Downing Street Cats

Year 12 Politics students who have been studying the decline of cabinet government will be well aware that one proposed reason for this has been the increase in the PM's staff at No. 10. This has increased again this week with the
appointment of Larry, the official Downing Street cat, brought in to solve the growing rat problem in the old building. Larry spent 30 minutes in discussion with his new boss and, although the content of the talks remained private, Larry attacked a news correspondent soon after, which may hint at the Prime Minister's darker side. One thing is more certain however. At just four years old, Larry will likely serve at Downing Street for another 12 years plus so he will probably see off Mr Cameron and perhaps a couple more PMs before his retirement. See here for the history of Downing Street moggies.


PS: This is the first post delivered by iPad!

"Cameron breaks promises to Armed Forces"

Hat tip recently retired Soldier and current Labour Councillor, Alasdair Ross. "The Conservatives have rightly come under some fierce criticism for their failure to deliver the promises they made to the Armed Forces before the election. Both Channel 4 News and the local Ipswich Evening Star asked me for my views on the Tories failure to stick to pre election promises on what they would do to make the Military Covenant law.

Here is my piece that I wrote for the Channel 4 News website:

I am sure today many soldiers will be sitting in their Units feeling they have been used by this Government - not used as in the way they would expect to be used- serving their country in Afghanistan, the Gulf, the Balkans but used by Cameron - as a publicity stunt.

The Tories claimed that Labour had broken the Military Covenant and that they would make sure it became law - yesterday they broke that promise - all we will get now is a report every year about the covenant.

Cameron also probably gained many votes off servicemen and veterans when he increased the operational allowance (an allowance introduced by labour) but what he forgot to say, whilst making his speech in June on HMS Ark Royal (scrapped) is that pay would be frozen and other allowances cut and scrapped. All with far more speed than it has taken to cut the allowances to MP's and the Lords

When I served in the Army, I had a decision to make when my daughter reached 11, would I put her in boarding school or move back to my home town. I chose my home town and I was able to do with help from the army through the 'Over 37' package, this gave me assistance in getting home once a month to see my family, and for them to settle down before I had to leave the forces at 40. that package is to be scrapped and also the boarding school allowance is to be cut.

So the only choice would be to leave your child in a Forces school, and that mean every two years they would change school- so much for looking after Forces families. There was talk from the Tories of paying for soldiers children to go to university, well if a child has to move schools every two years there would be little possibility if any child gained the academic qualifications to get into university.

Today many of my ex comrades feel used- used by Cameron in a cheap election gimmick.

On the Channel 4 News blog here, you can read by piece".

The ‘Brokeback Coalition’, is it for real?

When the Conservative party formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats after the May 2010 election failed to supply Tories with their much desired majority, I don’t think any of us quite expected the public ‘bromance’ between David Cameron and Nick Clegg which blossomed almost immediately afterwards. Despite casually insulting each other and their party’s policies throughout the election campaign, with Cameron once calling Clegg his ‘favourite joke’, especially on the three live television debates, Cameron and Clegg appeared to immediately put the past behind them and get stuck in on the small matter of running the country.

Although in the public interest this may be, some, including myself may perceive this as a desperate move by the power starved Lib Dem’s, to seize what may be their first and last opportunity to be in power and influence UK government policy. Is the friendship between our Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister built to last, or is it just a ‘friends with benefits’ deal, which is liable to break down when either party’s main principles are significantly compromised? So far, there is no sign of this happening, as the recent bill for the rise in the university tuition fee cap to £9000 has shown that the Lib Dem’s are more than willing to sacrifice their dignity and public support to stay on amicable terms with their coalition partners.

We will never know the exact words exchanged back in May 2010, when Cameron and Clegg sealed the deal and decided to commit to forming first coalition government in 70 years, but one can guess that Cameron’s suggestions were more than likely compromising to the majority of Lib Dem policies. Despite this, it is apparent that the Lib Dem’s are managing to ‘water down’ some of the more right wing policies of the original Conservative manifesto, such as raising the inheritance tax threshold to £1m, which has now been put back, and they will likely hold a referendum on switching to the AV voting system, which was previously opposed by the Tories.

Shunning the criticisms from former shadow home secretary David Davis that this ‘Brokeback Coalition’ is not in the public interest, Cameron and Clegg insist that the phrase does not capture the true spirit of the coalition which is “two separate parties led by two separate leaders, recognising that this country is facing some very difficult short-term challenges”. Only time will tell if this so called ‘sprit’ and enthusiasm for reigniting our economy and bettering our country as a whole can last a full parliamentary term, but so far things are certainly looking promising. There is no doubt in mind my however, that come the next election, whenever that may be, that the popularity of the Liberal Democrats will not compare to that seen in the run up to the 2010 election.

Many thanks to AW for this post.

Telling Cameron No - to Postal Service Privatisation

The CWU are organising a rally and demo in Witney, Oxfordshire on January 9th.  Witney is the Constituency seat of Mr Cameron!

I would suspect that the privatisation of Posties is a live political issue in such a predominantly rural and agricultural area.  I'm pretty sure the Post Office does not make any money here from running an universal service.

Interesting to see how they get on.

See source of Cameron's picture and a previous reference to Whitney here.

Cameron and Lennon

There are two notable anniversaries today. It has been 5 years since David Cameron became the Tory leader, and this article shows some of the highlights of his time in charge. How well do you think he has done, and how significantly has he changed his party? Should he alone take responsibility for allowing the Conservatives back into office - albeit in a coalition?

It is also the 30th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. He was shot outside his home in New York on 8 December 1980, and many people have vivid memories of where they were when they heard the news, because it was so sudden and shocking. This article includes a few of those memories, plus recollections of other sudden historical events, such as the assassination of JFK and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Tom Brook was the first British journalist to report from the scene of Lennon's murder, and he shares his recollections here. A few years ago, John Lennon was included in the shortlist of the 10 "Greatest Britons". Do you think he deserves that accolade? (You can see the programme, presented by Alan Davies, arguing the case for him here)

A 2010 Christmas Carol

In an east London state nursery, staff noticed that a three year old new starter, a little girl, was still wearing nappies.  They were concerned and when the mother came to pick the toddler up, they spoke to the Mum.

Her mother was a single parent who was originally from East Europe.  She explained that the only accommodation she could afford was a small room in a large house full of strangers.  The one toilet in this house had no door on it.  The toddler refused to use this toilet since there was no privacy.  Therefore she still wore nappies.

Extreme poverty and deprivation still occurs in this country.  Not the same scale as in the times of Dickens but still here - and now.  Coalition cuts in building and refurbishing homes, housing benefit, protection against eviction, regulations of HMO's, massive increase in rents and the farming of homeless to the private sector will make things far, far worse.

There was redemption for this family as nursery staff rallied around to rescue Mother and daughter, from the slum and help find them a self contained flat to live.  Well done to them. No Tory "Big Society" saved them but rather experienced and trained public sector professionals - thinking out of the box.

It goes without saying that you could hope against hope that a Christmas spirit would mean that Cameron, Clegg, Shapps and Boris (four guilty men) will change their ways to prevent the "shadows of what may be."

Which always reminds me of the saying "you've got two hopes, Bob Hope and no hope" of this.

Update: Another Christmas Carol

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson risks all to defend London Poor

"STATEMENT issued by the office of Boris Johnson, Mayor of London:

Comments I made in an interview this morning to BBC London radio have been entirely taken out of context. When I said that I would rather share a cell with Slobodan Milosovic than be in the same room as David Cameron, I meant, of course that the Prime Minister has my full and unambiguous support.

It was deliberately misleading of journalists to report my comment about George Osborne being “an incompetent oik” entirely out of context, then ignoring my tribute to George as “one of the best Chancellors the country has had since May.”

As for my reported comments about the entirely reasonable, fair and welcome changes to the proles’ rent handouts, it should be patently clear to anyone with a First in Literae Humaniores from Balliol that my comparison of the reforms with “ethnic cleansing on a scale not seen since the collapse of the Yugoslavian Tourist Board” was simply an endorsement of Iain Duncan Smith’s critical faculties.

So, gosh, well, I hope that clears that up, what?" Hat tip thingy Tom Harris MP "And Another Thing"

Champagne Charlies

For no particular reason whatsoever I thought I would republish links to some of my favourite posts on this blog.

My speech at Labour Party conference in 2009 about the millionaire Champagne Charlies - Cameron and Osborne

This one about the "curse of grayee" following the Daily Mirror exposure about Cameron being found out quaffing £140 per bottle champagne.  This was after he wanted pay freezes on millions of public sector workers who earn less than this amount per week.

Or this post about "how to become a Tory MP" - one way is to bribe members of CCHQ "It was a person I'd bought champagne at the last Party Conference. It was the best £35 I ever spent in my time in the party."

Finally this post on the speech to this year's Labour conference by respected Railway union leader GerGerry Doherty's defence of basic health and safety on the London underground and his attack on Bullingdon Champagne Mayor Boris Johnson.

Tories telling porkies?

Well, someone's telling porkies? If the cuts are really necessary just to balance the books and not ideological then why don't the ConDems promise to reverse at least some of the cuts when (if)  the "good times return"?

Question to Tory blogger Iain Dale on Stephen Nolan Radio show (22 Oct:)"If these cuts are not ideological? why will the Coalition not state that when the economy improves, they will put the money cut back into public services?"
Answer: "That's a given".

Daily Bile: "Yesterday Mr Cameron suggested cuts may become permanent when asked to pledge spending would be reinstated when finances recovered. He said: ‘I think we should try to avoid that approach.’

Guardian (1.44pm 3 Aug)"Cameron has been asked a question about fire service cuts. A woman is worried because she says the local fire brigade had already suffered cuts, and now the government has plans for more. She cites casualties of the cuts and asks Cameron whether, once the austere times are over, the government will review the cuts it imposed and, where necessary, reinstate some of the resources that have been withdrawn. Cameron says this isn't the way he sees it. He says it's going to be tough to implement cuts, but he thinks there is scope to find more efficient and cost-effective ways to deliver services, notably back-office functions. He seems to be confident that there will be no going back..."

The real reason: "It's about ideology, stupid"

Hat-tip Col. Roi

Letter to David Cameron

"In proposing a reply to one’s opponents, in the best Oxbridge tradition, it is traditional to start by finding at least one flattering thing to say of them. This letter is in more of a Roman tradition. I come not to praise Caesar but to bury him.

Was the tone struck at the start supposed to be Churchillian?

“We can build a country defined not by what we can consume but by what we can contribute. A country, a society where we can say I am not alone. I will play my part. I will work with others to give Britain a brand new start.”

Winston was rallying the country to stand up to the Nazi hordes when he asked us to fight them on the beaches, a somewhat more noble enterprise than your government is attempting. You are asking us to bow down to the greed of the financial sector and the bankers who have cost this country dearly, to self-flagellate while you pull the great achievements of Britain down about us. You are defending the indefensible, declaring war on the working people of this country.

Of course the reference may have been intended to be more to JFK, asking not what the country can do for you but what you can do for your country. But you sir are no John Kennedy, more the boy who cries wolf trying to scare us into believing the unbelievable.

Like your Chancellor before you, you are content to lie to the British people, spouting the same old right wing ideology dressed up as urgency and necessity and accepting the praise of the IMF, a discredited body who failed to see the financial storm coming even as the tornado blew in. Your economic policy turns the clock back to the disreputable Tory policies of the 1920’s. Another Great Depression anyone?

But then, when my family were standing in dole queues then, yours and Osborne’s were probably dining at the Ritz. Then, as now, as the song goes, it’s the rich what get the pleasure and the poor the bloody blame.
“Reduced spending,” you say will be difficult, “but lets remember a lot of businesses have had to make savings in recent years”.

But can you answer an honest question? How many businesses have remained solvent while cutting wages, cutting investment and selling off the plant and machinery? But that is what you propose to do to the British economy, isn’t it?

You cannot be serious in asking us to trust your government with the NHS when the White Paper that your party has just produced will dismantle its infrastructure and sell off the component parts to the highest bidder, producing a health care system akin to an American model where treatment depends not on your illness but on the ability to pay, thus ensuring the highest profit for privatised providers?

Please don’t ask me and the rest of the working people of this country to believe you when you talk about poverty. For the Tory Party, poverty is another country, one you have never visited and have no intention of travelling to. I doubt that Mrs C counts out the leckie money, the rent and the council tax from her meagre minimum wage, to see if she has enough left to feed the kids that week. Spare us the crocodile tears.

“Fairness isn’t just about getting help from the state”? Your quote. You said it. What about the help given to the tax dodgers and non doms who fail to pay their way? Why is the state helping them dodge paying their fair share?

You talk of “more freedom for local councils to keep more of the money when they attract business to the area”. At the same time you deprive local government of funds necessary to keep services running. We remember the great cities of this country in the 1980 are when you tried the same tactics. When Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester were starved of necessary investment and they became urban wastelands from which businesses fled. We don’t look forward to time turning back.

We know what you mean when you say, "No more top down, bureaucrat driven public services”. Strip out the adjectives and there is the truth: - No more public services. Strip out the professionals, as you said of the police service and leave law and order to the special constables, the Keystone cops, or the hobby Bobbies. And since we don’t have enough university places or apprenticeships for our young people, let’s ship them to the colonies, sorry offer them “international service". Thunderbirds are go!

I’m afraid your roots as a PR man are showing. Your performance as an international statesman is as convincing as Roger Moore’s in 007. There is no integrity, only bluster and sounds bites hiding the use of political power as a means of ensuring that post war social democracy is dismantled, and that we return a life that is solitary, poor, nasty brutal and short.

So I won’t be heeding you plea “to pull together”. In my world suicide is to be avoided, as bad for the health".

Jane Carolan - hat tip UNISONactive

The Special Relationship

Another interesting Tony Blair drama on BBC2 on Saturday night (on iplayer) starring Michael Sheen, this time on the 'special relationship'. This is the name Britain tends to give to the relationship between the United States and Britain. From the US's point of view, this name is a little optimistic, considering Britain's competition - Mexico and Canada to name but a few. However, it is a subject that both historians and journalists find fascinating. It is a very interesting relationship; made only more so by the recent personal relationships between Blair and Clinton (the programme's subjects) and Blair and Bush. The programme is excellent to give you an overview of the issues that involved the US and the UK at the end of the 1990s, especially Kosovo. Peter Riddell, the Times journalist and author, has also written an excellent book which is very readable and informative on this topic.
What do you think the relationship is between Obama and Cameron? Is the relationship between the US and UK 'special'?

Nick Clegg and David Cameron: separated at birth?

"Listening to Nick Clegg’s speech I am struck by the fact that I could imagine David Cameron giving more or less exactly the same speech, almost word for word.”

Iain Dale: Leading Tory blogger.

Nuf said?

Hat-tip Tom Harris MP

Friday Picture: Cameron's lovely "basin of gravy"

hat tip thingy Political Scrapbook via Rupa.  As translated here.

"Many Conservatives are disappointed and frustrated that after 13 years in opp..."

"Many Conservatives are disappointed and frustrated that after 13 years in opposition, up against a dreadfully unpopular Labour leader, in the middle of the biggest economic slump for 70 years, Dave still couldn’t win an overall majority.

Yep

Hat-tip Tom Harris

Cameron and the future of public housing

Even rabid Tory right winger Nadine Dorries MP has attacked her leader, David Cameron’s plan to end security of tenure for Council and housing association tenants. Nadine points out here that this would not solve the housing shortage and will disincentives tenants. She at least as a child lived in a Council house an experience Cameron and the vast great majority of Conservative Party MP’s know nothing whatsoever about.

It’s clear that that Cameron has been publicly caught out telling porkies about the future of public housing. Everyone in housing knew that the Tories in opposition were planning to attack security of tenure. Check this from Inside Housing

“In the run up to the general election Mr Cameron came under attack from then housing minister John Healey, who accused the Conservatives of wanting to end secure tenancies.

At the time, Mr Cameron said the allegations were ‘simply untrue’ and a spokesperson for the Conservatives said the party had ‘no policy to change the current or future security of tenure of tenants in social housing’.

But today he said: ‘There is a question mark about whether, in future, we should be asking when you are given a council home is it for a fixed period? Because maybe in five or 10 years you will be doing a different job and be better paid and you won’t need that home, you will be able to go into the private sector.’

Nadine is right (never thought I would say that) that this proposal will not solve the housing crisis and will put people off getting training and jobs but if all public housing (Council and housing association properties) are only inhabited by the unemployed or disabled and are only a “tenure of the last resort” then they will indeed become the latest Tory “barracks of the poor”.

I don’t want to be evicting families out of their homes if one of them manages to get a job on minimum wage rates either.

Great Picture from the Daily Mirror

Can this Goat get more followers on Facebook than HM Treasury Spending Challenge?

Hat-tip to TUC new media guru Johninnit YouTube Channel "The UK government's Spending Challenge Facebook page was launched to huge fanfare. Despite a much hyped web chat between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Prime Minister David Cameron to launch the page, one week later it had just 70 fans.

Surely even a goat could do better that! So our goat got on Skype...

Show your own appreciation for the goat at http://www.facebook.com/votegoat "

Big Society comes to Sutton

David Cameron's plans for a "Big Society" will include our borough of Sutton - the only London borough (and one of only four councils) to be included. The idea appears to be that communities will be given greater powers to run their own facilities, such as post offices, libraries and transport services. Sutton itself will concentrate on sustainable transport services and youth projects and hope to be "champions of green living"... Funding will come in part from dormant bank accounts, although it has been pointed out that costs would be reduced if much of the work was now done by enthusiastic volunteers rather than council workers and civil servants. There have been concerns that this is a front to mask spending cuts. Ed Milliband has described it as a "cynical attempt" to "dignify its cuts agenda by dressing up the withdrawal of support with the language of reinvigorating civic society". What do you think about all this - do you think the borough is a suitable place for these plans - and what would you change first if you had the chance?

When Cameron meets Obama...

Prime Minister David Cameron is to meet with President Obama today in Washington. Difficult items on the agenda - Afghanistan, BP and the economy. What have previous relationships between prime ministers and presidents been like and what is the nature of the special relationship? These will be the questions being asked by the media over the next few days and the BBC have created a short clip of video on the history of some of those relationships. The Telegraph also discussed the likelihood of Obama and Cameron getting on last year. However, the trip, and the history of the relationship, is due to be overshadowed by the ongoing concern over the release of Lockerbie bomber Al-Megrahi to Libya and what that had to do with BP. Cameron has now bowed to pressure to meet with four US senators to answer questions about the controversy. The Guardian discusses the issue.

Cameron hopes Facebook can help

David Cameron has asked Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to help the government ask for suggestions from the public about what to do about the deficit. See the mutual congratulations here on Youtube. What do you think - a genuine attempt to engage with voters and young people or a cynical ploy to appear open to debate? Have a look at the Number 10 Downing Street website for more video selections from the government.

Caption Competition

Comments please! (Slightly dated photograph taken from here).