Cameron 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

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Ed blasts Cam

David Cameron today joined the long line of British prime ministers who go to European summits and return, like Roman generals, to declare a historic triumph. It’s just that there is always a suspicious absence of gold, bejewelled elephants, or slaves to crucify along the roadside. In fact we’ve only got his word for it. Mr Cameron adopted a more aggressive tone than his predecessors. The demand for a 6% rise in EU spending was “frankly outrageous” he said, before claiming that thanks to his negotiating skills and crafty alliances, he had made sure the increase was limited to 2.9% or even stalled for a year. This was, Ed Miliband said in one of his rare references to his Jewish roots, “chutzpah” – of a kind his grandmother would have admired. The Labour leader, after some flabby performances, was on sparkly form. The prime minister, he said, was stuck between his old friends and his new friends on the frontbenches. “I want to say to him, very sincerely, we are here to help.” He said this rather in the manner of Michael Howard’s old TV catchphrase: “I’m not going to hurt you.” It sends a shudder down the backbone, like trick or treating children when you’ve just given away the last funsize Snickers. – The Guardian

Ed Miliband tore into David Cameron yesterday over the Prime Minister’s humiliating U-turn on the EU budget. The PM had promised to fight for a freeze but ended up agreeing a 2.9% rise that will cost £430million. Mr Miliband said: “You wished you could say no, no, no, but it’s a bit more like no, oh go on, have your 2.9%.”Mr Cameron claimed he had succeeded in getting a dozen countries to oppose a 6% rise, but ducked a call to guarantee that the bigger increase would not happen. The Tory leader was even heckled by members of his own party. Father of the House Sir Peter Tapsell said: “Is it possible for you to give your country the referendum which was promised?” – The Mirror

Labour poll lead

Labour has moved ahead of the Conservatives after the public spending cuts announced last month, according to a ComRes poll for The Independent. It is the first time that ComRes has shown Labour in the lead since September 2007, when Gordon Brown was on the brink of calling a general election months after succeeding Tony Blair as Prime Minister. The new survey puts Labour on 37 per cent, up three points since a ComRes survey for The Independent on Sunday two weeks ago, just before the Chancellor, George Osborne, unveiled his spending review. The Tories have dropped five points to 35 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats are on 16 per cent (up two points) and other parties on 12 per cent (no change). The figures suggest that the deep spending cuts confirmed by the Chancellor are harming the Tories directly. Until now, the prospect of cuts appears to have hurt their Lib Dem partners, whose poll ratings have slumped from the 23 per cent share of the vote they won at the May election. In contrast, the Tories retained their lead over Labour – until now. – The Independent (more…)

Tory Lib Dem clash over civil liberties

The home secretary, Theresa May, today rebuked the man she appointed as the external supervisor of the review of counter-terrorism laws amid reports that David Cameron fears it is heading for a “car crash”. May made it clear that the role of Lord Macdonald, a former director of public prosecutions and now a Liberal Democrat peer, in overseeing the internal Home Office review was restricted to ensuring that it was being done properly, saying decisions on the outcome were for ministers alone. Macdonald is believed to have written to the home secretary, warning that he would publicly denounce any decision to retain control orders for terror suspects when the review is finally published. “Ken [Lord Macdonald] will go ballistic if the government decides to keep control orders,” one source said. Macdonald’s intervention is acutely embarrassing for coalition ministers. As DPP, he was a leading critic of the campaign by police and security services to raise the period of pre-charge detention for terror suspects to 90 days. – The Guardian

Cabinet Minister’s conduct to be investigated

A cabinet minister faces a parliamentary inquiry into his links with a cocoa magnate who donated £40,000 to his political office. Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, denied any wrongdoing by intervening on behalf of Anthony Ward, a wealthy businessman nicknamed “Chocfinger” who was seeking to get a trade ban lifted. Sources close to the minister insisted that proper procedures were followed. But a Labour MP last night referred the case to the Commons standards watchdog, claiming the contacts between the two men raised serious questions about the minister’s conduct. – The Independent

Boris & Dave

Sources close to David Cameron were profoundly irritated by the Mayor’s words, which they saw as intended to cause trouble for the Prime Minister on a sensitive issue. The same sources said that any further “unhelpful interventions from Boris” over housing would spark a “rethink” over plans to put him in sole charge of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in London, which distributes billions of pounds every year in its role as the funding body for affordable homes. Mr Johnson asked for – and is set to be granted under a deal with the government – sole command of the HCA in the capital as part of the Coalition’s “localism” drive – which aims devolve more powers down to communities. The law is set to be changed under the Localism Bill shortly to be introduced to parliament. Currently the Mayor jointly runs the HCA in London with the organisation’s chief executive. A Coalition source said: “Any more unhelpful interventions from Boris on this issue and we will certainly look again at this agreement, at the very least.”We can’t have him going around shooting his mouth off in this way.” – The Telegraph (more…)

Cameron puts spin on EU back down

Eurosceptic Tories were meant to avert their gaze from a retreat in his campaign to freeze next year’s EU budget as the prime minister hailed his success in winning support from 12 EU leaders for a 2.91% increase in the budget. “As a result of Britain’s intervention, the spotlight has now shifted to reining in the excesses of the EU budget,” the prime minister declared as he hailed a British success in rejecting a call from the European Parliament for a 6% increase in the budget. The prime minister’s opponents saw the letter as chaff when they pointed out that he had been campaigning for a cut or a freeze in the EU’s £107bn budget. Glenis Willmott, the Labour leader in the European Parliament, said: “Cameron is trying his hardest to appear Thatcheresque. While I don’t have much positive to say about Britain’s first female prime minister, I doubt she’d have allowed herself to be caught out in the way Cameron has been this week.” Labour believes the prime minister’s belated decision to champion a position he had been campaigning against highlights the weakness of his overall position in the EU. Cameron is a marginalised figure, they say, after abandoning the main centre right grouping in the European Parliament. – The Observer

There was something very odd about the fiasco of David Cameron’s much-vaunted claim that he was going to bang the table at the European Council and demand a halt to the proposed £6 billion rise in the EU budget. No doubt Mr Cameron had in mind those heroic days when Mrs Thatcher spent five years at European Councils demanding her budget rebate. But the annual EU budget has nothing to do with the European Council. Under the Lisbon Treaty, the real power over this now lies with the EU Parliament, which voted for a 6 per cent increase – although this still has to be agreed with the Council of Ministers, a quite different body from the European Council. That is why Mr Cameron’s bid for glory was not even on the European Council ‘s agenda. If the Council of Ministers is now asking for the increase to be cut from 6 per cent to 2.9 per cent, the Parliament may still gets its way in the end, keeping the increase to the 6 per cent it voted for. – The Telegraph

Mitchell makes “intervention” for donor

A Conservative cabinet minister intervened on behalf of one of the world’s richest cocoa dealers to get a ban on trading lifted after receiving £40,000 in donations from the millionaire’s company to his parliamentary office. Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, reportedly made the intervention after he was asked for help by Anthony Ward, whose firm, Armajaro Holdings, had been banned from trading following allegations that a contractor was involved in smuggling cocoa out of Ghana. The minister telephoned the British high commissioner in Ghana on the issue, according to internal government documents cited by the Sunday Times, despite the fact it involved British business interests overseas, which is outside Mitchell’s remit. Officials in Mitchell’s office also contacted the Foreign Office to say that the matter required “urgent attention”. – The Oserver (more…)

“No great achievement” for Cameron on EU budget

The Prime Minister clashed with BBC2 Newsnight’s Michael Crick over how he could hail a deal that will see Britain hand an extra £430million to Brussels as a victory. Days ago Mr Cameron called for the amount the UK pays the EU to be cut or frozen but yesterday he claimed to have “succeeded spectacularly” by limiting the rise to 2.9%. Answering Mr Crick, the Conservative leader said: “I would explain patiently – as I hope you will on Newsnight – that we were facing a 6% increase. We have pegged it back to 2.9%.” – The Mirror

David Cameron claimed a “spectacular” victory yesterday in keeping an EU budget increase for 2011 down to 2.9%amid calls by MEPs for one of 6%. However, critics pointed out that the Prime Minister had, given the straitened times, initially demanded a freeze or even a cut in the European Union’s annual budget and that a 2.9% rise still meant Britain would be forking out an extra £453 million a year to Brussels. Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, branded Mr Cameron’s “grandstanding” a “complete failure”, saying: “European governments decided on 2.9% in August, so he has achieved absolutely nothing. He’s tried to swing his handbag but simply ended up clobbering himself in the face.” Eurosceptic Conservative MEP Roger Helmer accused the PM of “rolling over” and said the outcome had been “no great achievement”. – The Herald

The Prime Minister had faced criticism for failing to fulfil his ambition to freeze or cut this year’s budget. Instead ministers agreed to reduce a planned 6 per cent increase to 2.9 per cent. “We’ve prevented a crazy 6 per cent rise in the EU budget, we’ve made sure the EU budget must reflect domestic spending cuts, and we’ve protected the UK taxpayer from having to bail out EU countries that get themselves into trouble,” he said at a press conference[…]A 2.9 per cent increase is expected to see Britain’s contribution to the EU budget grow by about £400 million a year. Tory right-winger Lord Tebbit has described Mr Cameron’s agreement to the rise as a “Vichy-style” betrayal. – The Telegraph

Cameron shot by both sides

The Government endured sustained criticism of plans to cut housing benefits led by the London Mayor Boris Johnson, who likened the policy to ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. It faced difficult questions over child benefit reforms and suggestions it was watering down the planned immigration cap. And Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, stole Mr Cameron’s thunder at the CBI by mocking his Tory partners’ lack of economic judgement. As Mr Cameron travelled back from Brussels, the mood in the Coalition camp reflected the reality of running a two-party government in a country with no money. Government sources acknowledge the Coalition faces a “hard grind” following the upheaval of the power-sharing deal and the announcement of huge spending cuts. They are realising that in a coalition, attacks can come from all sides. This week saw not just a Labour onslaught and Liberal Democrat protests, but also an attack from Boris Johnson from the Tory left, criticism from Norman Tebbit from the right and whispers of “chaos” in the Treasury. Labour’s return to the political fray after months of introspection added to the pressure. Mr Miliband has made a confident start as Opposition leader, while Alan Johnson has confounded sceptics with a sure-footed debut as shadow Chancellor. – The Independent (more…)

Boris and Cameron at war, again

The two biggest beasts in the Tory jungle clashed yesterday over their own spending cuts. War broke out after Boris Johnson warned David Cameron he would not tolerate “Kosovo-style social cleansing” caused by axing housing benefits. The London mayor said: “The last thing we want is the less well-off pushed out to the suburbs. “I’ll emphatically resist any attempt to recreate a London where the rich and poor cannot live together. We will not see and we will not accept any kind of Kosovo-style social cleansing of London. “On my watch, you are not going to see thousands of families evicted from the place where they have been living and have put down roots.” The extraordinarily provocative remarks echo the horrific “ethnic cleansing” of thousands of Albanians in the Balkan wars of the 90s. And they sent the Prime Minister – Mr Johnson’s old rival from Eton and Oxford – into a fury. – The Mirror

Boris Johnson provoked fury in Downing Street yesterday as he warned that Coalition reforms of housing benefit would lead to a ‘Kosovo-style social cleansing’ of the poor from city centres. The Tory London Mayor tore into ministers’ plans to cap housing benefit payments at £400 a week, insisting he would ‘emphatically resist any attempt to recreate a London where the rich and poor cannot live together’. ‘What we will not see and we will not accept [is] any kind of Kosovo-style social cleansing of London.  On my watch, you are not going to see thousands of families evicted from the place where they have been living and have put down roots,’ he declared on radio in the morning. – The Daily Mail

Make no mistake about it, Boris Johnson’s rhetorical assault on the coalition’s housing benefit plan is a direct challenge to David Cameron’s authority. The two best-known Conservatives in the country are now involved in a battle that only one of them can win. Boris told BBC London this morning: “What we will not see and we will not accept any kind of Kosovo-style social cleansing of London. “On my watch, you are not going to see thousands of families evicted from the place where they have been living and have put down roots.” What is infuriating the Tory machine is not only Boris’s criticisms, but the language that he is used—which makes Labour’s talk of social cleansing sound positively moderate. The mayor has clearly decided that he needs to be seen to be standing up for Londoners on this issue. I also suspect that he might have decided that there will have to be concessions to appease the Lib Dems and that he wants to be in a position to take credit for them. – The Spectator

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PMQs

MPs ask each other: “How’s Ed Miliband doing?” “Better than we expected,” says a worldly Tory. “So far I’ve not heard a single moan about him, though there is no Blair-like adoration either,” admits one Labour ex-minister. “He’s not doing spectacularly, but he’s certainly holding his own,” reports a nationalist. It could have been a bad moment for the new Labour leader. One month into the job, he faced his third session of PMQs with an advisory memo from party HQ (“mocking humour is particularly useful here“) leaked to the Times to embarrass him. Up to that point Miliband hadn’t actually read it properly, but privately told colleagues later that it was rather good. He duly held his own again against David Cameron, focusing on one policy theme (housing benefit cuts) and showing sufficient brevity and spontaneity – real or contrived – to persuade sceptical Labour colleagues they picked the right brother after all. Most think Miliband has won two out of three PMQs so far – not last week’s on the economy. Polished performer though he is, Cameron has sounded a bit rattled. Miliband’s voice still lacks weight. – The Guardian

Ed Miliband decided to preach to the converted at Prime Minister’s Questions today. He asked about housing benefit. And he won the debating-society points. He had better jokes, an old line about why he asks the questions (“the clue’s in the title”) and won on the substance. David Cameron replied to repeated questions about whether it was right to cut housing benefit by 10 per cent for people who have been out of work for a year by saying that it was fair to limit housing benefit claims to £20,000 a year. – The Independent

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Tories and Lib Dems face backlash over housing benefit cap

A planned housing benefit cap could hit London hard and the MPs are alarmed that they will suffer from the fallout. It has been estimated that some 200,000 people could be forced to move out of London because they would no longer be able to afford their rents if housing benefit is capped. Labour accused Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, of “sociologically cleansing” poorer citizens out of London through the policy, which was announced last week as part of the spending review. A dozen London Tory MPs met to decide to push Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, for an exemption or the imposition of a higher cap than the £400-a-week one currently planned. But there appears little chance of a concession according to senior Government sources. – The Telegraph

Nick Clegg reacted with fury yesterday to accusations that ministers were “sociologically cleansing” the poor out of parts of London with planned cuts to housing benefit payments. A visibly angry Deputy Prime Minister told Chris Bryant, Labour’s shadow minister for constitutional reform, that his comments were “outrageous” and “deeply offensive to people who have witnessed ethnic cleansing”. Last night Mr Bryant said he stood by his remarks on the Coalition’s plans to cap housing benefit at around £400 a week for a house rented in the private sector. Critics say this will force up to 80,000 families out of London and other major metropolitan areas because they will no longer be able to afford their homes. “Personally I prefer to live in cities which are not ghettos,” he added. – The Independent

The government may have to amend its plans for a cap on housing benefit payouts, the BBC has learned. The proposed cap could force people out of cities where rent is higher, some MPs and charities have argued. But Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said people living in areas that many working families could not afford should not expect to be subsidised. A Whitehall source said the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, was listening to MPs’ concerns. The coalition’s plans include capping housing benefit at around £400-a-week for a four-bedroom home, and cutting the benefit for anyone on jobseeker’s allowance for more than a year by 10%. – BBC

Flagship Tory Council spends more than saves

It was billed as Britain’s first “easyCouncil”, a flagship for the government’s town hall spending cuts and a model of no-frills prudence. But it has emerged that the London borough of Barnet is spending more trying to find efficiencies than it is actually saving. The Conservative-controlled north London council has committed to spending £1.5m this financial year on a much-hyped reform programme to help close a yawning budget gap, but it is on course to recoup just £1.4m in savings in the year.The programme is budgeted to deliver savings of £13m a year by 2014, about a third of the total cuts planned by the council. It had been projected to save £3m by the end of the financial year, but Lynne Hillan, council leader, has now admitted the savings will be less than half of that. News of the shortfall emerges days after Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, named Barnet as a pilot for the government’s “community budget” system to hand councils control of all spending in their area free of conditions from Whitehall. – The Guardian

Questions over licence fee deal

The shadow culture secretary, Ivan Lewis, has demanded an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the BBC licence fee settlement following thehastily negotiated deal agreed with the government last week. Lewis has written to John Whittingdale, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, asking him to hold an investigation into the six-year deal. His request follows the agreement last week between the government and the corporation that will see the BBC licence fee frozen at £145.50 for six years until 2017. The settlement was announced by George Osborne in last week’s comprehensive spending review. Lewis wants ministers and BBC executives to give evidence to MPs about how the deal was reached and answer questions about its implications for the corporation’s services. He described the settlement as a “dodgy deal” in parliament this week. – The Guardian

Labour take poll lead

David Cameron has been braced for a reaction to his and George Osborne’s austerity measures. The Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review has, it seems, provided the impetus for Ed Miliband’s party to inch ahead of the Tories. According to a new Populus poll, Labour was one point ahead of the Conservatives on 38 per cent, a rise of one point since September. The Tories have seen their ratings fall two points to 37 per cent in a month. The survey, for The Times, provided an early boost for Labour’s new leader. – The Telegraph

The latest Populus poll is only the third national voting intention survey from the firm to be published since the general election and gives a slightly different picture although well within the margin or error on all three party shares. This is the first time that Labour has been in the lead with the firm since November 2007 and that will surely cheer the Ed Miliband camp. Broadly all three parties are in the same sort of areas with both pollsters who operate in very similar manners. In May the two firms finished with the same ranking of second equal in the polling accuracy table. – Political Betting

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