Archive for 2010
Michael Dugher’s letter to Sir Gus O’Donnell over Cameron’s private snapper
04/11/2010, 12:22:08 PMHonesty, forensic scrutiny and playing the long game
04/11/2010, 11:30:17 AMby Angharad Williams
The comprehensive spending review has changed Britain forever. George’s masochistic medicine will prove a bitter pill to swallow. The side-effects may be dramatic: social convulsions, outbreaks of crime and racially charged rioting, feelings of worthlessness and a loss of aspiration.
For the new generation which learnt the human consequences of hard-headed Thatcherism mainly from Brassed Off and The Full Monty, it was the beginning of a practical study in the DNA of the nasty party. It should not have surprised us that a new generation of Conservatives, raised on a rich diet of small state and strong market thinking callously cheered announcements that will devastate lives.
The worst thing about the coming cuts is the sense of powerlessness. We may win the odd skirmish, but the real battle is set for May 2015. Those who decry the “failure” of Labour’s 13 years in power will need to screw their heads back on. (more…)
Labour is wrong on housing benefit
04/11/2010, 09:00:20 AMby Peter Watt
The proposed changes to housing benefit have certainly got people fired up. “Rightly so”, you may say. It certainly feeds our preferred narrative: a heartless government unfairly slashing that which benefits the most vulnerable. There is also no doubt that thousands of families will suffer from a loss in income and in some cases even be forced to move. The full scale and impact of the changes is unknown, but Crisis has powerfully set out the full range of the government proposals:
- Local housing allowance (LHA) rates to be recalculated meaning 774,970 households will lose on average £468 per year;
- 25 to 35 year-olds to be moved down to a share room rate from a one bed flat rate affecting 88,000 people;
- Cutting housing benefit by 10% after a year on job seekers’ allowance affecting 200,000 people;
- Index linking of LHA affecting 939,220 households to the consumer prices index;
- LHA caps for 21,060 households will ensure that no one-bedroom property receives more than £250 in LHA, rising to £400 for a four-bedroom property or larger;
- Non-dependent deductions will be increased from2011;
- Limiting working age housing benefit to reflect household size;
- Limiting total benefit claim by household to £500.
A hard hitting and tough list; so it should be an open goal for Her Majesty’s loyal opposition. Same old Tories, supported by their new supplicant mates the Lib Dems, doing what Tories do best – screwing the poor. And we are certainly putting the boot in with gusto. Ed Milliband has led with it at PMQs and the Labour blogs have been full of technically correct and eloquent arguments that the government is wrong. It is so obviously unfair, the Liberals are split on the issue and even Mayor Boris is worried about the impact. We can’t fail to miss. (more…)
Thursday News Review
04/11/2010, 08:24:49 AMCameron under fire for “vanity” hires
The news that a photographer Andy Parsons, who once worked for the Conservatives, has been put on the civil service payroll, seems to fit a pattern of behaviour over the last few months. Not just by the Conservatives, but the Liberal Democrats too. This would be a serious issue at the best of times, but is especially so at a time when nearly all parts of the civil service are having to make huge cuts. In addition to Mr Parsons there are two other Conservative cases: Nicky Woodhouse, a Conservative film-maker who was responsible for the internet propaganda service Web-Cameron, and who started work this Monday making films for the government. And Rishi Saha, who worked as head of new media for the Conservatives during the election campaign, and is now deputy director of communications in the Cabinet Office (and effectively head of digital communications, in charge of the websites run by the Cabinet Office and Number 10). – Michael Crick, BBC
DAVID CAMERON has taken on two new workers to improve his image – as he prepares to cut half a million public sector jobs. The PM has put Andrew Parsons, who documented his election campaign, on the public payroll as his personal photographer. And a web producer has also been recruited to the civil service to sharpen Cameron’s online messages. Labour leader Ed Miliband said the appointments cast doubt on Cameron’s judgment at a time when he was “telling everybody to tighten their belts”. At Prime Minister’s questions, Miliband mocked the PM’s claim to be making “hard choices” as a result of tight public finances. – Daily Record
Downing Street sources insisted that the appointments would ultimately save money for the taxpayer as they would end the need to hire expensive freelance photographers and film crews. Both Mr Parsons and Ms Woodhouse would work across all departments, documenting the work of dozens of ministers, they said. Two Labour MPs wrote to Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, yesterday questioning whether proper procedures had been followed in making the appointments. Michael Dugher, the MP for Barnsley East, said: “Why is it that when the Government is putting half a million people out of work, Mr Cameron feels the need to recruit someone previously employed by the Conservative Party to be his personal photographer?” – The Independent
CSR analysis: the government’s green boasts were vain and idle
03/11/2010, 03:00:12 PMby ffinlo Costain
Announcements leading up to the comprehensive spending review (CSR) and the review itself were the first opportunity to really test the Tory-Lib Dem government’s sincerity about tackling climate change. As the dust settles we can assess the result.
Labour’s warm front scheme, which provided grants for homeowners to insulate their lofts and cavity walls, is to be killed off. Thousands have benefited from reduced insulation costs, with grants worth around £300 delivered at council level. The result was widespread energy savings. The government’s green deal will replace this scheme. Instead of grants, homeowners will be offered loans to buy goods and services from businesses like B&Q and Tesco to make their homes more energy efficient.
But if many of those living in fuel poverty failed to take the opportunity to insulate their houses when most of the cost was paid for, it seems unlikely they’ll chose to insulate when they have to fund the full cost themselves. The measure also fails to help those living in un-insulated short-term rented accommodation. (more…)
Retired and extremely dangerous
03/11/2010, 11:00:16 AMby Tom Watson
I WENT to see RED at the cinema the other night. It wasn’t, on this occasion, a fly on the wall documentary about our new leader, though it is only a matter of time before that satire is penned.
It was a rather impressive Hollywood action movie with a comic theme: old people can do stuff that we expect young good-looking heroes to be doing. So Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman beat the bad guys in the CIA to uncover the plot. RED turns out to be a comedy acronym for “retired and extremely dangerous”.
The film gave me comfort. Being a gnarled up, 43 year old twice-ex-minister takes some getting used to, after all. It is hard for the likes of Tom Harris and me to come to terms with having a leader who is younger than us. (more…)
Cameron’s taxpayer-funded personal photographer. MP writes to Sir Gus O’Donnell for answers
03/11/2010, 08:00:23 AMDavid Cameron has got his priorities right. At a time of national hardship, with the public purse squeezed until the pips beg for mercy, where does our PM elect to splash the cash?
Save a nurse? Reprieve a teacher? Keep a copper?
No. According to yesterday’s Mirror he has decided to bring his personal photographer onto the government payroll. Andrew Parsons, the snapper who gave us the tasteful, moving and entirely non-exploitative photos of Cam in the Westminster poppy garden, will henceforth being receiving his cheque direct from the exchequer.
Across the land, grateful Brits are breathing sighs of relief.
“I may be about to lose my child benefit, but at least the relaxed yet intimate portrait of David and Samantha preparing their Sunday roast is safe”, said one.
“My son in Afghanistan may not get a proper flak jacket. But the black and white shots of the prime minister looking statesmanlike while on the phone to the finance minister of Burundi will be a morale booster”, said another.
The good news doesn’t end there. According to Downing Street, Mr Parsons, “will work for the cabinet office, not just the PM”. The current minister for the cabinet office is Francis Maude. OK! and Hello! wait with bated breath.
Tom Watson MP has written to the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O’ Donnell, for answers.
(If you can’t see the viewer below, the plain text version is here)
Tom Watson’s letter to Sir Gus O’Donnell
03/11/2010, 07:59:00 AMSir Gus O’Donnell
Cabinet Secretary
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS
2 November 2010
Dear Gus,
You will no doubt be aware of today’s report in the Mirror newspaper that the Prime Minister has taken the decision to appoint Mr Andrew Parsons as his official photographer.Given the current financial climate, and the severe pressure on the public finances, you will be aware that this appointment is the subject of some controversy.
I would be grateful, therefore, if you could answer the following questions: (more…)
Wednesday News Review
03/11/2010, 07:55:27 AMClegg under the cosh
Nick Clegg will today battle to head off a revolt within the Liberal Democrats as the government announces that a cap on university tuition fees in England will be set at a maximum of £9,000 a year. Jenny Willott, MP for Cardiff Central, and parliamentary private secretary to the climate change secretary Chris Huhne, told the Guardian she would stick to her pre-election pledge to vote against any rise in tuition fees. – The Guardian
Nick Clegg faces a mass rebellion as 27 of his 57 MPs threaten to oppose university tuition fee increases. Whips believe the revolt could lead to the return of Lib Dem ex-Treasury Minister David Laws, who quit in May over an expenses scandal. – The Mirror
Buy one get one free
Ed Miliband is planning a “two for one” trip to the registry office to have his name put on the birth certificate of his newborn child – as well as for his existing son Daniel. Mr Miliband’s partner Justine Thornton, is expecting the couple’s second child – also a boy – imminently and the Labour leader intends to take the full two weeks’ paternity leave. Topping his list of priorities for the time off is to register not only the new birth but also that of 17-month-old Daniel – which he failed to get round to doing the last time. – The Independent (more…)
CSR analysis: cuts and confusion are the reality behind the Tories’ tough talk on defence
02/11/2010, 03:18:56 PMby Andy Bagnall
The strategic defence and security review was cleverly timed. By publishing it the day before the comprehensive spending review, one day of bad headlines about defence cuts was quickly eclipsed by reports of the wider savagery being unleashed against our public services.
Casual observers might remember little more than the Tory-Lib Dem government’s perverse plans to build new aircraft carriers but retire the Harrier planes that fly from them, ten years before buying replacements. More interested analysts might even have been musing on the last time a Tory government decided to dispense with carrier strike capability, in 1981. (A year later, Argentina invaded the Falklands and the policy evaporated). But then we were deluged with the news of welfare cuts, arts cuts, housing cuts, any-kind-of-cut-you-can-think-of cuts. And the plane-less carriers disappeared from the horizon. (more…)
