WalesOnline - Realpolitik

The History Boys

2013-06-19T16:32:58Z

AS ED Miliband jumped up for the latest round of oratorical sumo wrestling with the prime minister yesterday the last word he wanted to hear was Yes.
If David Cameron had squirmed and wriggled as he answered questions about banking reform this would have been a Prime Minister's Questions to savour.
But when asked if he supported the Parliamentary Commission on Banking's recommendations on criminal sanctions and bonuses the Tory leader's response was essentially "Yup, yup, yup!"
Mr Miliband pressed for specifics. Would he introduce the measures as amendments to legislation now making its way through parliament. Again, yup.
The PM now fired a salvo of shots at Mr Miliband and the Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, sitting next to him.
He said: "We remember his advice. Mortgages of 125% mortgages from Northern Rock: that is fine. A knighthood for Fred Goodwin: that is fine. The biggest banking bust in British history: that is fine."
This riled the Labour leader who fired back: "We are really not going to take lectures from the guy who was the adviser on Black Wednesday in 1992."
If the next election is about which party has been at the helm during the worst financial crises Mr Cameron will campaign with a grin. He delights in reminding anyone within earshot of the links Mr Miliband and Mr Balls - whom he derisively refers to as "those two" - have to Gordon Brown.
He challenged the Leader of the Opposition: "Perhaps the next time the right honourable gentleman stands at the dispatch box, he will apologise for the mess that Labour made."
"The Prime Minister is asking questions, Mr. Speaker," came the reply. "He is preparing for opposition."
Veteran Labour Dennis Skinner's loathing for the PM spilled over when he got the chance to get on his feet.
He seethed: "On the subject of giving money back, which the Prime Minister has just referred to in respect of the Labour party, will he now explain to the House why when he had a windfall he decided to write down his mortgage at Notting Hill instead of writing down the mortgage on the one that he was claiming for from the expenses allowance in the House of Commons?"
Mr Cameron urged him to "concentrate on the massive problem on his front bench" but he must have been glad when the speaker called a stop to this cross-part grudge fight. Politics has got intensely personal and neither side is in the mood to take prisoners.

"Forget Wales!"

2013-05-21T16:23:08Z

A sparky exchange took place in the Commons today when Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham attacked his Conservative opposite number Jeremy Hunt over A&E waiting times.

Mr Hunt said: "What [he] says would have some credibility if he looked at the facts. Fact: under this Government, we hit the A and E target for last year. Fact: Wales, where Labour is in control, has not hit the A and E target since 2009."

Mr Burnham's response? "Forget Wales!"

Mr Hunt liked that. He said: "[He says] 'Forget Wales,' but why has he never once been prepared to condemn the appalling failures in A and E in Wales, caused by the Welsh Labour Government's decision to cut NHS spending by 8%? What he says would have some credibility were he at least prepared to condemn what has happened in Wales, but he never does."

Cynon Valley Labour MP Ann Clwyd raised a sobering case of how whistleblowers can be treated, saying: "I ask the Secretary of State to deplore the personal attacks that are being made on Julie Bailey, who was responsible for drawing attention to the many deficiencies in Mid Staffordshire hospital. She has suffered personal attacks in the street and has had faeces pushed through her letterbox. We should all deplore the fact that that is happening to such an important and brave whistleblower."

Mr Hunt: replied: "The right hon. Lady speaks wisely, and I completely concur with her comments. Those attacks are totally reprehensible and I condemn them utterly. Julie Bailey is a remarkable lady, and it is thanks to her that the standard of compassionate care in hospitals across the country is going to improve dramatically. We all owe her a huge debt."

Breaking up the banks could unite Left and Right

2013-03-11T16:02:04Z

Plaid Cymru wants to see Britain's big banks broken up - and when the likes of RBS is privatised it spies the potential for a Bank of Wales.

One of the leading economists of the Thatcher era is sympathetic to the idea:

The proposals for the break-up of the banks and the creation of regional outfits was welcomed by leading Cardiff University economist Professor Patrick Minford. He said: "I do agree the banks should be broken up and we want more competition. We want competition everywhere in the regional economies. "It's competition that gets credit going and means banks look at applications carefully... We haven't got competition because these great big banks have been taken on by the Government." He added: "It's a crazy business seeing Government tie itself up so much in knots." However, he warned against over-regulation and did not see the need to split apart high street lending and investment banking. He said: "All this ring-fencing is just raising costs."

PMQs on the Eve of Eastleigh

2013-02-28T12:54:16Z

RHONDDA MP Chris Bryant brought Prime Minister's Questions to a standstill yesterday by shouting the name of a 2008 US vice-presidential candidate.

The House of Commons was on a war-footing, ahead of today's Eastleigh by-election. At the mention of Maria Hutchings, the Tory candidate, Mr Bryant drew comparisons between her and American hunting and oil-drilling enthusiast and conservative icon Sarah Palin.

This got too much for Speaker John Bercow who rose to his feet and pushed the pause button.

"Order," he said. "The honourable member for Rhondda should not keep yelling from a sedentary position 'Sarah Palin'. She at least is not a candidate in the Eastleigh by-election."

David Cameron has a spiky relationship with Mr Bryant, last year refusing to answers questions from the Labour MP after the pair clashed over the prime minister's meetings with Rupert Murdoch.

The PM told Mr Bercow: "If you have any luck in getting the honourable member for Rhondda to shut up, Mr Speaker, do let us know how it is done."

However, Mr Cameron also has a spiky relationship with the Speaker, who came back: "The prime minister shouldn't bother phoning me; I'll phone him in those circumstances."
Caerphilly Labour MP Wayne David struck a much more sombre note when he seized the opportunity to raise the case of Blackwood constituents Derek and Jill Goodwin, both 59, who fear the impact of cuts to housing benefit for social tenants who have unoccupied bedrooms.

He said: "They are both registered blind, and rely heavily on their guide dogs, family and neighbours. Life is not easy for them, but from April 1 it will become even more difficult, because they will have to pay the Government's bedroom tax on the home in which they have lived for 26 years. What justification can there be for that?"

Mr Cameron said he would look at "any individual case" but insisted they did not face a tax.

He said: "A tax is when someone earns money, it is their money, and the Government take some of it away. Frankly, the Opposition have got to engage with the fact that housing benefit now accounts for £23bn of Government spending... We also have to address the fact that we have 250,000 families in overcrowded accommodation and we have 1.8 million people waiting for a council house."

Labour Shadow Ed Balls, with whom Mr Cameron shares not so much a spiky relationship as the one displayed by destruction-bent Simpsons characters Itchy and Scratchy, shouted "Shameful!".

Mr Cameron accused his Labour nemesis of "rank opportunism and irresponsibility."

He had a warmer exchange with Anglesey Labour MP Albert Owen.

The Welsh MP said: "Next month, a big event - alongside the Budget - will be the rugby champion, Wales, playing England at the Millennium stadium. Does the prime minister have the same confidence in England's winning the triple crown as his Chancellor had in our retaining the AAA credit rating, and, as team manager, does he intend to change his economic team to avoid further humiliation and a triple-dip recession?"

Mr Cameron, who had earlier told UK Labour leader Ed Miliband the downgrade meant the Government would "have to go further and faster on reducing the deficit," played it safe.

He said: "There is a difficult record of prime ministers' endorsing various rugby or football teams, so I do not plan to do that. All I will say is that I am very proud of the fact that, on St David's day, the Welsh flag will be flying above Downing street, as it should be - and, when it comes to the rugby, may the best team win."

Moments later, MPs fled the chamber to jump into the celebrity grudge match better known as the battle for Eastleigh.

Surge in Plaid donations

2013-02-21T13:58:03Z

Plaid Cymru has experienced a surge in donations, according to the latest data from the Electoral Commission.

Donations in 2011, excluding public funds, totalled just £27,067. Last year the party was given £97,917. That's a 262% increase.

Is this boost from bequests, small donations, big gifts, celebrity donors...?

Plaid are tight-lipped at moment, but there must be smiles at Ty Gwynfor.

Rhuanedd Richards, the party's chief executive, said: "Plaid Cymru is able to work towards building a better future for our nation because of the kind donations of our members and supporters throughout Wales. We are very grateful to them, and we will have to continue to build on this as we prepare for 2016. There is a tremendous amount of excitement in the party at the moment - a popular new leader has brought renewed energy, determination and focus to our campaigning. The generosity of our members and supporters is also driven by their determination to see a new Welsh government at the helm in 2016 which is focused on creating jobs; providing high standard health and care services for our citizens and raising standards in education."

When talk of tax powers for Wales got Ed Balls into hot water

2013-02-07T18:37:24Z

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls told me today how comments made on a Radio 5 phone-in when he was a Treasury minister once landed him in hot water with Welsh MPs.

"Nicky Campbell says, 'What do you think about tax-raising powers for Wales, it's in this report?' I said, 'Well, I always thought it was quite a good idea.' In the end, if you're going to have devolution you've got to have accountability...
"[My adviser] finds three hours later we're leading the news in Wales: 'Treasury calls for tax powers for Welsh Assembly.' And the whole Welsh Labour party rises up... 'It's not what we want!'
"It made me very unpopular for a few months with the Welsh PLP who thought it was a terribly bad idea but the debate's moved on, hasn't it, and now you've had the [Silk Commission] that has recommended there should be Scottish-style powers and a referendum and I think it sounds like an important thing now for us to discuss."

David Lloyd George Anniversary Celebrations

2013-01-18T10:12:56Z

Politicians from across Britain's political divides gathered yesterday to honour the 150th anniversary of the birth of Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George.

The Gwalia Male Voice Choir performed in Westminster Hall's chapel at a bilingual service celebrating the life of the Welshman who led Britain during World War I.

At a subsequent reception former Labour Welsh Secretary Lord Morris of Aberavon described Lloyd George as a "boyhood hero," saying: "We as developers of the welfare state owe so much to he who pioneered it."

Former Conservative deputy prime minister Lord Howe of Aberavon, 86, said his father knew Lloyd George, and paid tribute to the social reforms of the war leader, describing him as a "successful peacemonger".

Liberal Democrat Wales Office minister Jenny Randerson, said: "Of all the prime ministers I studied it was Lloyd George who inspired me."

She praised him for restoring trade union political rights, raising the school leaving age, providing Government housing and pioneering unemployment insurance.

Plaid Cymru Arfon MP Hywel Williams said: "He was genuinely a man of his people and is remembered as so."

Lloyd George's grandson, Viscount Tenby, acknowledged that members of the family had joined all of Wales' four main parties.

He thanked the organisers of the tribute and said he hoped it was not "too fanciful" to imagine Lloyd George joining in the hymns in the chapel service at Westminster Hall.

The late prime minister was the second Welshman to be honoured in the Westminster's Jubilee rooms yesterday.

Earlier, a tribute was paid to the 19th century anti-slavery and anti-war campaigner Henry Richard, a former Liberal MP for Merthyr.

Gwyn Griffiths, author of Henry Richard: Apostle of Peace and Welsh Patriot, said that when Richard's opposition to the Crimean war led to him being labelled a "emissary of the czar" he replied he was an "emissary of the prince of peace."

Plaid's Mr Williams said Lloyd George had described Richard as the "greatest Welshman of all time who will be remembered in 1,000 years when all of us are forgotten."

A Modern Class War

2012-12-12T18:41:01Z

The House of Commons is packed each Wednesday by a baying crowd relishing the latest cage-fight in the great British class war.

Yes, Oxford-educated former Harvard lecturer Ed Miliband in the role of chief proletariat gladiator is a surprising casting decision but when he has Old Etonian David Cameron in his sights his indignation is hotter than a Vindaloo on Venus.

But the Conservative leader is also incensed by the high-volume hectoring from Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls. These hyper-educated men find much to loath in one another.
Mr Cameron may have the nickname Flashman but he regards Mr Balls, long a key aide to Gordon Brown, as a bully. Things boiled over this afternoon.

Mr Cameron snapped: "I am surprised that the shadow Chancellor is shouting again this week, because we learned last week that like bullies all over the world, he can dish it out but he cannot take it. He never learns."

Mr Miliband shot back with a reference to the elite Oxford dining club that counted Mr Cameron among its members. "I must say, I have heard everything when the boy from the Bullingdon club lectures people on bullying," he said. "Absolutely extraordinary. Have you wrecked a restaurant recently?"

A visiting sociologist would have loved this. These men may all be high-earners who attended top universities and have married hugely successful wives but the sharp edges of Britain's enduring class divisions grate against their skin.

Mr Miliband also senses political opportunity. He knows fighting for higher unemployment benefits is not a vote-winner - but if he can make the case that working families will be worse off as a result of the benefit reforms he may be onto something.

Accusing the Government of launching a "tax on strivers," he listed a legion of people he maintains will be hit: "[The] factory worker on the night shift, the carer who looks after elderly people around the clock and the cleaner who cleans the Chancellor's office while his curtains are still drawn and he is still in bed."

In a further strike at the Tory leader, he declared: "They look after their friends - the people on their Christmas card list. Meanwhile, they hit people they never meet, and whose lives they will never understand."

These outbursts redden the brow of the PM, a man who normally feels at ease in urban, cosmopolitan London and can chat with ease with workers on a factory visit.
Prime Minister's Questions rumbled on and backbenchers got the chance to (literally) plug their local cheese, but Mr Cameron was fuming as Messrs Miliband and Balls continued to barrack.

He retorted: "I think the Leader of the Opposition is catching off the shadow Chancellor the disease of not being able to keep his mouth shut for longer than five seconds."
They are supposedly honourable gentlemen but it is hard to imagine them buying each other a Christmas pint. They are political warriors fighting for their lives and nobody is about to sheath his sword.

Carwyn's not for moving

2012-09-19T15:08:40Z

Carwyn Jones was in London today with the UK's other first ministers for a meeting at Downing St about the economy and aviation policy.

Does he get the itch to get the keys to No 10 when he steps through the famous black door?

Certainly, UK Labour is reported to view him as talent worth using on a broader stage - he is, after all, the most senior elected figure in the UK.

But the answer's No.

At the end of our interview he told me: "I see being first minister as a great honour. I don't see it as a stepping stone."

Devolved ministers would rightly bristle at the suggestion the Assembly was a training ground for a career in Westminster. But in Europe anyone hoping to be a Chancellor or President would be expected to prove his or her leadership abilities by governing a region or at least a very important city. A US presidential candidate would not get off the starting blocks without experience as a governor or senator.

And if Boris Johnson is spoken of in breathless tones as a future Tory leader, it would be odd if Mr Jones' potential as a UK leader was not recognised by the left.

After all, he is:

Young - He's just 45 so may well have a quarter of a century in frontline politics ahead of him if he wants it. His career will doubtless have a second act.

Successful - It was not a foregone conclusion at all that Labour would win 30 seats in 2011 and do so well in the local government elections.

Experienced - He entered the Welsh Government (such as it was) in 2000 and was tested in the white heat of the foot and mouth crisis.

A Veteran of a Coalition - He was at the cabinet table during the Labour-Plaid years, which now seem a benchmark for stability when compared with the discord in Westminster; Labour may well have to negotiate coalitions at a UK level in the coming years.

Confident - The barrister's training is on display at FMQs each week and there is nothing in his manner to frighten the Home Counties; having said that, he is...

Not a Toff/Technocrat - He can speak to both trade union and CBI audiences with ease. He plays the role of a rugby-loving family man superbly because he is a rugby-loving family man; like most British people of his generation, he attended a comprehensive school, and he has a wide hinterland.

This is not an endorsement of Mr Jones for the Labour frontbench but when many on the right are looking outside Westminster for talent it would be strange if Mr Jones' party did not do likewise. In a post-devolution United Kingdom it should not be unusual for party stars to move between institutions; it is fascinating to imagine the impact the likes of Peter Hain might make in the Assembly (although the last time there was mischievous speculation such a thing might happen he stamped on it quite firmly).

Welsh Anglicans Inspired by Russell T Davies

2012-09-18T09:08:26Z

Sunday attendance at the Church in Wales has fallen by nearly 50% since 1990 but the Anglican denomination is looking to Dr Who scriptwriter Russell T Davies for inspiration.

According to the official account of last week's meeting of the governing body Canon Mike Starkey (Bangor) "pointed to Russell T Davies as a Welsh role model--he renewed
a tired classic in Dr Who to make it fresh for new generations, proving it is possible to both satisfy the guardians of tradition and engage with a new constituency."

Adam Price's City Vision

2012-08-16T11:57:41Z

Plaid Cymru's Adam Price may no longer be in politics but he can still make quite a splash - as most recently demonstrated with his essay on why the future will be defined by small cities.

Professor Kevin Morgan, the chair of the 1997 Yes campaign and one of Wales' most respected development experts, has warm words for Adam.

He writes:

Adam's article contains a lot of good sense as I'd expect from the finest politician of his generation. I would simply add the following two points:
1. it is ironic that city-centric narratives loom large across the globe when the reality of the matter is that it is the city-region not the city that is the key strategic unit as cities are becoming ever more intertwined with their regional hinterlands in terms of talent flows, transport connectivity and natural ecology; and
2. we should not fetishize scale because it is the successful interplay of scale, skills and sustainability that is the real secret of success in today's innovative city-regions (and the world is not waiting for the Cardiff city-region and the Swansea Bay city-region to get their acts together!).

Love letter to Auntie (or a stroppy teenager)

2012-07-11T09:01:00Z

Montgomeryshire Conservative Glyn Davies gave a passionate tribute to the BBC yesterday. He has a love/hate relationship with it, with the emphasis very much on the love.

He said in a Westminster Hall debate: "I love the BBC. I love it as I might love an opinionated, aged aunt or an opinionated teenage daughter. I criticise the BBC; watching it, I often share the frustration and anger that hon. Members have discussed. It raises my blood pressure. I have never reached the stage of wanting to see leading BBC staff members' heads on spikes, but it certainly makes me angry."

And he told his English colleagues Wales has inquisitors every bit as fearsome as Jeremy Paxman: "Hon. Members might try being interviewed by Mr Vaughan Roderick, who knows every bit of information it is possible to acquire for the past 50 years. Anybody as feisty as Felicity Evans will match Jeremy Paxman any day. The BBC in Wales is a hugely important institution. Of course the BBC makes me angry, as it makes all of us angry. It has inherent biases. I am angry about its bias towards European integration, which I often think underpins a lot of what it does. It has a ridiculous obsession with supporting onshore wind, which makes me so angry sometimes that my television has been in danger of my doing it damage. However, we must remember that even if it has a bias, we know about it. If we buy The Guardian we know that it will lean to the left. If we buy the
Daily Mail we know that it will lean to the right. I feel comfortable that I know about the prejudices in the BBC. The message of today's debate is this. Let us hold the BBC to account, and let us criticise it when we think it should be criticised, but let us never forget that the BBC is a fantastic institution that takes Britain out to the world in a way that nothing else does. It certainly takes Wales out to the rest of the United Kingdom, and to the world as well."

More Shandy than Moonshine

2012-07-06T18:11:57Z

I just took a look back at the coalition's programme for government to check the commitment on House of Lords reform (which now threatens to create a crisis for the coalition) and it is of such woolliness you could probably spin a very comfy jumper out of it.

Here's the pledge:

"We will establish a committee to bring forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber on the basis of proportional representation. The committee will come forward with a draft motion by December 2010. It is likely that this will advocate single long terms of office. It is also likely that there will be a grandfathering system for current Peers. In the interim, Lords appointments will be made with the objective of creating a second chamber that is reflective of the share of the vote secured by the political parties in the last general election."

Establish a committee? Bring forward a bill? Is that it? Yup. There's no mention of how the eventual Bill would be debated or whipped. And after a century of attempting to reform the Lords you would think that a coalition that had even the faintest expectation it would achieve change would nail these details down; especially when you look at the pledge to hold the referendum on the Alternative Vote:

"We will bring forward a Referendum Bill on electoral reform, which includes provision for the introduction of the Alternative Vote in the event of a positive result in the referendum, as well as for the creation of fewer and more equal sized constituencies. We will whip both Parliamentary parties in both Houses to support a simple majority referendum on the Alternative Vote, without prejudice to the positions parties will take during such a referendum."

That's what it looks like when you want to make something happen. It's clear that the Lib Dems' humiliating loss of the AV vote and the mortal threat to the party posed by the continuing anger at the tuition fees fiasco has transformed the way it thinks about Lords reform. It needs to make history, fast.

This mission is the equivalent of trying to achieve a moon landing when you have a coalition pledge to build the launchpad but not the rocket.

It's the Economy!

2012-07-06T11:08:07Z

With the House of Commons about to dive into debating House of Lords reform, Westminster engulfed in anger at troop cuts and bankers being hauled before MPs, Monmouth's David Davies has published a reminder that the UK Government's economic programme is driven by a belief that Britain faces a financial catastrophe. His post is here.

It's a timely reminder that it's the economy, not the state of the bromance (if there ever was one) between the Tories and the Lib Dems which sets the political weather. But it's not uncontroversial.

In fact, as yesterday's wild duel between Ed Balls and George Osborne demonstrated, the debate about who is to blame for the UK's lousy economy will define the next election. If how we get out of the hole will be the top question, who put us here will be the second one.

Labour have been willing in past months to admit mistakes, such as not regulating the banks with sufficient rigour, but Peter Hain has repeatedly demonstrated a different approach which may come to the fore. He condemns the "big deceit" - the idea that Labour's policies were fuelling out-of-control debt before the bank bail-outs.

Mr Hain and Mr Balls are MPs who believe that attack is the best form of defence. And if we start hearing the "big deceit" used in more interviews as 2015 nears, we can claim it as a phrase made-in-Wales. in turn, Mr Davies's mid-term defence of the Government's programme may be passed around MPs in need of a crib-sheet.

Welsh Consternation at Electoral Debate

2012-06-26T16:58:22Z

Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith has condemned the decision to debate changes to the system used to elect AMs in a meeting of Welsh MPs next Monday instead of on the floor of the House of Commons.
The Westminster Welsh Grand Committee is due to discuss options put forward by the Wales Office which could lead to half of the Assembly's 60 AMs being elected by the regional list.
At present, 40 AMs are elected by first-past-the-post - the same system used to choose MPs - and 20 are on the "top-up" list.
The number of Welsh MPs is due to be cut from 40 to 30 and Mrs Gillan's proposals would allow the 30 directly-elected AMs to come from the same constituency as those used in Westminster elections.
Labour Pontypridd MP Mr Smith said such changes should require "at the very least" the consent of the Assembly and deserved to be debated in parliament.
He has written to Mrs Gillan requesting this but has not received a reply and was angered to learn "out of the blue" that it is scheduled to be discussed on July 2 by members of the Welsh Grand Committee.
He said: "They completely ignore the time-honoured tradition you try and get consent on these issues."
Mr Smith said that by scheduling it at 11.30am many MPs would have to chose between cancelling meetings in their constituencies and coming to Westminster.
A Whitehall source responded, saying: "We've attempted to get a Welsh Grand as quickly as we could after the green paper was published and I'd have thought Owen and his Labour colleagues would have wanted to engage with that to get their views across."
The source said the committee would enable a full day's debate on the proposals and that the announcement should not have come as a surprise to Mr Smith.
It was not possible to discuss the matter on the floor of the Commons, the source said, due to "competing demands on Government time".