Uk politics

Wednesday

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.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dems face challenge to show Trident review is being taken seriously

From our UK edition

The Trident Alternatives Review hasn't even been published and already the Conservatives are attacking any proposals the Liberal Democrats might have cooked up to water down the nuclear deterrent. The Prime Minister's official spokesman told the morning lobby briefing that the Prime Minister has 'seen no evidence that there is a way of providing an alternative to a like-for-like replacement' of Trident, while in his Daily Mail article today, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond says 'there is no alternative to Trident that provides the same level of protection and ability to deter an aggressor'.

Isabel Hardman

Liam Byrne changes tack to say benefit cap isn’t tough enough

From our UK edition

Liam Byrne's attack on the workless benefit cap this morning is interesting, because he's trying to position himself as tougher than the Conservatives on out-of-work benefits. Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary said: 'The benefit cap is a good idea in principle but it's already fallen apart in practice. Ministers have bodged the rules so the cap won't affect Britain's 4,000 largest families and it does nothing to stop people living a life on welfare. The government needs to go back to the drawing board, design a cap without holes and put a two-year limit on the time you can spend on the dole, like Labour's compulsory jobs guarantee.

Isabel Hardman

Benefit cap’s polling success paves way for tough 2015 promises

From our UK edition

The government's £26,000 benefit cap is one of the most popular policies pollsters have ever come across. No wonder, then, that CCHQ is putting this infographic about to underline the political power of this emblematic policy as it is rolled out nationwide today. Of course, it's not entirely true that Labour supports limitless benefits, as the party is considering some kind of regional benefit cap, with more money paid to recipients in London to reflect the higher cost of living. But Liam Byrne and Ed Miliband's decision to lead the party into voting against the cap in the end makes it very easy for the Conservatives to slap Labour with the 'limitless' tag.

Sunday

James Forsyth

New Tory group ‘Renewal’ calls for union members to be allowed to donate their affiliation fee to any party

From our UK edition

The Conservative party hasn’t won a parliamentary majority for more than twenty years. If it is to start doing so again, then it will have to need to expand its pool of potential voters. Renewal, run by former Policy Exchange deputy director David Skelton, is a new Tory ginger group trying to focus the party’s attention on this problem. It launches tomorrow and, I suspect, that at least one of its idea will immediately catch the eye of the Tory leadership. It is proposing that the law should be changed so that not only should union members have to opt in to affiliate to a political party but they should also have a choice of which party to affiliate to. This would mean that those union members who choose to could donate to parties other than Labour.

Sam Coates

MPs don’t deserve a punishment beating over pay

From our UK edition

Four years ago I was in a windowless room within the parliamentary estate. I was working in David Cameron’s opposition office at the time and a number of Tory political advisers had been corralled into said room to go line-by-line, page-by-page through the expenses forms for all Tory MPs. This was in the middle of the corrosive drip-dripping of expenses stories, and British politics had hit its nadir. Since then I’ve spent a lot of time living and working in SE Asia, which has enabled me to peer at the Westminster ant farm with a bit more perspective. On my last visit back to SW1, just over a month ago, I found it gripped by the Mercer and Yeo lobbying scandals. Disproportionality so, I thought.

Robert Halfon MP

Motorists deserve a full inquiry into fuel price-fixing allegations

From our UK edition

Everybody knows that the price of motoring fuel is too expensive. Often, this is blamed on the taxman: at nearly 60 per cent of the cost of fuel, it is a toxic tax that affects the price of everything. Of course, we should recognise that fuel duty is 13p cheaper in tax terms thanks to actions by the Chancellor, but fuel duty needs to be a top priority for tax cuts as soon as financial conditions allow. But the desire to see lower fuel taxation often means that the wider debate on the price of fuel is overshadowed. This changed in May this year when it was announced that the European Union had raided the offices of several oil giants to look into allegations of price fixing. Many have long suspected that there may be some manipulation of oil prices.