Archives for February 2010

I was talking about Conservatives looking for certainty. The Socialist Workers have it in spades.

OK, they're going back a couple of decades, if not a century, for their inspiration, but listening to the chants outside the Metropole Hotel on Brighton seafront it was really wierd to hear such venom sounding so jolly.

No ifs, no buts, no education cuts! When they say cut back, we say fight back! Job cuts, no way, tax the rich and make them pay!

Maggie Maggie Maggie - out out out!

The constant repetition dulls the impact. Even freshly minted topical numbers seemed to miss the target.

Eton boys, Off our streets!

They're singing to themselves, I suppose. But they really know the beat. Eurovision perhaps?

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There's been a strange atmosphere at the Conservative Spring Conference in Brighton. I suppose it's only natural with so much at stake. Shadow ministers are on best behaviour, but there's a yearning for certainty.

Some argue that the best approach should be to keep cards close to the chest, don't give away policies that Labour could take.

The budget will be a major springboard into the election and Conservatives remember how their ideas on inheritance tax became government policy, immediately neutralising their potency.

Others say the scale of work needed to cut the deficit means being straight with the electorate is imperative. The party should have a mandate from the election verdict and that's only possible if intentions are clearly spelt out.

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Thanks for your great response to our Problems with Potholes feature on the Politics Show.

We were asking if you could keep an eye out for potholes and how local councils were doing at filling them in. Quite a few of you pointed out that hitting a hole in the road is a lot worse on a bike - and Dougie Lawson sent us this cracking shot to illustrate why.

Dougie broke his wrist after a close encounter with a pothole. He goes cycling in West Berkshire and reckons they're a bit slow up there at filling them in.

Will Wilson says the recent bad weather is just an excuse - "the impact was so bad because of the already poor state of the surfaces".

And Jim Owers wrote in from the Isle of Wight to praise the local council for its "report a Pothole" website - he reported one and says "a week later it had been repaired and they had even done some other work nearby".

Do keep those pothole pics coming - you can get in touch at politicsshowsouth@bbc.co.uk - maybe you can confirm what Dougie says about West Berkshire, or know about a quicker bit of filling in than Jim does.

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In the interests of clarity I'll keep this short, with links if you want to explore further, and the video above if you'd like to watch first hand.

You remember that, in response to public outrage at their MPs' behaviour and more, the party leaders offered Parliamentary Reform.

It seemed a good plan, if a tad off the point (paying money back and prosecution being the more pressing demand, I recall)

Harriet Harman is entrusted with the task, as leader of the house. She's told the Reform Committee to accept her good faith, saying "I don't do devious."

But for something straightforward they've chosen some arcane Parliamentary procedure to make the change.

The BBC's House of Commons expert Mark D'Arcy has the detail in an excellent post here.

Let me add a few quotes from our local MPs - who are in the thick of the fight.

From her own party Reading West MP Martin Salter commented:

"It is simply bizarre to allow opponents of reform an effective veto over something both the prime minister and the leader of the House have indicated that they support. I cannot believe there is a single, intelligent member of this of all Parliaments, that thinks it's a good idea to face the electorate accused of being a 'roadblock to reform'. It is time for Gordon Brown to show that he too is serious about achievable reforms which are not only necessary but which have widespread support across the whole House."

"Is she aware that there is a growing feeling that people simply can't take this government seriously on reform and no less than seven constitutional campaign groups are urging her to look again at the procedure for this debate. Will she give a firm commitment that the House will have proper time to get these changes made to standing orders, as the Wright Committee wished, before the election."

In her appearance before the Committee yesterday the derision continued. Oxford West and Abingdon Lib Dem MP Evan Harris angrily interjecting "that's stupid".

Harriet Harman says we have to trust her. We'll be watching.

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These interviews for the Politics Show with MPs who are standing down have been more revealing than I expected. We called the series "Parting Shots" more in hope than in expectation, but it seems the prospect of moving on really does help loosen the tongue.

I thought it was worth posting the full version of Mark Oaten's comments on why he favours a coalition with the Conservatives if Lib Dems hold the balance of power after the election. Bear in mind he has written a book about coalitions and still talks regularily to the party's high command.

OATEN: I would be reluctant to prop up a fourth term Labour government, I'd need a lot of convincing that they had new, fresh ideas and not just leave our country dithering. MY QUESTION: Gordon Brown is offering PR, wouldn't that convince a few Liberal Democrats? OATEN: I think it would be foolish to decide who you support on electoral reform. In the end you've got to do it on whether this government can lead for the next four years. If, for example, you did a deal with Labour on PR and then you prop them up for a fourth term and they prove, as I think they would do, to be a very unpopular government for four years, then you're going to get the blame for everything during that period of time... I don't think Nick's in the business of doing that kind of deal. He's acutely aware that there will be a big responsibility to get the party that is right to govern.

Mark Oaten was shown weeping on TV when he had to re-visit the scandal over his visits to a rent boy, as he took part in the TV experiment "Tower Block of Commons" curently being shown on Channel 4.

The MP for Winchester is standing down at the next election. His local party are struggling to hold the seat as the constituency is divided into two with boundary changes.

It was also interesting to reflect on the suspicion, long held within the wider party, that his ideas on "Tough Liberalism" were just a front for a right-wing agenda.

I remember following senior Tory Michael Ancram around Winchester on the campaign trail at the last election. Apart from from giving me some great tips on interesting novels Ancram was happy to suggest that he wasn't trying too hard that day - that Mark Oaten was really "one of us".

Mark still feels bitter about the suspicion he found in the wider Lib Dem world. "People thought I was a public schoolboy, but I went to a comprehensive. They thought I had a silver spoon, my Granddad was a communist."

But he's now also ready to describe how close he came to picking up the phone to David Cameron when he took over the party.

OATEN: I had a difficult relationship with the Party, they were suspicious of me, and there was a time when I was frustrated by their lack of ambition. I was frustrated that what I was arguing for as a Liberal was just not coming through. I saw what I perceived to be a change in the way that the Conservatives were developing and yes, I was tempted to think; was I in the right party? Should I be picking up the phone to David Cameron and switching? It would have hit a few headlines at the time but was it the right thing? No it wasn't. It took a few a people around me talking about the party and what I really cared about to make me realise.

You can watch the interview as transmitted on the iPlayer for the rest of this week

You need to slide the slider along to 47'30 to jump to the start of the interview.

I'd be interested to hear what you think about his comments. Is he yesterday's man? Or do his thoughts add something to the debate about coalition government?

What does it say about Lib Dem support in the South that he came so close to switching to the Conservatives? It was interesting that he never named the two candidates, Martin Tod and Liz Leffman, that succeed him in trying to win your votes in South Hampshire.

We talked about "all political careers ending in failure" but Mark Oaten is leaving us with lots to think about.

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The public apply one test to their MPs over expenses: Do they get it?

Does this elected representative really understand why the general public are so angry that it seems to be one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us?

And on this morning's evidence there are still MPs for whom that penny hasn't dropped.

You can rule out the big claimants. They had no option. The double-bubble MPs Andrew MacKay and Julie Kirkbride are toast already - though of course they'll get twice the resettlement to help pay the whopping £60,436 they're repaying.

The Duck House MP Sir Peter Viggers gets some sympathy from the High Court judge who's been hearing MPs' appeals for leniency - but still owes £13,245.80 - and unless he pays up David Cameron says that will come out of his resettlement.

Bournemouth's John Butterfill, who claimed for "staff quarters", repaid £17,478 when the scandal broke, but now is told by Legg he only owes £2364. Does he get a refund?

And now we get to the interesting stuff. Three MPs who David Cameron has put in front bench jobs are still arguing the toss over their expenses.

Aldershot MP Gerald Howarth has tried to test the £1,000 limit on gardening expenses and was pleased to get a response that admitted the rules were arbitary.

New Forest MP Julian Lewis is aggrieved he didn't get the full £789 of a washer dryer. Rather than accept the £550 he's been offered from the taxpayer he's asked the High Court judge to get us to pay the rest. The answer was no.

And Oxfordshire rising star Ed Vaizey defied his leader's wishes to dispute the ruling on just £35.42. OK he's a lawyer. Ok he's paid back a lot more than is being demanded anyway.

But shouldn't these people just let it rest, accept that life is unfair, and pay up now?

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They're some of the top scientists in the world. Their latest project has been testing the swine flu vaccine - but Porton Down's Health Protection Agency could now become a victim of that most contagious disease - election fever.

In meetings yesterday the 800 people who work there were told that reorganisation within the Department of Health means they could be switched to Harlow in Essex at the Terlings Science Park, or possibly London or the Cotswolds.

It's come out of the blue. At the end of last year there were big plans to improve facilities at Porton Down, near Salisbury, part of the MOD estate.

It's unlikely a firm announcement will be made this side of an election, but staff had to be warned, and now 800 families have the foundations of their lives turned upside down. Their kids' schooling, plans for a new car or just a holiday are all on hold.

And the uncertainty feeds on itself - when politicians won't be straight about their budget plans administrators have to plan for the worst. Even these scientists can't find an antidote for the disease of political uncertainty.

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