Tagged with David Cameron

Just what is Cameron for?

Cameron and OsborneWatching Osborne yesterday on the Andrew Marr show answering questions on whether Britain should bomb Syria and other foreign policy matters, one did wonder where exactly Cameron fitted. Increasingly Osborne, arguably the most formidable politician in the House at the moment, has already assumed the premiership he has coveted for so long.

All the detailed policy-making is now already in his hands, and that may suit Cameron quite well since he, like Blair, has never been one for detail (as PMQs exposes relentlessly week after week). He prefers to be the front man, running with whatever is the latest story, even if it turns out to be the opposite tomorrow. There is no-one so slippery as Cameron so as to be able to somersault every day as though that was the most perfectly normal political routine. But he is no longer the hard man behind it all. And he’s not even able to perform his diminished role very well. Continue reading →

So Tory ministers lying to Parliament is now OK?

TOPSHOTS-SYRIA-CONFLICTThe revelation that British air crews have been engaged in bombing operations against ISIS in Syria for the last 10 months, in strict defiance of a Parliamentary vote two years ago prohibiting this, should be a matter where ministerial heads roll. The excuse given by the Prime Minister’s office that they were embedded with US forces and not operating under a British chain of command is risible. The vote in 2013 was explicit that there was not to be any British military involvement in the Syrian conflict. For Fallon as defence secretary then secretly to allow 20 British personnel, including 3 pilots, to take part in U.S.-led bombing missions against ISIS targets in Syria is direct defiance of a Parliamentary red line irrespective of whether British air crew were operating under U.S. or British command structures. This a very serious abuse of Parliament. If Parliamentary sovereignty is to mean anything, Fallon should stand down or be forced to resign. Continue reading →

Cameron’s one-nation programme: pull the other one!

Cameron (still from Captain Ska video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQFwxw57NBI)Like Thatcher declaring on the steps of Downing Street in 1979 that, like Francis of Assisi, “where there is discord, I will bring peace”, so Cameron in the Queen’s Speech debate has pledged a one-nation Britain – until one looks at the detail and reads between the lines. To take one example, the most recent government statistics show that the poorest 10% of households pay 47% of their gross income in direct and indirect taxes, while the richest 10% pay just 35% of their income in taxes. How is that to be addressed? Further, the higher tax-free personal allowance will do nothing for the 44% of adults, including pensioners, whose income is already too low to pay any income tax. – which is why raising the personal allowances will do more to benefit the well-off than the poor. Continue reading →

There’s more to Cameron’s bringing forward the EU referendum than meets the eye

Juncker & Cameron with EU flagCameron’s reasoning for his sudden decision to bring forward the date of the Brexit referendum on Europe from 2017 to 2016 is unconvincing. He said it was to avoid an embarrassing clash with French presidential elections and German federal elections that take place in 2017. But like so many of Cameron’s explanations, it’s worth unpicking as to what really lies behind it. After all, the date of the French and German elections were perfectly well known when he himself chose the date 2017. It is easy to see that other considerations are more likely to have prompted his sudden change of heart. Continue reading →

Cameron up shit creek as defeat beckons

cameron-ineptCameron’s last desperate throw by rousing English nationalism is clearly aimed at saving Tory seats in areas where the UKIP challenge is pressing hardest, in order to ratchet up the total number of Tory seats which, when combined with likely allies, will enable him to just slip over the line back into Downing Street. On that basis, according to the latest polls, the LibDems might get 27 seats (a drop of nearly half), UKIP might get 1, and the DUP (Paisley’s fundamentalist Protestant party) will probably have 9 seats. Continue reading →