Uk politics

Friday

Charles Moore

Jeremy Hunt’s letter a day to keep NHS myths away

From our UK edition

Attending the funeral of Margaret Thatcher in April, the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was much impressed by the bit in the sermon by the Bishop of London about how Mrs Thatcher had replied personally to so many letters. He went back to his department, and asked it to give him each day one letter from a member of the public which recounted particularly shocking problems in the Health Service. He now uses these letters to dive into the problems that patients experience. It is a good idea, but how alarming that it is a novel one. The Department of Health receives more letters than any other part of government except 10 Downing Street. Is it really the case that up till now, officials have never troubled the Secretary of State with the woes of the public?

Isabel Hardman

Are fracking tax breaks really necessary?

From our UK edition

George Osborne is taking the 'global race' to a new level today. The Chancellor is not just allowing Britain to enter the fracking revolution by unveiling a shale gas allowance, he's also offering the most generous tax breaks in the world for the exploitation. The allowance will mean shale production income will be taxed at 30 per cent rather than 62 per cent. Osborne's own MPs should be delighted that the government is keen to support an industry that could keep energy bills down and create thousands of jobs. But Peter Lilley - who wrote in the Spectator recently about the need to get a move on with fracking - yesterday sounded a note of caution about whether the incentives were really necessary.

Thursday

Fraser Nelson

If David Cameron wants a military capable of toppling Assad, he’ll have to pay for it

From our UK edition

Libya is a success from which David Cameron might not recover. This, at any rate, seems to be the fear of Sir David Richards who has marked his exit as head of the military with a Daily Telegraph interview. He appears to reinforcing a point David Cameron once made: 'I am not,' he once said, 'a naive neo-con who thinks you can drop democracy out of an aeroplane at 40,000 feet.'  The Prime Minister was proved right in Libya: the Tomahawk missiles he fired at Libya cruised at just 400 feet before sinking into their targets which (in Gaddafi’s case) was enough to restrain the tyrant and introduce democracy. Bur Sir David is saying this is not an option in Syria: if you want to topple Assad you’d have to send in the Army.

Norman Lamont

Does the EU really need 32 diplomats in Mozambique? And 44 in Barbados?

From our UK edition

The Prime Minister recently professed himself shocked at waste in the European Union. In particular, he was incensed by an EU-funded colouring book portraying the daily lives of ‘Mr and Mrs MEP’. It is appalling, certainly, but far from unusual. The propaganda that comes out of Brussels has long been full of such idiocies. Some may remember Captain Euro, a cartoon superhero who won sporting events for the honour of the single currency. But if the Prime Minister was looking for truly conspicuous examples of waste, he might turn his attention to the EU’s diplomatic service.

Wednesday

John O'Neill

Economy continues greying as unemployment falls

From our UK edition

As ever there's good and bad news in today's jobs numbers. Unemployment fell by 57,000, but the number of people in employment only rose by 16,000. The figures also show that the greying of the British economy continues. In May there were 8,000 fewer 16-64 year olds in work, and 25,000 more 65-pluses in work. Since the peak of employment in 2008 there are more than 300,000 more pensioners working. There's one more thing that may turn out to be a big positive: Britons put in over 950 million hours in the last three months, that’s 0.4 per cent more than the previous quarter. According to the NIESR, GDP grew by 0.6% over the same period. That means that the productivity of labour - which has slumped during the recession - may be increasing again.

Isabel Hardman

The Lynton Crosby question Number 10 can’t quite answer

From our UK edition

It's difficult to find a Tory MP who doesn't think Lynton Crosby is making their party more aggressive and impressive. The Wizard of Oz has been a good thing. Most MPs think his tough-talking vision for how the party can fight Ukip and Labour rather than fighting one another has made a huge difference. Crosby was hired to advise the party on strategy (as well as swear at people), but the one thing that makes a few MPs want to swear back is the possibility he has had some undue influence over the government's public health policy, which has zig-zagged one way and then another. As James said earlier, this row will keep going, and Number 10 did nothing after PMQs to slow things down.

James Forsyth

PMQs: Cameron cheers MPs with ‘every day this country is getting stronger and he is getting weaker’ attack

From our UK edition

PMQs today was not as noisy an affair as last week. But the opening exchanges between David Cameron and Ed Miliband still had plenty of needle in them: things are becoming increasingly personal between these two. The Cameron/Miliband exchanges were initially relatively even. I noticed a fair few Tory backbenchers having to stifle a laugh at Miliband’s line that Cameron was the Prime Minister for ‘Benson and Hedge funds’. His attack on Cameron’s ‘weasel words’ about whether or not Lynton Crosby had spoken to him about plain packaging, combined with Labour’s call for an inquiry by the Cabinet Secretary, will keep this story going.

Isabel Hardman

Labour could be jumping the gun with early EU mischief-making

From our UK edition

If you've felt your heart beating a little faster than usual, and a strange sense of excitement creeping all over you, it's because #letbritaindecide fever is back in Parliament. Yes, folks, the fun returns, and this time for the committee stage of the bill, from 2pm today. I've already reported Mike Gapes' amusing amendments to the legislation which are designed to cause trouble. He has put a few more down of a similarly mischevious ilk, changing the question about Britain's membership of the EU to a question about whether Britain should join the Schengen Agreement, or the euro. But Labour's frontbench has also tabled some changes to provoke a row.

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle delay leaves Tories dwelling on many reasons to be cheerful

From our UK edition

David Cameron has decided to delay his mini-reshuffle until the autumn. He had been planning to have it this week, and as we reported last week, rumours were circulating about who was vulnerable. But it is sensible to delay. The party is in a serene mood currently. Sacking good ministers and failing to promote equally good backbenchers again will cause strife, and the party management machine will struggle to keep tabs on the really hurt members over the summer. Better to send everyone back to their constituencies in a good mood that will rouse the grassroots a little, rather than brooding about what they perceive to be poor treatment. There are many reasons to be cheerful at the moment if you're a Conservative MP.

Isabel Hardman

The bloody tussle for the moral high ground

From our UK edition

Alan Johnson and Stephen Dorrell have just conducted an impressively reasoned debate on the NHS on Radio 4. This was all the more impressive given both their parties have boxed themselves into corners on NHS care scandals, from which they will continue to lash out today at the last PMQs of the summer. Whether or not Andy Burnham bears responsibility for the hospital failings detailed yesterday, his circumstances significantly constrained his ability to scrutinise the policies the government announced. Because he is in the extremely uncomfortable position of shadowing the brief he held in government, Burnham spent more time defending his own record than he did anything else.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

NHS review: Where did the “13,000 deaths” figure come from?

From our UK edition

There is a lot of rage in Westminster today (beyond the everyday anger exhibited by some of its inhabitants that Parliament contains other people who disagree with them) about the 13,000 deaths figure that has been bandied around ahead of the publication of the Keogh review. It's worth noting firstly that Jeremy Hunt did not refer to this 13,000 in his statement to the Commons, but the figure made its way into the newspapers before the report's publication.  He did say that 'no statistics are perfect, but mortality rates suggest that since 2005, thousands more people may have died than would normally be expected at the 14 trusts reviewed by Sir Bruce'.

Isabel Hardman

NHS political football, full-time report: Hunt and Burnham’s fouls and fury

From our UK edition

Jeremy Hunt's statement on the Keogh review marked one of the uglier Commons sessions in this parliament. Amid shouting, muttering and angry pointing from the Opposition benches, the Health Secretary announced that 11 of the 14 hospitals in the review would be put into 'special measures', while making clear that he blamed the culture the Labour government had nurtured in the NHS, and pressure from ministers to cover up bad news. Labour MPs hated the last assertion in particular, roaring with disagreement as Hunt said: 'It is never acceptable for the government to put pressure on the NHS to accept bad news because in doing so they make it less likely that poor care will be tackled.' Burnham accused him of being partisan and guilty of 'one of the most cynical spin operations of our time'.

Isabel Hardman

NHS political football, half-time report: Crosby and warnings ignored

From our UK edition

Labour and the Tories played the first half of NHS political football this morning at health questions. The scrap began with Opposition MPs asking what influence Lynton Crosby had over the decision to drop plain packaging for cigarettes. It is their equivalent of the Tory attack on union influence, and as such has a fair bit of clout. The first question came from Labour's Cathy Jamieson, who asked: 'Given some of the previous pronouncements by the Public Health Minister I think some of us could be forgiven for thinking that the government's policy has changed in relation to this. And I wonder therefore if she could advise the House, who overruled her support for this policy? Was it the Prime Minister? Was it the Health Secretary? Or was it Lynton Crosby?' Ian Austin had a go too.

Alex Massie

The police use of Tasers is already a disgrace. How many more people must die before something is done about it?

From our UK edition

Another of this blog's occasional hobby-horses is the increasing use by police of Tasers (see here, here and here, for instance). It is remarkable how often these "non-lethal" weapons turn out to be pretty damn lethal. Last week Jordan Begley, a 23 year old with a heart condition, died after being tasered by Greater Manchester Police. As a senior police officer described the incident in which police were called to a domestic dispute between neighbours, "it is unclear what happened but the man suffered a medical episode". Sir Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police added delicately: "Our sympathies are with the family and friends of the man who are going through a traumatic time." I suppose they are!

Mary Wakefield

To infinity and beyond! George Osborne invests in space plane

From our UK edition

Hooray for George Osborne! I never imagined I’d ever write those words, but George has done his country a great service. He’s put £60 million behind one of the most inspiring British inventions of our age: Skylon, a space plane with a revolutionary new engine. When Skylon’s up and running, it'll be able to transport satellites – well, anything -- into orbit for a 20th of the current price, and go at a scorching 3,500 mph. It’ll be the envy of the world – which sounds like hyperbole, but isn’t. The Spectator championed Skylon four years ago, pointing out that the world is on the brink of a new space race, and that the UK could lead the way, if only our government only had the balls to back British invention.

Isabel Hardman

Angry Burnham hits back

From our UK edition

listen to ‘Andy Burnham defends Labour's record on Health’ on Audioboo Andy Burnham was in a furious mood this morning when he toured the broadcast studios. It was hardly surprising: most people would grow rather ratty if CCHQ wasn't just coming after you but briefing that it is coming after you. He angrily told listeners that he did not 'accept this attack on the integrity of the last Government'. He listed all the actions of the Labour government that he believed showed he and colleagues were not in the wrong. That list included: 'It was the last government that introduced independent regulation into the NHS'. 'I brought in Robert Francis to investigate what happened' at Stafford Hospital. Burnham said he overruled civil service advice when he engaged Francis.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Tory MPs see gains on justice and home affairs opt-outs

From our UK edition

Justice and Home Affairs ministers have spent a muggy afternoon in the Commons slogging through several hours of tetchy questions from backbenchers about the government's plan to opt out of European Union justice and home affairs measures, before opting back in to the ones the government has decided it likes. It's at times like this that anyone other than Theresa May, who spent a considerable amount of time hopping up and down to take endless interventions from her own Tory colleagues, would start to wonder whether the party leadership really was a prize worth working so hard for, given the amount of reassurance MPs need on just one policy area. But the Home Secretary and her colleague Chris Grayling remained extraordinarily patient throughout.

Isabel Hardman

Sticks and stones won’t break the Bones

From our UK edition

If you're looking for the big Westminster row this week, chances are you've missed where the real action is. On Wednesday afternoon, MPs and peers will vote again in the elections for chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking. Normally APPG elections are so tame that few MPs outside their own membership even know they are going on. But the APPG on Human Trafficking has had to call a second vote because of a contentious draw in the first election. The group has printed more than 1,000 ballot papers in anticipation of a huge turnout from groups supporting rivals Peter Bone and Fiona Mactaggart. Tensions are rising between the camps, leading to the formidable Mrs Jennie Bone intervening.

James Forsyth

Parking-obsessed Pickles stands up to Norman Baker on fines

From our UK edition

Coalition relations are fairly harmonious at the moment. There is, though, a wee row brewing that embodies the different ways in which the two Coalition parties think about the world. Norman Baker, the Lib Dem Transport Minister, wants to allow all councils to charge London levels of parking penalties. Baker see this as localism, allowing councils flexibility. Tories — led by Eric Pickles and Philip Hammond — see it as a ‘stealth tax’ which will allow lazy councils to balance the books by fleecing the motorist rather than making their services more efficient. They complain that if Baker gets his way, parking fines could rise by 29 per cent across the country.

James Forsyth

Conservatives ramp up the pressure on Andy Burnham

From our UK edition

One of the striking things about politics at the moment is how the Tories are behaving like an opposition, campaigning against Labour with even more intensity than they managed in 2009. The Tories intend to use the Keogh report, out tomorrow, to — in the words of one Number 10 insider — give Labour ‘both barrels’ over the NHS. As one Tory minister puts it, ‘Labour’s argument about Mid-Staffs is that it is one isolated, bad case. Keogh disproves that.’ As part of this, the Tories are going after Andy Burnham. The Tory leadership is convinced that Ed Miliband will move Burnham in the reshuffle, there’s a reason why people tend not to shadow in opposition the job they did in government, and want to be able to claim the credit.