Ian Watmore - who is now in charge of a Whitehall efficiency drive - gave a scathing assessment of the previous government's IT record.
He told the public administration committee Labour's procurement had been over-ambitious and badly-managed.
The coalition has called a halt to big IT projects to save cash.
In a strategy document published by the Cabinet Office, it vowed to move to "smaller more manageable projects" and said no scheme will cost more than £100m.
It has also promised to open up procurement to smaller firms, who have found it difficult in the past to break the grip of giants such as HP, BT and Fujitsu, who together get about a third of central government contracts, worth about £5bn a year.
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Wednesday 30 March 2011
Tony Blair's former IT chief has said Labour ministers ordered expensive computer projects because they wanted their policies to "sound sexy".
David Cameron dubbed shadow chancellor Ed Balls "the most annoying person in modern politics" during noisy Commons exchanges.
David Cameron dubbed shadow chancellor Ed Balls "the most annoying person in modern politics" during noisy Commons exchanges.
The PM had his dig at Mr Balls as he was trying to answer a question from Labour MP Joan Whalley.
"I wish the shadow chancellor would occasionally shut up and listen to the answer," said Mr Cameron.
He told a grinning Mr Balls: "I may be alone in thinking him the most annoying person in modern politics."
And - with MPs in uproar - he added a further jibe about Mr Balls' supposed party leadership ambitions, saying: "I've got a feeling the leader of the opposition will one day agree with me, but there we are."
Saturday 26 March 2011
Nick Clegg has ordered a rebranding of the Liberal Democrats amid signs that he could face a challenge to his leadership if his party continues to slump in the polls.
The Deputy Prime Minister has commissioned a complete rethink of Lib Dem strategy amid rumblings about his stewardship at the highest level.
Insiders say senior party figures including Chris Huhne, a former leadership contender, have been jockeying for position behind the scenes.
Rumours about Mr Clegg's leadership have emerged after mounting discontent among party members in the country who are furious at the direction the party has been taking in government.
Rank and file activists, who are more left wing than Mr Clegg, reject many of the more right wing policies adopted by their leader since he entered into coalition with the Tories.
The rise in university tuition fees and the speed and depth of cuts to public spending are particular bones of contention.
Friday 25 March 2011
Scottish Tory party was plunged into pre–election turmoil
Senior party sources claimed last night that wealthy donors – believed to include Tom Coakley, a former footballer turned millionaire property developer and John McGlynn, an airport car park magnate – had told officials they would no longer contribute to party funds after Malcolm Macaskill, a Glasgow businessman and justice of the peace, was removed from the top slot on the Tories' Glasgow list by Andrew Fulton, the party chairman.
Mr Macaskill, who was virtually guaranteed a seat in the Holyrood elections on May 5, was kicked out by Mr Fulton, a former MI5 official, for allegedly failing to declare he had been twice been made bankrupt as a businessman – once 20 years ago and again 10 years ago.
Mr Fulton made no mention of the reason for the dismissal in an official statement, merely saying Mr Macaskill had been dropped "following discussions between the candidate and the party's candidates' board".
"As always, such conversations are private and we respect that confidentiality," he added.
The chairman thanked Mr Macaskill for his service and announced that Ruth Davidson, a close aide of Annabel Goldie and a former BBC producer, would be placed at number one on the list.
Thursday 24 March 2011
GRANDMOTHER at the centre of a Commonwealth Games land battle has been evicted from her home in a dawn raid.
GRANDMOTHER at the centre of a Commonwealth Games
land battle has been evicted from her home in a dawn raid.Margaret Jaconelli's two-bedroom flat is on the site for the proposed athletes' village for the 2014 sporting extravaganza in Glasgow.
Mrs Jaconelli and her husband Jack, both 52, were ordered to leave last Thursday following a court ruling but remained in the property on Ardenlea Street in Dalmarnock.
Labour-run Glasgow City Council was granted a compulsory purchase order for the home following a long-running dispute over its value and offers of compensation for the Jaconellis.
There had been several previous attempts to evict the Jaconellis from the barricaded property during an increasingly tense seven day stand-off.
Much of the area surrounding the street is a building site and the vacated flats have their windows boarded up.
Around 60 police officers arrived at the site at about 5am this morning and followed an hour later by a team of sheriff officers.
The eviction took just over two hours with the couple, who had been in the property with other family members, including young children, leaving voluntarily about 07.20am.
As they were taken out the couple said they were disgusted with the way the council had treated them and claimed they were walking away from their home of 35 years with nothing.
Mrs Jaconelli, who plans to run as an independent candidate in May's Holyrood elections, added: "The fight goes on."
ED Miliband and Ed Balls sat on the Opposition front bench with heads shaking, faces gurning and fingers jabbing
ED Miliband
and Ed Balls sat on the Opposition front bench with heads shaking, faces gurning and fingers jabbing – an attempt to knock "boy" George out of kilter.Despite the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke appearing to nod off halfway through George Osborne's Budget speech, the Chancellor did solidify his reputation as a Commons performer yesterday.
He openly admitted at the start of his speech that it was a "fiscally neutral" budget, but he highlighted that now the hard spending cuts had been pushed through, there would be no more.
He then went on to reel off measure after measure aimed at boosting business, building on the Government's plan to rebalance the economy towards the private sector.
There was an acceleration of cuts in corporation tax, tax breaks in 21 new enterprise zones and tax breaks for business that wanted to invest in other business.
Osborne said he would not yet abolish the top 50p rate of tax introduced by Gordon Brown. But he announced a review of the rate – the first step towards scrapping it.
That, along with measures to simplify the tax code, he said, would make Britain a more attractive place for foreign investment.
Small and big business will take a degree of comfort from the budget, but his two big announcements – cuts in the cost of fuel at the pump and in income tax for the bottom half of earners – were aimed at people in the streets.
While both were modest cuts, Osborne trumpeted them triumphantly enough to make his troops really believe this was a budget for growth.
But that is just where Osborne's big show could fall flat – as pointed out by Ed Miliband.
Last year's Budget was about rescuing the economy and this year's was supposed to be the next stage, stimulating growth. But has step one been completed?
The most recent figures showed a 0.6% contraction in the economy, and growth forecasts have been downgraded.
Miliband mocked the coalition for blaming the contraction on bad weather.
It may have been the wrong kind of snow for the economy but it was clearly the right kind of snow for skiing, he said, nodding to the Chancellor's expensive Swiss holiday last year.
If the Government's policies have caused pain so far and have been implemented while the economy shrinks, went Miliband's attack, how can we believe policies from the same source will magic us into growth?
"Belief" is the key word. How well received the Budget is depends on which way your belief swings – if you have faith in the Chancellor and the economy does return to growth, this Budget will be remembered as the one that cements his economic legacy.
If you are faithless and you believe the coalition's cuts have crippled Britain, this Budget will do little to change your mind.
two-day summit of European leaders is seeing David Cameron bid to undermine the developing 'pact for the euro', according to reports
two-day summit of European leaders is seeing David Cameron bid to undermine the developing 'pact for the euro', according to reports.The prime minister is in Brussels at a summit overshadowed by Portugal
's political crisis. The Iberian country's prime minister Jose Socrates resigned yesterday after the Portuguese parliament rejected an austerity package.The developing situation means Britain could face having to contribute £3 billion to an EU emergency bailout, Open Europe said.
While most countries in the eurozone seek to bolster their competitiveness, Mr Cameron will lead a group of northern countries seeking to encourage liberal reform of the EU.
Chancellor George Osborne referred to the moves in his Budget statement yesterday in a section on tackling red tape. He said: "We will take this fight against regulation to Brussels, where... the prime minister is this week recruiting other European allies to ensure our continent doesn't price itself out of the world."
A letter signed by Mr Cameron and the leaders of eight Scandinavian and Baltic states warns against "reinforcing economic decline", the Financial Times newspaper reported.
It quoted a Downing Street insider as saying: "We don't think there's anything there at the moment to be worried about, but it could be the start of a process."
This week's Brussels summit was supposed to have been the culmination of negotiations leading to an agreement on how to prevent the eurozone's debt crisis from spreading any further. The Portuguese crisis has scuppered those plans.
David Cameron did assume that sooner or later some unexpected foreign event would fill the horizon, and that his response might make or mar his premiership
David Cameron did assume that sooner or later some unexpected foreign event would fill the horizon, and that his response might make or mar his premiership. Although he paid very little attention to Libya’s future, he devoted a serious amount of time to foreign policy. With the Afghan and Iraqi imbroglios, there was no option.
Inevitably, Mr Cameron asked himself what decisions he would have taken in Mr Blair’s position. He visited British troops in both battle zones, which did not reinforce his optimism. He was apprised of the difficulties on the ground. The insouciant courage with which our Armed Forces confronted the hazards of conflict made Mr Cameron even more aware of the awesome responsibility of a prime minister who sends soldiers into combat. He would have committed us to Afghanistan; the Western allies were almost united on that. As for Iraq, he was less sure, but was firm on one point. Before ordering soldiers to war, he would have asked a lot more questions (so would Margaret Thatcher).
Arab nations will be doing more to back the military action against Col Gaddafi in the coming weeks
Arab nations
will be doing more to back the military action against Col Gaddafi in the coming weeks, David Cameron has told MPs. He said airstrikes against the Libyan leader’s forces were launched so quickly at the weekend there was not time to garner more solid backing from his neighbours.
However, Arab nations were ‘very strong’ in their support at the action taken, the prime minister said.
He added Kuwait and Jordan would now be providing ‘logistical contributions’.
Qatar has already deployed four warplanes and the United Arab Emirates has offered support.
‘I believe support in the Arab world, not just amongst Arab leaders but also amongst Arab people, for saving lives in Libya is very strong,’ Mr Cameron told the Commons.
Wednesday 23 March 2011
Ed Miliband, for the Opposition, gave such an over-the-top performance that it is hard to imagine him ever being entrusted with the prime ministership.
It is hard to think of any other politician who, a moment after indicating that he has decided to abolish the 50 pence tax rate, would say the words: “We are all in this together.”
How Labour roared at this remark. A wave of derisive laughter broke over Mr Osborne. He remained unmoved, just as we are confident that he will remain unmoved should he ever find himself consigned to the guillotine by a mob of north London lefties during the early days of the Miliband terror.
We would like to apologise to Mr Osborne for the words that follow. It is unkind to reveal someone’s guilty secret, but this column cannot shrink from telling the truth about the Chancellor. This Budget was not the work of an evil, upper-class sex maniac, but of a prudent, middle-class accountant who has gone through the nation’s books and reached some sober conclusions about what can be done to get us back on an even keel. As Mr Osborne himself admitted in a rare moment of candour: “This is a Budget built on sound money.”
Hence Ken Clarke’s slumber, or seeming slumber. The Justice Secretary knew this was a safe Budget filled with undramatic measures. There was no need for him to bother himself with the details.
Less experienced politicians preferred to take Mr Osborne at face value and to treat him as a madman. Ed Miliband, for the Opposition, gave such an over-the-top performance that it is hard to imagine him ever being entrusted with the prime ministership.
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How Labour roared at this remark. A wave of derisive laughter broke over Mr Osborne. He remained unmoved, just as we are confident that he will remain unmoved should he ever find himself consigned to the guillotine by a mob of north London lefties during the early days of the Miliband terror.
We would like to apologise to Mr Osborne for the words that follow. It is unkind to reveal someone’s guilty secret, but this column cannot shrink from telling the truth about the Chancellor. This Budget was not the work of an evil, upper-class sex maniac, but of a prudent, middle-class accountant who has gone through the nation’s books and reached some sober conclusions about what can be done to get us back on an even keel. As Mr Osborne himself admitted in a rare moment of candour: “This is a Budget built on sound money.”
Hence Ken Clarke’s slumber, or seeming slumber. The Justice Secretary knew this was a safe Budget filled with undramatic measures. There was no need for him to bother himself with the details.
Less experienced politicians preferred to take Mr Osborne at face value and to treat him as a madman. Ed Miliband, for the Opposition, gave such an over-the-top performance that it is hard to imagine him ever being entrusted with the prime ministership.
Tuesday 22 March 2011
everyone is jumping on the Royal Wedding souvenir bandwagon, with the father of the groom getting in on the act too.
IT seems almost everyone is jumping on the Royal Wedding souvenir bandwagon, with the father of the groom getting in on the act too.
For £30, people can buy a 250-piece jigsaw to commemorate next month's big day.
The internet store for Highgrove, the heir to the throne's Gloucestershire home, is advertising the puzzle, entitled Catherine & William Engagement Jigsaw, for £29.95.
It is being advertised as "a finely cut wooden jigsaw featuring unique Wentworth 'whimsy' pieces showing the engagement photograph of HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton".
The item is expected to sell well at Prince Charles's official shop.
The puzzle depicts Miss Middleton in her blue Issa dress and wearing Princess Diana's sapphire ring, while Prince William smiles proudly alongside her on the 14in by 10in puzzle.
It is manufactured in Sherston, near Tetbury, using wood from forests managed on a sustainable yield basis.
Profits from sales will go to the Prince Charles Charitable Foundation, a group of not-for-profit organisations of which HRH The Prince of Wales is president.
Diana Circle UK founder members Ken and Josephine Dobson, from Hucclecote, have welcomed the puzzle.
Mrs Dobson said: "I think it's a lovely idea and I'm sure we'll be buying one. We've already bought a commemorative plate from Debenhams.
"We support the boys in everything they do and I've got some lovely letters which they have sent to us in the past.
"I think the Royal Wedding will be lovely, and my husband and I will be watching it on the television, whilst doing our jigsaw perhaps."
A spokesman for St James's Palace said the product was created due to demand for a "variety of products for customers who wish to commemorate the Royal Wedding".
Crown
Last week the parents of Kate Middleton, who run an online company called Party Pieces, launched £3.99 scratch cards to mark her wedding to Prince William.
Each regal card features a crown to scratch off, while getting all the correct answers to questions on celebrities earns contestants the title 'Queen of England'.
All of the stock sold out within two days, forcing the store to contact customers and warn of a delay in sending new orders out.
Other private sellers across the country are trying to cash in on the event, with items including London tube Oyster cards and even condoms going on sale.
Last month The Citizen reported how a special coin was being produced for dealers, which was priced £5 but worth £2 when used to buy items over the counter.
The jigsaw is just the latest in that long line.
Two prospective Tory councillors have resigned from the Conservative Party after being suspended for posting pictures of themselves holding golliwog dolls on Facebook.
'Just a child's toy': Smiling Star and Bill Etheridge with the doll
Married couple Bill and Star Etheridge, who campaign against political correctness, say they were trying to promote ‘healthy debate’ about whether the doll was a racist symbol.
But the pair were summoned before a disciplinary committee after a colleague made a complaint.
Mr Etheridge, 41, who was due to stand alongside his wife for the Tories in the Dudley Council elections in May, has now joined UKIP as he claims his right to express his views is being stifled by the Conservative Party.
What an ass! Blackpool councillor who called fans of town's football team 'donkey botherers' urged to resign
He said: ‘We just wanted to stimulate debate and gollies are a perfect example of an innocent child’s toy that’s been transformed into something sinister by the politically correct brigade.
‘We need to get back to a point where people can say what they think and not live in fear. That’s real democracy.’
The couple, who have been pictured with members of the Tory high command, including David Cameron, say they feel betrayed by the party.
It is not for us to choose the government of Libya - that is for the Libyan people themselves.
In a speech to business leaders in London, Mr Hague said that the examples being set in north Africa and the Middle East will ultimately transform the relationship between governments and their populations in the region.
However following the row over whether Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was being targeted by coalition forces, the Foreign Secretary stated that the Libyan people must be free to determine their own future.
Mr Hague said: "It is not for us to choose the government of Libya - that is for the Libyan people themselves.
"But they have a far greater chance of making that choice now than they did on Saturday, when the opposition forces were on the verge of defeat."
Inflation has soared to its highest level in 20 years, leaving cash-strapped Britons even more out of pocket.
The Retail Price Index (RPI) - which charts the cost of living, including mortgage payments - rose from 5.1 per cent in January to 5.5 per cent.
With average wage increases hovering around two per cent and savings accounts offering paltry interest returns, the figures will be a further blow to family finances.
In addition, the government's preferred measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose from 4 per cent to 4.4 per cent in February - a two-year high.
Soaring inflation rates will pile pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates from their historic low.
Nick Harvey, the Armed Forces minister, was asked how long Britain would be involved in the military operation in north Africa. He replied: “How long is a piece of string?
Nick Harvey, the Armed Forces minister, was asked how long Britain would be involved in the military operation in north Africa. He replied: “How long is a piece of string? We don’t know how long this is going to go on for.”
His admission, three days into the intervention, came as ministers faced mounting pressure to set out the limits of Britain’s involvement and explain their eventual exit strategy.
MPs were becoming increasingly concerned that Britain would be “sucked in” to a prolonged conflict.
Adding to the sense of uncertainty, France and Britain remained at odds over a plan for Nato to take over command of military operations when the US winds down its involvement, a transition expected in days.
In other developments:
Monday 21 March 2011
cost of David Cameron’s war on Colonel Gaddafi was laid bare yesterday.
cost of David Cameron’s war on Colonel Gaddafi was laid bare yesterday.
Taxpayers face a bill of around £3million a day for Britain’s part in the offensive against Libya.
And a US think-tank has put the cost of destroying Gaddafi’s military machine at nearly £500million.
The figures were revealed as Downing Street became embroiled yesterday in an extraordinary row with military leaders on targeting Gaddafi.
The Government claimed he was now a legitimate target for the allied air strikes – but the Chief of Defence Staff Gen David Richards strongly refuted those claims.
With the PM at loggerheads with military top brass after pushing for the Libyan tyrant to be taken out, there was a risk the fragile international coalition could be wrecked.
And the division between our political leaders and war commanders comes as the costs spiral.
That is partly due to the price of our cruise missiles, which can be fired at long distances to take out crucial air defence systems.
Defence expert Francis Tusa said yesterday Britain pays around £1.5million for a pair of air-launched Storm Shadow bombs.
Each sea-launched Tomahawk sets us back about £900,000 a throw. And Mr Tusa, editor of Defence Analysis, said Tornado jets cost £40,000 to be in the air for an hour.
The Royal Navy is also splashing out about £2million a week to station Britain’s warships and subs in the Mediterranean.
Despite the growing expense, Mr Cameron – who has introduced a wave of defence cuts – yesterday refused to even say when it would be mission accomplished in Libya.
MPs have voted overwhelmingly to support UN-backed action in Libya
MPs have voted overwhelmingly to support UN-backed action in Libya, after David Cameron told them it had helped avert a "bloody massacre".
During a six-hour debate, most speakers said force was needed to stop Muammar Gaddafi killing more of his own people.
But the prime minister assured the House of Commons that Libya would not become "another Iraq", amid concerns raised about long-term plans.
The government motion, also backed by Labour, won a majority of 544.
The debate focused on Resolution 1973, passed by the United Nations Security Council last week. This authorises "all necessary measures", short of bringing in an occupying force, to protect Libyan citizens from the Gaddafi regime, which has been fighting rebel forces.
The Commons motion - which was backed by 557 MPs and opposed by 13 - followed a second night of US-led action in Libya, with Col Gaddafi's sprawling Bab al-Aziziya complex in Tripoli among the locations hit.
Fighting continues, with anti-aircraft fire heard in Tripoli late on Monday.
Police officers told a vulnerable man who was harassed to death by local youths to change his own behaviour rather than tackle them
Police officers told a vulnerable man who was harassed to death by local youths to change his own behaviour rather than tackle them, an independent investigation has found.David Askew, 64, collapsed and died outside his home in Manchester in March last year. He had been harassed by local teenagers for more than a decade in what neighbours described as “bear baiting”.
The Daily Telegraph understands that a report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), due to be published later today, has found fault with the way Mr Askew was treated by Greater Manchester Police before his death. Specifically, the report is damning of officers who advised Mr Askew, who was disabled, to change his own behaviour rather than deal with the youths who were harassing him daily. Mr Askew would regularly give local children cigarettes and attempt to converse with them. The report says that officers had told him to stop doing this when they should have been following up his complaints. Mr Askew’s elderly mother Rose frequently complained to police about the harassment of her son. In the year leading to his death officers had been called at least 10 times. The report criticises the force for failing to categorise the harassment as “hate crime” when Mr Askew’s disability meant that his complaints should have been classed this way. And the report will say that the prolonged abuse should have been dealt with at a higher level within the force. Instead it was dealt with solely by neighbourhood policing teams. However, despite being critical of the force as a whole, the report praises individual officers who went out of their way to help him. At the time of his death, it was reported that one officer had regularly visited Mr Askew, even on her days off. The report concludes that while there are lessons for Greater Manchester Police to learn, no individual officers should be disciplined.
Allied jets reduced an administrative building inside Colonel Gaddafi's Tripoli compound to rubble last night in a massive display of firepower.
Allied jets reduced an administrative building inside Colonel Gaddafi's Tripoli compound to rubble last night in a massive display of firepower.
The three-storey block is close to the dictatro's iconic tent and around 300 of the his supporters were believed to be in the area at the time although it was unclear if anyone was hurt.
Libya claims 64 civilians have so far been killed in bombing raids, which have prompted Russia and Arab leaders to express their reservations.
However, Britain is staying on the front foot, with Defence Secretary Liam Fox saying yesterday he would sanction a ‘bunker buster’ attack on the Libyan Gaddafi’s lair as long as casualties could be avoided.
Dr Fox vowed to destroy the Libyan dictator’s entire military infrastructure as senior officials privately admitted they want to engineer regime change.
Two days of relentless allied air attacks have largely destroyed Libya's military capabilities and left troops scattered and confused
Two days of relentless allied air attacks have largely destroyed Libya's military capabilities and left troops scattered and confused, according to a statement from the U.S. on Monday.
The Pentagon said Libya's air defences have been crippled and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's ground forces have been stopped from approaching the rebel stronghold of Benghazi -- Libya's second largest city.
Navy Vice Admiral William E. Gortney said Monday the air strikes have been "very effective," and the Pentagon believes Gadhafi's military is "under significant stress."
The report came one day after a cruise missile smashed into an administrative building inside Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli, as international forces kept up their military bombardment.
It wasn't clear where Gadhafi was at the time the missile landed. Prior to the attack, the U.S. had said the Libyan leader wasn't the key target, but rather the goal was to protect civilians and stop Gadhafi's military advance against the rebels.
Meanwhile the U.S., which has so far spearheaded the allied mission, said it planned to hand the reins of the mission over to Britain, France or NATO in a few days.
On Sunday the Libyan government escorted journalists from at least two major news outlets to the scene of a rocket attack to view the damaged building said to be a Gadhafi command centre. The building stands near the Bedouin tent where Gadhafi has been known to entertain foreign guests.
Friday 18 March 2011
It is better to act than to remain passive.Prime Minister’s tone was exactly right: he sounded calm, sombre, resolute, judicious. His fortitude was marred by no hint of either bombast or timidity.
Prime Minister’s tone was exactly right: he sounded calm, sombre, resolute, judicious. His fortitude was marred by no hint of either bombast or timidity.
Mr Cameron recognised that there is a case against what the Government is doing. He implied that he shares the general Tory presumption against infringing another nation’s sovereignty: “Interfering in another country’s affairs should not be undertaken save in quite exceptional circumstances.”
With impeccable lucidity, the Prime Minister proceeded to argue that the circumstances have become quite exceptional: the three tests (demonstrable need, regional support and a clear legal basis) have all been met.
Mr Cameron did not promise things would be easy: “We are embarked on a difficult course.” But he did assure us, in a less self-righteous manner than Tony Blair would have employed, that we are doing “the right thing”.
Ed Miliband, for Labour, was obliged to follow the Prime Minister and say: “It would be quite wrong, given what is happening in Libya, for us to stand by and do nothing.”
But varying degrees of doubt and trepidation were expressed by backbenchers. Few Labour MPs had turned up, which might itself be taken as a sign of disapproval, though we suppose many of them were already on their way to distant northern constituencies when they heard Mr Cameron would be taking the first chance to tell Parliament about the new situation that exists as a result of the United Nations resolution.
Mr Miliband was surrounded by a doughnut of MPs which was meant to obscure the general emptiness of the Labour benches. Many more Tories had turned up, and the Government front bench was so full that Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, had to sit very nearly in the lap of Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary.
David Nuttall (C, Bury North) warned against getting sucked in to Libya: “Recent history has shown that commencing military action such as this is rather like entering a maze – it is easier to get in than to get out.” Mr Cameron said this was “an extremely good point”, because there is always a case for saying, “Don’t start down this path because it might involve you taking so many difficult steps to achieve it.”
But the Prime Minister contended: “It is better to act than to remain passive.” Perhaps that is the key to Mr Cameron’s character: he cannot bear to do nothing.
David Winnick (Lab, Walsall North) urged the Prime Minister to recognise “that in the country at large there is bound to be great anxiety that we could be dragged, through escalation, into a third war in nine years”.
Once again, Mr Cameron engaged with the opposing argument, rather than just brushing it aside. He found things he and Mr Winnick could agree on: “The point the honourable gentleman makes about no ground troops and no occupying force is vital. That is in the UN Security Council resolution…I think people will be reassured by it.”
Bill Cash (C, Stone) had already subjected the UN resolution to the detailed textual analysis he brings to European Union affairs, and had discovered a phrase which said “notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970”.
Mr Cameron began his reply: “I always worry when my honourable friend mentions the word ‘notwithstanding’.” This produced friendly laughter, after which the Prime Minister answered Mr Cash’s point.
Wednesday 16 March 2011
David Cameron yesterday gave the strongest hint yet that the Government will scrap a planned 5p-a-litre rise in fuel duty
David Cameron yesterday gave the strongest hint yet that the Government will scrap a planned 5p-a-litre rise in fuel duty in next week’s Budget – in the face of mounting public anger over soaring prices at the pumps.
The Prime Minister said the Government was acutely aware of the ‘pain’ caused by record petrol prices, which have now topped £1.30 a litre.
Under plans drawn up by Labour, fuel duty is due to rise by 1p above inflation next month – an increase likely to translate into 5p a litre at the pumps.
Challenged over the issue in the Commons yesterday Mr Cameron said he could not give out details of next week’s Budget.
But he hinted that the planned increase was likely to be scrapped, adding: ‘I know the pain that families and small businesses are feeling from the huge numbers of fuel duty increases that were put through by the last government.
'In their last Budget, they (Labour) put through seven fuel increases - one for before the election and six afterwards. What a surprise they didn't even have the brass neck to raise that.’
Chancellor George Osborne is also expected to report back on proposals for a ‘fair fuel stabiliser’ which would automatically reduce fuel duty as oil prices rise.
His comments came as Ed Balls launched an extraordinary personal attack on George Osborne over the issue – suggesting that the millionaire Chancellor was too rich to understand the problems that soaring fuel prices are causing millions of ordinary families.
The Prime Minister insisted the Government was “abolishing bureaucracy” in the health service and had ruled out price competition and the “cherry-picking” of services by private providers.
The Prime Minister insisted the Government was “abolishing bureaucracy” in the health service and had ruled out price competition and the “cherry-picking” of services by private providers.
But he failed to answer Ed Miliband’s questions in the Commons as to whether or not the controversial Health and Social Care Bill would be altered further after it was condemned by Liberal Democrat activists. Three backbench Conservatives and five Lib Dems have now signed amendments calling for the Government to listen to the concerns of health experts.
Mr Cameron also dismissed the powerful doctors’ lobby, the British Medical Association, as just another trade union supported by Labour, after its delegates called on the bill to be withdrawn at a crisis meeting on Tuesday.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, the Labour leader, Mr Miliband, devoted all of his questions to the planned reorganisation that will see two tiers of NHS management scrapped and GPs forced to consider any private or public provider when buying treatment for patients.
Asked if the Government would alter the legislation further in the face of growing criticism, Mr Cameron replied: “We have already made some real strengthenings to this bill. First of all we have ruled out price competition in the NHS and also the issued raised by the Liberal Democrats, that I completely agree with, which is that we must avoid cherry-picking by the private sector in the NHS.”
Asked again if more amendments would be tabled, the Prime Minister did not answer directly but instead told Mr Miliband he should not “set his face against reform in the NHS”.
The Labour leader asked why the new law was needed given that Mr Cameron had before the election promised “no more pointless top-down reorganisations” of health care, to which the Prime Minister replied: “We are not reorganising the bureaucracy of the NHS, we are abolishing the bureaucracy of the NHS.”
Tuesday 15 March 2011
'I don't want an "in or out" referendum because I don't think "out" is in Britain's interests.'
In November 2009, a few months before the General Election, the Conservative leader David Cameron was interviewed by Andrew Marr on the BBC about Britain's relationship with the European Union.
Cameron declared: 'I don't want an "in or out" referendum because I don't think "out" is in Britain's interests.'
Does he really have no confidence at all that he would be able to persuade us of this view?
The comment suggests that withdrawal from the EU would be a foregone conclusion should such a referendum take place.
Opinion polls do indicate growing demand to withdraw from the European Union. An Angus Reid poll in December showed 48 per cent wanting to leave the EU, compared to 27 per cent wishing to stay in.
When Cameron made those comments there was at least the logic that the Government of the day should not offer a referendum on a course of action that it was not recommending.
In other words, a referendum should act as a check, a veto, something that the Government should require confirmation before having the authority to proceed with its chosen course.
That objection to a referendum on our membership of the European Union is no longer valid. That is because the Government is already offering us a referendum on changing our voting system from 'first past the post' to the Alternative Vote.
need to protect local pubs and traditional crafts in an age of "stultifying mono-culturalism".
UK countryside is "a national asset of incredible value" which could be lost unless greater care is taken of it, the Prince of Wales has said.
The prince told a conference in Cambridgeshire that farmers were the tourism industry's "greatest ally" because they preserved the landscape.
He also stressed the need to protect local pubs and traditional crafts in an age of "stultifying mono-culturalism".
Tourism Minister John Penrose said more Britons should holiday in the UK.
Prince Charles has long been a vocal campaigner on rural issues.
He told the meeting of tourism chiefs in Lode that "the delicately-woven tapestry of our countryside" was facing "unprecedented pressures".
"Start pulling at the threads and the whole thing could fall apart," he said.
"The greatest ally the tourism industry has is the farmer, who keeps the landscape looking as it does. This is especially true in upland areas.
Investigator accused by BBC reporter of 'corrupt business' says he worked for Panorama.
It concerns last night's Panorama special, which highlighted the activities of a private detective, Jonathan Rees, who was alleged to have used a range of illegal methods to obtain information for the News of the World.
The programme specifically claimed that Rees was commissioned to intercept email messages by Alex Marunchak, the NoW's former executive editor.
At one point in the programme, Panorama's reporter, Vivian White, confronted Rees to ask him about his work for the NoW, such as accessing people's bank accounts and paying police officers for information.
A belligerent Rees refused to answer the question. Instead, he countered: "What about the information that you've got, that your company got?" He claimed that Panorama had paid police before walking off.
White, in his commentary, said: "Unlike Jonathan Rees, Panorama had not paid any police officers for information."
But what was this in today's Times? No mention of Marunchak nor of the other substantive material in the Panorama documentary about Rees having been hired by the NoW even after he had served a prison sentence for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The Times chooses instead to nose its story on Rees's allegations about the BBC, reporting that Rees "worked for Panorama on at least two programmes in the early 1990s."
He claims he was once commissioned to carry out undercover work about child abductions. But he, and The Times, have no proof of that claim.
The story even concedes that "friends of Mr Rees" said "he had no documents or invoices to prove his claim." And the BBC cannot find any documentary evidence of Rees having worked for it.
Note how The Times's story is angled to fit two News International agendas. It throws mud at the BBC, yet again. It minimises the misbehaviour by the News of the World, yet again.
The real story revealed by Panorama is that a sixth News of the World executive was involved in the commissioning of illegal activities. That's the tale a paper of record should be reporting, is it not?
And guess what? The other Wapping paper that has failed to notice the phone-hacking story is also carrying the same anti-Panorama story. The Sun's page 26 lead is headlined BBC's own goal over news 'spy' and even manages to bury any mention of the News of the World until the final paragraph.
It's wonderful how Rupert Murdoch's papers always manage to sing from the same hymn book without any need for him to remind them of the tune.
To get a fairer, dispassionate assessment of the programme, see the Financial Times's report, E-mail claims deepen hacking scandal.
Ed Miliband branded Nick Clegg a vote-loser and refused to share a platform with him
Relations between Labour and the Liberal Democrats were back in the deep freeze yesterday after 
Ed Miliband branded Nick Clegg a vote-loser and refused to share a platform with him. Liberal Democrats accused Labour of "student politics" after Mr Miliband declined to appear alongside Mr Clegg at a rally to campaign for a Yes vote in the May referendum on electoral reform. Both leaders support a switch to the alternative vote (AV) and, despite Labour's anger at the Liberal Democrats for entering into a coalition with the Conservatives, figures in both parties who want to keep alive the prospect of a Lib-Lab deal after the 2015 election had hoped that co-operation on electoral reform might break the ice. Mr Miliband had agreed to share a platform with the former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, but pulled out after Mr Clegg insisted on taking part. Today's rally has now been called off.Labour is worried that a high-profile role for Mr Clegg could harm the Yes campaign, but their squabble is a setback for supporters of change.
Labour learnt nothing from its decade-long spending spree that left the country in penury?
Six months after becoming Labour leader
and four months after saying that “in terms of policy, we start with a blank page”, Ed Miliband has finally started to fill the void. His joint press conference yesterday with Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, was billed as a pre-Budget economic policy statement. It was nothing of the sort. About the crippling deficit Labour left behind, there was barely a word. Instead, we were treated to another round of banker-bashing populism combined with a promise to spend large amounts of money. Has Labour learnt nothing from its decade-long spending spree that left the country in penury?Mr Miliband claimed that another levy on bankers’ bonuses would raise £2 billion to fund house building, youth employment and the regional growth fund, creating 110,000 new jobs, a figure that seems to have been plucked from the air. The plan conveniently ignores the fact that his predecessor Gordon Brown said the “one-off” levy on bankers’ bonuses he introduced in 2009 could not be repeated because the banks would restructure their remuneration packages to avoid a second hit. And even if it did produce the £2 billion claimed by Mr Miliband, that would still be less overall than the Coalition’s own permanent bank levy generates.
But then the feasibility of the proposal is not relevant – for Labour is not currently in the business of credible economics. Look at the stern injunction Messrs Miliband and Balls issued to the shadow cabinet last month, insisting that all policy statements with financial implications be cleared with them. Since then, Labour has – according to detailed new Tory costings – made £12 billion of unfunded spending commitments. Its addiction to spending is as powerful as ever.
Monday 14 March 2011
"My distrust just increased," said Mikiko Amano, a 55-year-old woman who had been recently evacuated from her home close to the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.
"My distrust just increased," said Mikiko Amano, a 55-year-old woman who had been recently evacuated from her home close to the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.
She was talking to Reuters at a town outside the 20-km evacuation zone around the complex, owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which continued to urge calm despite broadcasters showing a plume of smoke rising from the plant.
"I was at home at the time of the first explosion. It was a huge sound. After that, I evacuated. I went for a radiation check at the hospital today and breathed a sigh of relief that I was OK," Amano told Reuters.
"The company has been saying such a thing would not happen and the plant was fine even after 40 years in operation...It only raised my distrust of TEPCO."
Amano's family and tens of thousands of others evacuated from their homes around the complex depend on the company for their livelihoods, and many were remarkably stoic at first in the face of what appeared to the rest of the world as imminent nuclear catastrophe.
Even as authorities waived Geiger counters over evacuees clothes and gave them doses of iodine as a precaution against radiation poisoning, local communities at first spoke confidently about their employer's ability to avert a crisis.
Hideki Kato, a 41-year-old worker at the Fukushima Daiichi complex, just wanted to get back to work.
"I think nuclear power plants are necessary. I am worried about the job," Kato said at a school gym serving as an evacuation center in Kawamata town, outside the evacuation zone in Fukushima prefecture.
"Can we make a living?Can I ever go back to work at the plant?" he asked as his two children lay on the floor beside him, wrapped in blankets. His son played with a cell phone while Kato's parents looked on.
Sunday 13 March 2011
Mr Clegg is 'one of them’, a remote representative of the Westminster political class.
| Political Satire The contrast is shattering. Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat president elect, is greeted with rapturous applause by the party faithful as he storms onto the stage, lays into David Cameron and calls for a giant lurch to the left.  But the greeting for Nick Clegg  is no better than dutiful as he arrives at Friday night’s party rally.To be fair, the party leader is given a standing ovation, testimony to a valuable new discipline in Lib Dem ranks. But there is no warmth, and Mr Clegg’s jokes fall flat. The contrast is easy to explain. Mr Farron, who backed Saturday’s sullen Lib Dem revolt against Tory health reforms, feels like 'one of us’.  There is no doubt that Mr Clegg and his fellow Lib Dem ministers feel a real sense of mission and fulfilment thanks to their role at the heart of the Coalition Government. |
Foreign Secretary William Hague denied he has lost his "mojo".
Foreign Secretary William Hague has rejected claims he might resign over his handling of the Libyan crisis and
He told the Sunday Telegraph he had wide support in his party and people should "get used" to the idea.
Senior Liberal Democrat Sir Menzies Campbell is among those who have openly questioned his commitment to the job.
Mr Hague has been criticised over a botched SAS mission to Libya, and the slow evacuation of UK nationals there.
He told the paper: "If some of the people who write about mojo came with me for a week, they would drop dead on their feet.
"The prime minister is extremely supportive [of me], and so are the vast majority of Conservative MPs. People had better get used to the idea."
There were two reasons I came back into politics - to support David Cameron and to serve the country. I am not walking away from those things”
He also described the job of foreign secretary as "addictive" and said he had not returned to front-line politics just to quit so soon.
"I gave up lots of things I love doing: writing, and business, and playing the piano and so on," he told the paper.
"I wouldn't give up all those things and come back into politics because I wasn't interested in it. Why on earth would I do that?
"There were two reasons I came back into politics - to support David Cameron and to serve the country. I am not walking away from those things. People had better get used to the idea."
Mr Hague's appetite for front-line politics was questioned last week following criticism of his handling of the government's response to the Libyan crisis.
In heated scenes in the House of Commons, Labour leader Ed Miliband said there had been a series of mistakes, including delays getting UK nationals out of Libya and Mr Hague's incorrect announcement that Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi had fled to Venezuela.
Mr Miliband said there was an "issue of competence at the heart of this government".
Britain’s maladministration headed by David Cameron.
There is the UK’s failed “diplomatic” (actually MI6 spies) mission to woo Libyan rebels, the royal crisis over Prince Andrew’s links with a paedophile and call girls, plus – of special relevance for this blog – a badly planned letter that Cameron wrote last month to Manmohan Singh moaning about the Indian government’s lack of commercial transparency. The letter has been leaked in India this week, which means it will probably be doing more harm than good.
All that should have led to interesting conversations this evening at the British High Commissioner’s annual Queen’s Birthday Party on the lawns of his Delhi residence that was attended a year or two ago by Prince Andrew.
Last July, when Cameron visited India with an over-large posse of six cabinet ministers and accompanying businessmen and academics, I wrote that Britain was punching above its weight. The current (peaceful) gun boat diplomacy of the Libya helicoptered emissaries and the letter to Manmohan Singh shows again that the UK is getting its diplomacy wrong and expecting too much, given the country’s declining economic importance.
Whoever advised Cameron to send the letter last month does not understand that the best way to score goals with the Indian government is not to send gripes and warnings of declining trade ties. Most other countries seem to accept this, which makes it even sillier for Britain to send such letters.
The letter listed three cases:- a $2.5bn tax demand against Vodafone’s mobile phone business; delayed regulatory approval for the $9.6bn sale by Cairn Energy of its Indian natural gas fields to Vedanta (an Indian-controlled UK-listed company) that might soon be cleared; and late payment for work done by British companies at last November’s Commonwealth Games. Such problems risked “affecting the wider business climate” warned the British prime minister, who implicitly complained about India’s lack of “transparency in the business environment”.
There is a telling editorial in today’s pro-Congress government Hindustan Times newspaper mocking Britain under the headline “Not done, Old Chap”. It uses cricketing metaphors to chime with the current World Cup and notes that “Britain doesn’t happen to be among India’s top ten trading partners,” saying:
“It’s not cricket, British prime minister David Cameron has told India while the game’s greatest spectacle is underway here in the old colony. British lads Cairn and Vodafone – and sterling fellows too – are playing on a queer pitch in the subcontinent, the Conservative resident of 10 Downing Street has written to Manmohan Singh. The umpiring isn’t up to scratch. Energy company Cairn is being bowled a bodyline every second delivery and nobody seems to notice. Before that, telecom company Vodafone was declared leg before wicket when it obviously wasn’t. Gentlemen don’t use tax googlies and regulatory bouncers on the Oval! Surely, good chaps don’t get too nosy about details like tax dodges and unpaid royalties, do they?”
Those words were not very eloquently crafted, but they make the point.
Vodafone’s $2.5bn tax demand stems from its $11bn purchase in 2007 , through offshore tax havens, of a Hong Kong-held controlling stake in what was then the Hutchison-Essar mobile phone business. It is widely believed, based on circumstantial evidence, that this demand was initiated by the finance ministry with encouragement from a rival Indian telecom company boss, who had good political connections in the ministry. That allegedly led tax collectors to find a novel interpretation of regulations, which then led to Vodafone being told it should have set aside $2-2.5bn that Hutchison owed as corporate gains tax. This is now going very slowly through the Indian courts, with the next hearing due in July.
One can feel sorry for Vodafone. It genuinely had no idea that it should have set the tax aside, and it argues that it should not be forced to pay for what it sees as a retrospective change of tax policy. The government says it is not a change of policy, but a new legal interpretation of existing regulations.
There has been a decline in foreign investment into India, and the country’s international image is slipping, as I argued here last week. Despite what the companies have been saying however, that has been caused not by the Vodafone and Cairn problems, but by a spate of big corruption cases and examples of poor governance. It is also beginning to look as if the combination of Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, and Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, is not working effectively at the top of the coalition government.
But these are different issues and do not in any way justify a Cameron-style letter. Indeed, when the Indian government is being hit almost daily by stories revealing an appalling lack of transparency, it was scarcely tactful of Cameron to goad the government with a transparency-based letter.
Balmoral. But only once has a Royal guest ended up in jail for procuring under-age girls for sex.
On the weekend of July 9, 1999, Prince Andrew invited Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the disgraced tycoon Robert Maxwell, and her boyfriend, the financier Jeffrey Epstein, to stay at Craigowan Lodge in the grounds of Balmoral.
The seven-bedroomed Victorian hunting lodge is the Royal Family’s most cherished hideaway. Prince Charles and Diana spent the early days of their honeymoon at Craigowan, Andrew secretly courted Sarah Ferguson there, and Princess Anne and Timothy Laurence chose it for their wedding reception.
It was a strangely personal choice of venue but, according to one who was there, Andrew was determined that the weekend should go without a hitch.
At 7.30pm on the dot, Epstein and Ghislaine, accompanied by two friends, Fiona Folley and Erig Taylor, arrived. In contrast to Epstein’s palatial New York townhouse, Craigowan is rather shabby.
The Duke led his guests into the sitting room, dominated by two faded chintz chairs and one well-worn yellow armchair, nondescript mahogany furniture, an obscure oil seascape, and an unprepossessing red potted plant on the table.
Prince Andrew used ‘shady’ ex Tory Treasurer to pay Fergie debt in secret deal
How Prince Andrew shared a room at Epstein's Caribbean hideaway with a busty blonde who claimed she was a brain surgeon
Because it was July, not August, when she always holidays at Balmoral, the Queen was not in residence at the castle, but Craigowan is very much her private enclave.
Drinks were served with smoked salmon canapés and cheese tarts and then Andrew escorted his guests on a tour of the estate.
Meanwhile, in the dining room, staff drew the tartan curtains and arranged a vase of white daisies. The table was set with crystal glasses and simple cutlery, all in keeping with the rustic informality of the Balmoral estate which once caused Princess Diana to complain: ‘It’s as deadly as a graveyard. The atmosphere drains me to nothing.’
Dinner began with avocado, followed by salmon with green beans and new potatoes, and ended with a chocolate soufflé. The guests retired at a respectable 11pm.
The next day the Duke strode into the kitchen at 8.30am and surprised the staff having their breakfast. Even more surprisingly, he asked if he could share their breakfast. His guests, still suffering jet lag, didn’t rise until midday. That afternoon they enjoyed a picnic of chicken, potato salad and lemon tart in the grounds of the castle.
The weekend was running like clockwork but that evening the Duke visited the kitchen and found that the cook, in all innocence and as advised by the butler, had cut up the fillet of beef presented to him days before at an agricultural show.
He apparently became incandescent with rage, screaming: ‘Who was the ******* idiot who cut the meat up?’ The terrified cook fled into the pantry in tears, while the staff, accustomed to the Duke’s tantrums on virtually a daily basis, covertly exchanged knowing glances.
However, by the time the meat had been barbecued, the Duke was all smiles and full of compliments for the cook on her Victoria sponge. A source said: ‘That’s his way of apologising to you. That’s what he always does. Explode one minute and then try to take it back the next . . .’
The next morning, Sunday July 11, the Duke went down to the kitchen again at 8.30am and asked for some kedgeree.
That evening he asked for his favourite childhood dish – tomato soup with cheese soufflé on top.
For Epstein and Ghislaine the weekend had been a social triumph. No matter how rustic the accommodation, how ordinary the quilted bedspreads, they had done what hardly any British commoner, however wealthy or famous, has been able to do; spend a weekend in Her Majesty’s beloved retreat, Craigowan.
High-profile names may face child abuse charges
The American inquiry into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein could lead to charges against businessmen, politicians and intellectuals who allegedly took part in sex sessions with his harem of under-age girls.
According to legal documents, Prince Andrew had regular massages at the Florida mansion where Epstein employed teenagers as his personal ‘sex slaves’.
The Mail on Sunday has revealed that he also flew girls to meet some of the world’s richest and most powerful men at an isolated ranch and his private Caribbean island.
Royal introduction: Virginia Roberts claims she was hired by Epstein as a masseuse and was introduced to Prince Andrew by the businessman
There is no evidence that the Duke of York had any sexual contact with the women. But investigators from the FBI’s Crimes Against Children unit last week started to examine claims that several other men illegally had sex at the tycoon’s residences.
Witnesses in the case are expected to include Epstein’s former butler, Juan Alessi, who claims Andrew received massages, and Australian mother-of-three Virginia Roberts, who has told this newspaper that Epstein hired her at age 15 as a ‘travelling masseuse’.
She says Epstein sent her to have sex with his friends at his New Mexico ranch and on his island, Little St James. He also flew her to London for the first of what she says were three meetings with Andrew.
‘Virginia is a very credible witness and allegations also have been made against Epstein by dozens of other girls, who don’t know each other but all tell similar stories,’ a legal expert familiar with the FBI probe said.
‘In addition to Epstein, who appears to be the ringleader, the high-profile people who received sexual favours from the under-aged girls delivered by Epstein could be prosecuted.’
Epstein, 58, escaped with only 13 months in jail for child sex offences in the original case and was given an unprecedented non-prosecution agreement to protect him against future charges.
However, Florida lawyer Brad Edwards has asked a judge to annul the agreement, saying it violates legislation that forbids the government from making deals with criminals .
Nick Clegg will claim the Lib Dems "hold the freehold to the centre ground of British politics" in a speech to the party's spring conference later.
Nick Clegg will claim the Lib Dems "hold the freehold to the centre ground of British politics" in a speech to the party's spring conference later.
The deputy PM will attempt to rally party activists reeling from low poll ratings and public anger over cuts.
But he will resist calls from some Lib Dems to attack the Tories more often to emphasise the party's identity.
Instead, he will focus on trumpeting the party's achievements and say it is "from the middle, for the middle".
Mr Clegg will tell delegates in Sheffield: "We're on the side of the people I call Alarm Clock Britain. The side of everyone who wants to get up and get on.
"People who, unlike the wealthy, have no choice but to work hard to make ends meet."
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