair's government for doing so). Inviting her prison sentence is part of her protest, to publicise the problems and force the council into doing what it's paid to do.
And now some prat comes along and pays her tax, forcing her to be released from jail. Miss Rooney is very annoyed. "The person who did this obviously had no respect for me or my campaign," she said. Well quite. That person is one Ed McGrath, 68, a retired insurance broker, from Little Bookham, Surrey. A long way from Derby, and Miss Rooney, and her campaign to make things better.
Targeting Honours
I suppose it depends how you look at it. The Telegraph reports this morning that "High-profile but uncontroversial figures... receive awards today in a deliberately low-key Queen's Birthday Honours list." Almost as an afterthought, the final paragraph of their piece adds that "The country's most senior anti-terrorist police officer, the Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, Andy Hayman, 46, receives a CBE."
The Times front page headline, on the other hand, shouts "Honours row over shooting blunder policeman", which seems closer to the mark, if you'll pardon the pun. This recipient of the Government's largesse is "facing a disciplinary investigation over his involvement in the aftermath of the shooting dead of an innocent man after the July 7 bombings... [He] was also in command of a disastrous raid in East London two weeks ago in which a man was shot and injured, but later released without charge."
Whether or not Hayman deserves the honour for services to the police is not at question. What is doubtful is this Government's outrageously insensitive timing of the award, close to the anniversary of the shooting of Menezes last year, and only days after the trauma of the upheaval of the community in Forest Gate. It's typical of NuLab's indifference to anyone's feelings but their own and their cronies'.
"No Offence Intended"
Asked about the Hutton Report auction at PMQs, Blair said that he believed "no offence was intended." Well, really! I should hope not. He's hardly likely to say: "Actually we set out to offend the Kelly family, and others, and we seem to have succeeded".
In a point of order, Ed Vaizey [Dr Kelly's MP] said: "When the prime minister said no offence was intended to be caused by the sale of that document, I can assure him that it was caused."
How Low Can They Go?
The Beeb and the Guardian report that a Labour Party fund raising event last Wednesday auctioned a copy of the Hutton Report into the tragic death of government scientist Dr David Kelly. The story originally surfaced in the Mail on Sunday at the weekend.
The 'attraction' of this particular lot was that it had been signed – for reasons unknown – by Cherie Blair, as well as by spinmaster Alistair Campbell. Note that Cherie signed it as the wife of the Prime Minister, not under her professional name of Cherie Booth.
To treat such a serious document as a trophy or curiosity – especially when many people considered it a Government whitewash – is in outrageously bad taste, though typical for this government which looks with scorn on anyone outside itself. And what did Mrs. Blair have to do with the report anyway?
Conservative MP Stewart Jackson has proposed an Early Day Motion [EDM 2224] criticising the auction, which we hope will be well supported.
Police Probe Prezza
The Sunday Times reports that a formal complaint has been made to the Met about the Fat Controller bonking in the office. "The complaint has been lodged by Alistair Watson, a retired Glasgow police officer, who... refers to the case of a former constable in Greater Manchester convicted of four counts of misconduct in public office in February... He was sentenced to 200 hours community service."
"The Met said this weekend it would examine Watson’s complaint before deciding whether to launch an investigation."
The Morning After
The papers seem agreed it was a hatchet job by Tony. The broadsheets go with variations on the horror theme: "Blair turns butcher after poll carnage" is The Times headline. The Telegraph runs with "Nightmare on Downing Street".
The Indy predicts TB's imminent demise with "THE LAST STAND: Blair's savage reshuffle", and follows it up with a long explanatory subhead: "After a bad night at the polls, Tony Blair ripped his cabinet apart, sacking Charles Clarke, humiliating John Prescott, demoting Jack Straw – and ignoring Gordon Brown". Inside is a piece by Andrew Grice headed "An act of brutality from a prime minister on the run".
But it's the red-tops that sum up the anger many people – voters and Labour supporters alike – feel about the Fat Controller keeping the perks and losing the job. The Sun puts it best: "NOW WE'RE ALL BEING SCREWED" it screams. Inside it picks up the horror story with "Morning cereal killer Blair" [ho ho], and "It's Butcher Blair". The Express has a more hesitant "No wonder he's so smug", while The Mirror spells it out with "NO JOBS! Prezza is abolished, but gets to keep his homes, his car and his £134,000 wage".
One has to remember that this is the man who will be called on to run the country if TB is indisposed, yet he's not considered good enough to run a department.
Two Slips Brown
Noticed a slight Freudian slip by Gordon this afternoon. Or perhaps it wasn't an accident. BBC News 24 (and perhaps ITV channels – I wasn't watching) showed a clip from an interview with the Chancellor to be broadcast on GMTV tomorrow morning. Commenting on Labour's local election disaster, he says: "What I've got to do now... er, what the party's got to do is to...". Does he think he's leader despite Tony's pretty obvious reshuffle snub? Or have they been talking (and spinning) after all?
And several papers, including The Times, report that GB put a terrorist trial at risk when he disclosed details of the case in a radio interview yesterday. He named the case involving a terrorist suspect who was not deported from Britain after serving a previous spell in jail. Mark Stephens, a human rights solicitor, said: “The trial may have to be aborted."
Tony's Musical Chairs
So the Fat Controller has been relieved of his duties at the ODPM, though he still retains the post of Deputy PM and keeps the fat salary and the grace and favour houses. Kate Hoey (Lab), a former sports minister, said she was "surprised" and "disappointed" that Mr Prescott was still in the Cabinet. "I think people will want to ask what on Earth he's going to get paid for, what's he going to actually do," she told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. [source] Indeed we do.
This looks like a wrist slap for having the affair with his secretary and upsetting people's sensitivities just before the local elections, but there may be something more calculating in the shuffle than that, knowing Blair.
Some rebranding will be needed at the ODPM now that it's no longer the preserve of the DPM. Ruth Kelly will take over his local government patch. Kelly speaks slowly and deliberately, as if she thinks everyone she is addressing is an idiot. This will be, I think, her 6th government job since becoming an MP in 1997. Will she maintain Prezza's enthusiasm for concreting the south east and demolishing servicable houses in the north?
Charles Clarke is sacked for the cock-up over the non-deported foreign crims, a cynical move by Blair – from Clarke's point of view – after Blair patted him on the shoulder in the Commons the other day and several times expressed his 'total confidence'. Clarke is not happy.
Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, nicely summed up his potential legacy: "Mr Clarke may feel harshly judged today but for his anti free speech and ID card laws and for instituting punishment without trial, our children may judge him even more harshly tomorrow." [source]
John Reid takes over as Home Sec. I don't like Reid. In interviews, at least, he comes over as dour and dogmatic and arrogant. Interesting comment on Blairwatch recently about Reid's former friendship with indicted war-criminal Radovan Karadzic. [source] Where do we go with UK ID cards now?
Straw (a previous Home Sec) is demoted from Foreign Sec to Leader of the Commons, after being at the FO since 2001. I wonder why. Was it that chummy weekend in Blackburn with Condi? His place is taken by Margaret Beckett, who likes caravans and flying at the taxpayers' expense.
Almost every other cabinet post has also changed. Except for the top one, where change is long overdue.
John & Jane Play King & Queen
So the Government is paying the Citizenship Foundation to write a schoolchildren's guide to the British constitution [BBC NEWS | New push for written constitution]. We don't currently have a written constitution, so essentially they will have to write it before they can write about it. A spokesman for the Department of Constitutional Affairs denied this was an underhand way of creating a written British Constitution. "We don't want to look as though we want to create one through the back door". Err... no.
The guide is expected to be published in July. I look forward to it with interest.
Community Policing?
Four cheers for the four Welsh police authorities, who have now all rejected the government's demands that they should merge. Charles Clarke has set a deadline of tomorrow for them to agree to merge voluntarily, or have the merger imposed on them. Well, really! So much for giving local people more control.
This week the all-party House of Commons Welsh affairs committee accused Westminster of "rushing", and said it wasn't convinced that one force was the right way forward for Wales. But Welsh Secretary Peter Hain was dismissive, and said that while there needed to be safeguards [that S-word again] a merged force was the "only serious option" to meet modern demands.
Strangely enough, on his website Mr Hain says: "I believe in a participatory democracy in which decision-making is decentralised, and in which each individual citizen is empowered... The task of our Labour Government is an enabling one, not an enforcing one. Our mission is to disperse rather than to concentrate power."
Who Needs Parliament?
The Beeb reports that the new Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill has come under fire for potentially taking Parliament out of the loop when the government wants to change the law. "The bill is intended to allow ministers to axe red tape," it says, "without the time-consuming need for full parliamentary scrutiny." Well, really! Who wants to waste time on parliamentary scrutiny?!
Cambridge University law experts have warned that "the government could rewrite almost any act", adding that the planned new law could allow the government to curtail or abolish jury trial, place people under house arrest, rewrite immigration laws or sack judges. Jim Murphy, the MP for East Renfrewshire and Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, insisted the bill would have safeguards built in. Ah yes, safeguards...
Community Confusion
So young David Miliband, the Minister for Communities, has come up with the bright idea that local people should be given more control over their lives, calling for a "double devolution" from central to local government and then "to citizens". [You always know there's something serious afoot when MPs start talking about 'citizens' instead of 'local folk']. Nice thought David, but I have the impression that everything has been increasingly centralized over the last eight years, so why the change of heart? Nothing to do with pressure from the Tories and Lib Dems, is it?
How does this new policy square with that of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which plans to dump half a million new houses in the south east in the next 15 years (80,000 of them here in Hertfordshire, surprisingly already the most densely populated county in the country) while at the same time knocking down streets of perfectly good Victorian terraces – ripe for cost-effective refurbishment – in the north, very much against the wishes of local people in both cases.
The Fat Controller would also like to do away with county councils, replacing them with massive regional government such as the unelected East of England Regional Authority. He even wants to cancel the 2007 local elections [can he do that?] on the assumption that county government will be dead by 2008 – according to the Beeb, ODPM officials said it was "highly unlikely" the [May 2007] elections would go ahead, not least because "it would not be very efficient to hold elections for a one-year term".
Miliband Speak with Forked Tongue.
However Alan Milburn clarifies everything in a Guardian piece today: "A less deferential, more democratic world is threatening a crisis of legitimacy for the active politics that is the hallmark of the left." Er... OK, got that.
pik ur mp W txt msg?
Monday this week the Lords were debating the Electoral Administration Bill, which among other things aims to encourage more people – especially younger people – to vote. Which is good. One suggestion is to set up polling booths at supermarkets (next to the vegetables, perhaps). Another is to offer voting by text message. Well, really! Is that kewl? I don't think so!
Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat) said it would mean "reducing democracy to the level of Strictly Come Dancing or Big Brother". I agree with the noble lady. Old fashioned as the traditional polling booth may be, with its stub of pencil (do they actually make them that short?) and rickety woodwork, it does create a feeling of taking part in democracy in some way, forcing you to think at least for a moment about where to mark your shaky cross. Going down the pub with your mates and sending the Returning Officer a text after a few pints isn't quite the same.
PMQ Déjà-Vu
Nice to see Tony Blair's old sparring partner William Hague on good form at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons today, after four and a half years away from the front bench. Mr Hague is standing in for David Cameron who is on paternity leave. (Congratulations DC):
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague, standing in for Mr Cameron, joked it was the first time in history all three parties had been represented by a stand-in for the real leader. [A reference to recent comments about a Blair-Brown dual premiership]
Mr Hague questioned why Mr Blair continued to back new laws banning the "glorification" of terror, which he said were unworkable. He accused Mr Blair of "posturing" saying the Tories wanted a "watertight law designed to catch the guilty rather than a press release law designed to catch the headlines".
From BBC News
