In an interview on US TV today, Brown said he still talks to Blair regularly.
This seems an odd admission to make given the lengths he has gone to, such as the much-ado about Cabinet government, to distance himself from Tony up until now. Perhaps it was just for the benefit of the US audience, or maybe it suggests that the Blair-Brown days are still with us in some form. Time will tell if Tony still has a place in Gordo’s new order…
The news that the US rejected UK protests will not be a surprise to everyone. The lie of Blair’s influence over the Bush administration has been widely acknowledged. But the scale of this particular form of illegal action may take many years to uncover.
A start has been made by Andrew Tyrie MP who has investigated this area thoroughly. Some of what he has found is covered in the latest edition of the TRG’s Reformer.
One of the photos taken at the TRG Summer Party has recently been passed on to me.
It has prompted one simple question: Just what was David Cameron thinking while I was talking?
Tim Crockford, seen lurking in the background of this photo has suggested that DC was ruminating on the nature of my beard. If that is the case, I suspect it is only because he was congratulating himself on his boyish good looks and the fact that he could never grow a beard as fine as mine.
However, I am sure that readers of this blog might prove to have more insight than either of us. Do you have any ideas as to what wheels might have been turning in the Cameron mind?
This is not quite a caption competition, but if there is a sufficiently funny or insightful suggestion, we may well be able to find something in the TRG office that we could send on!
The new Chancellor, Alistair Darling, said in a speech on Wednesday that he wants to simplify the tax system for businesses and individuals.
This would be welcome, but would be a bit of a brave rebuff to his predecessor, Gordon Brown, who more than doubled the amount of tax legislation during his ten years in office. Will Gordo let him do it? This could be a real test for Brown’s stated intention of following a more Cabinet-based style of government.
However, not all has changed at the Treasury. As the FT noted,
“The Treasury declined to say exactly what would constitute simplification…”
Which will make it easier for Darling to say when he has achieved his aim and harder for the rest of us to hold him to account if he does not.
It is rather hard to run an effective opposition to the government of the day when they keep pinching ideas!
Today, yet another Tory policy has been snaffled by Labour. This time, the policy concerned is the introduction of a single force responsible for border controls. While this is clearly a good thing for the country as the policy is a good one, it does make it hard to run an opposition effectively.
The truth is that this is a reflection of the political times in which we live. Policy ideas, rather than objectives, had become one of the main differences between parties that are ever-more managerial in their styles. How things are done is increasingly seen as important as what it is that is to be achieved.
This does underline the sensible Conservative Party approach adopted eighteen months ago, of taking time to think about our policies and not rushing to announce them. If everything had already been published Labour would no doubt have stolen even more of our clothes and left voters sadly bereft of choice at the next election!
There has been some further criticism of David Cameron for going to Rwanda this week instead of walking around his constituency in a pair of wellies telling people he was sorry their homes had been flooded.
Now if he had been jetting off on holiday I might have had more sympathy with that point of view, but as it is I have very little. Cameron is performing a useful task by heading to Rwanda, developing his own knowledge and highlighting important issues. There is little he could have done at home although I am sure he does sympathise with those that have been affected.
I have just appeared on 18 Doughty Street where Patrick Mercer MP was a fellow guest. Patrick has just returned from what he termed a “fact-finding mission” to Iran. The trips that MPs make can unquestionably be useful if organised correctly and should be a vital part of the preparations of any political leader who truly aspires to high office. Sadly, events at home have shadowed some of the points that the Cameron visit had hoped to highlight such as the need to remove trade barriers to help African countries develop economically and the well-timed release of Peter Lilley’s excellent report on reducing global poverty. Sadly, the media could have adopted a less cynical and more aspirational approach to this event, but such is not their way.
Anyone who has any doubts about the value of trip such as this should read Iain Dale’s account or the comments from the Guardian’s Will Woodward. On behalf of the TRG, well done to Andrew Mitchell MP, his team and all of those at CCHQ that put this trip together. We hope it leads to the actions that are so desperately needed.
There was a story in the Sunday Telegraph, yesterday, suggesting that David Cameron may come to face a leadership challenge.
I have no inside knowledge to be able to test the validity of this story. However, it would seem to me a strange one if it is true. There are, no doubt, those who are critical of the mode the Conservative Party has developed over the last eighteen months under Cameron’s leadership.
However, Cameron’s course remains broadly correct. That is not to say that there have not been mistakes, and there are always likely to be more in future. Many moderate party members are upset at some policy announcements at least as much as some of the more extreme members. Such is the stuff of political life and none of us can have everything we want. The best result for all Conservatives, though, is to remember that what unites us is still much greater than that which divides us and all of us are better off with a Conservative Prime Minister. David Cameron is the best chance we have of reaching that goal.
What is sickening, is it is many of the same individuals that criticised John Major during his time as party leader who are involved in causing trouble now. They have not learnt the damage that this does in the minds of the electorate. They have not learnt that such brick throwing causes only resentment and makes no positive contribution to the political debate within the party or beyond. In eighteen months, Cameron has turned around the fortunes of the party and returned them to the status of genuine challengers. He has earned the right to whatever time he needs to complete his strategy and lead the party into a General Election.
David Cameron was supportive of the TRG in the remarks he made to our members at our Summer Party earlier this month. We remain supportive of him.
So, we now know the results from the Ealing Southall by-election. It may not have been what had hoped for, a second place would have been nice. However, with voters always likely to give Brown a chance now he has finally taken the top job, it was never likely to be a victory opportunity. In spite of this, the Tory vote held up well and the defection of five Labour councillors has meant Ealing is now a top target in the next local elections in three years time.
However, we do now have a moment to reflect on the candidate, Tony Lit.
He attracted some criticism form a variety of quarters. Tom Watson’s blog, tried to smear Tony by saying that he was not on the local election register, only to realise that their own Labour Party had reformed election law to allow candidates to stand using their given name, in this case Tony, while still appearing on the rolls under their full name. More egg on Tom’s face than Tony’s, there.
Tony was also criticised for posing with a photo of Tony Blair. Well, to be fair to him, at the time he was not a Conservative Party candidate but Managing Director of Sunrise Radio. It was the company that had taken the table at what was a local business association dinner at which Blair happened to be the speaker. There is nothing untoward there. If his shareholders were to get value from their marketing spend, getting access to the encumbant Prime Minister and the resulting press release photo, posing with him was a requirement not a betrayal.
A number of TRG members took part in helping one way or another during the election. I was there on election day and was pleased to see what looked like a very hard-working candidate, busily handing out leaflets at the local tube station. Other reports suggest he did a good all round job, particular considering this was his first attempt.
Tony Lit typifies the kind of successful, hard-working kind of candidate the party needs if it is to broaden its appeal. Much of the criticism he attracted over the election period was unjustified and he remains a good benchmark for future candidates.
We wish him well wherever he goes next.
Sir Digby Jones, like me a graduate of UCL, has (unlike me) become a Labour Minister. The odd thing is that, like me, Digby is widely known amongst his friends to be a Tory.
So why has he taken an oath of office?
The short answer is that he is an ambitious man who wants to be seen to have made a difference. Nothing wrong with that, maybe. He has also managed to do so without entirely abandoning his free-market, Conservative instincts by insisting that he will not take the Labour whip.
The question, remains though, how will this work in practise? The answer appears to be that it will be complicated. Will Digby attempt to answer questions on government policy during the press conferences that will be a key part of his job, all over the world. Similarly, will the businessmen to whom he is trying to promote the UK have faith that his word can be trusted. After all, when he talks about the UK’s commitment to a new market, will people believe that he is really “in the loop” on the the latest intentions.
Time will tell whether this was a deft move or a daft one. If it does not work out for him in the Labour Party, I am sure he would be more at home with the Conservatives.
When I recently catalogued the short-list of successes and long-list of failings of the Blair-era, I omitted one major development: the widening of the wealth gap.
I wrote last month about an excellent report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on immigration. Their latest report on the wealth gap makes clear just how the scale of the problem has grown, particularly under a Labour leadership, whose very origins as a Party were based on the idea of reducing and eliminating such problems.
Here are some of the key findings:
What this really means is that political parties of all colours really need to plan more astutely for how they will address these problems. A recent discussion on this blog on the subject of grammar schools made clear just how difficult these issues are to address.
We look forward to seeing what Stephen Dorrell’s policy review group, which is looking into this area, will have to say on the subject but it is something which the Labour administration should turn its attention now or feel ashamed.
The word is that Boris has decided to run as a candidate for London Mayor.
It is understandable from Boris’ point of view. He is a personality with a reputation that goes far beyond Westminster and this is the highest directly-elected office in the land; the one where personal reputation is more important than anything else?
But what does it mean for London? Well, the main point is likely to be the effect it will have on the election itself. Firstly, throughout the primary format that will lead to the selection will now attract vastly more media coverage than it might otherwise have done. With luck, this will achieve some of the party’s aims in employing such a system: namely, underlining the newly open nature of the party and the opportunity for non-party members to participate increasing the chances of selecting a candidate with mass appeal.
Something similar will no doubt happen during the full election if Boris is selected. Ken Livingstone has been a good and bad thing for London. His very forceful personality has enabled him to shape the job and give it more clout than a weaker personality may have done. But that same trait has led him to some dreadful and embarressing decisions, some of which we have previously discussed on this blog.
Taking on Ken needs a big personality, too, and Boris has that. Whatever else happens, you can guarantee Boris and Ken will grab the headlines. If you were a Lib Dem, you’d have to worry about being squeezed, though.
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No Charges but No Consequences?
The news has emerged that no body is likely to face charges in the cash for peerages affair. The BBC’s Nick Robinson has done an excellent job of summarising the whole thing in his blog.
I am looking forward to seeing some of the apologise that are now due from some parts of the media. However, some suspicions no doubt remain and long-term damage has been done to public confidence.
However, I have long thought that this affair was one of the main motivations behind the renewal of the wrong-headed proposals for turning the House of Lords into an elected chamber. Maybe, in the cold light of day, this will now rightfully fizzle out.
More from me on this topic in the autumn issue of Reformer.