Tag Archives: coalition

Could the Lib Dems revenge Tories for 1922 Carlton Club rebellion?

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Here’s an intriguing thought. This Friday marks the 90th anniversary of the Carlton Club rebellion of Tory MPs against the coalition with the Liberals. It forced David Lloyd George‘s resignation as prime minister. Could the Liberal Democrats exert revenge nine decades later by bringing down David Cameron in similar dramatic fashion?

The 1922 Tory backbenchers were unhappy with the coalition, especially after it nearly went to war with Turkey in the Chanak crisis. The party’s leaders wanted to continue the coalition, but the backbenchers won the day. Lloyd George was out, never again to hold office. King George V said he was sorry to see him go, but added that ‘Some day he will be prime minister again’. The king was wrong.

The Liberal Democrats have proved spineless in coalition. They broke their election pledge on student fees. They cravenly allowed the Tories to break their own promise not to reorganise the NHS. They have let the Tories wreak havoc with brutal spending cuts that have plunged us into a double dip recession. The list goes on. Will they one day reach breaking point and say ‘no more’?

Sceptics will say it’s unlikely. The Lib Dems face disaster at the next election – so why would they prompt an early election? (Assuming that’s even possible after the coalition legislated for a fixed term.) And the Lib Dem ministers are clearly enjoying the privileges of office.

But who can tell what pressures may build up over the next 30 months. We may yet see the creation of the Liberal Democrats’ 2014 committee, named after the year of the great rebellion that ended David Cameron’s political career…

 

Osborne’s budget: so wrong, so wrong

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Yet another year's budget proves the pointlessness of this annual exercise in politics over prudence.

This year's edition cut the 50% top rate of income tax. but inevitably the Chancellor had to show that he wasn't rewarding the rich. So he took back the rich people's budget dividend with the other hand. Or dd he?

I was against Labour's imposition of the 50% rate. It seemed wrong to take half of anyone's income in tax. Far better to have a universal rate of income tax, and make it the main way of raising money for public services. (By contrast, regressive VAT is little short of evil, as it steals from the poor and benefits the rich.) 

But at a time when the coalition government is making the plight of the poor worse with its aggressive spending cuts it seems criminal to reward the rich. But what would you expect from a cabinet of millionaires?

The theatre of the annual budget is hugely overplayed. Back in 2007, Gordon Brown's cut in the basic tax won the plaudits. I couldn't understand how no one had noticed that the cut had been bought by axing Brown's own 10% tax rate, punishing the poor. I pointed this out in an Ertblog post – Gordon Brown's trick or treat budget. But the political storm only battered Brown a year later. 

We'll see how George Osborne fares in the months to come. 

Why Britain’s new coalition is good news for civil liberties

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One of the greatest disappointments of the 1997 – 2010 Labour government was its appalling record on civil liberties. It seemed to seek every opportunity to extend the power of the state over the individual. Photographers were arrested for taking photos of public buildings. Hecklers were dragged out of the Labour party conference. And successive home secretaries sought to extend dramatically the time suspects could be detailed without being charged.

Much of this was justified under the catch all justification of fighting terrorism. There’s no doubt Britain faced a significant threat from terrorists. But the erosion of civil liberties could not be justified.

So the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition’s promise to scrap ID cards, change the DNA database regulations and reform the libel laws is very welcome. Just this week we had another example of the tyranny of the state, when Paul Chambers was charged and fined under the Communications ACt for making a joke on Twitter about blowing up an airport. Paul was foolish, but anyone with a braincell would have recognised that he was no threat to anyone. But the apparatus of the state was deployed to punish him for a silly joke. Let’s hope a new culture of sanity develops. And the new government lives up to its promises. 

Siân Sargant’s blogpost on the Paul Chambers case, and what it says about Britain’s civil liberties record, is well worth reading.