The Dave and Nick Government
It just before 9am on Friday 14th of May, a week after it became evident that no Political Party in Britain was going to have an overall majority and therefore could settle on a legislative programme for the Queens Speech and in the case of the Conservative Party settle on its first budget within 50 days.
The pace of change and confirmed developments is such that I am breathless rather than speechless as Nick Robinson after attending the first press conference between David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
I have been writing and rewriting this Blog for three days and have decided only to continue until 9.45 published and then go out in the sunshine and to Mansfield to sort out my mobile phone which for some reason functions normally but won’t let me send texts. I am back at the Trowell Travel Lodge on the M1 after three excellent days a Nottingham, Riverside.
6am 12th May 2010 could become as historic a day as was 11th and 10th and marks a fundamental change in British politics. (I wrote this because of the brief information which was emerging overnight that not only had the new Parliamentary Conservative and Liberal Democratic Parties agreed a full coalition but were reported to be intending to make changes to enable the arrangement to last a full five years with Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and the significance of which only began to dawn on everyone in the Westminster village later). I a now say it was an historic day.
15.30pm My instinct has been rewarded with a press conference by Prime Minister Dave Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in the Rose Garden of Ten Downing Street as the sun shone and the birds were singing and which amazed all the seasoned commentators political commentators in the UK and probably those from Europe and America. The Times subsequently recalled the words of T S Elliot in Burn Norton, Footfalls echo in the memory down the passage we did not take towards the door we never opened into the rose garden. Yesterday, the Times stated in its editorial, David Cameron and Nick Clegg dared to open the door into the rose garden and its front page was headed a very British Revolution.
The jaw dropping experience for most of those present, hard nosed and cynical used to interpreting the code in which politicians, particularly, Ministers and Shadow Minister speak, led some to reflect quietly before making an instant judgement before the camera, some were instantly converted, quickly moving from shock and disbelief to feeling inspired and exhilarated, while some were more cautious but wished the two leaders well in their endeavour to radically change the style and process of politics in the spirit of the 21st century. Expressions of hostility and anger were to follow, with hysterical rants one from the left and one from right on Question Time on Thursday evening.
Earlier there was the spectacle of Nick Clegg walking the last few yards along Downing Street to be greeted at the door of number 10 by the new Prime Minister, a shake of the hands and a pat on the back, each on the other. Later there was also Vince Cable having to be called back by his chauffer to the car used by Peter Mandelson as he was about to walk back out of the gates of Downing Street from whence he had come. You have gotta believe it Vince you are now in charge of business and banks.
I only wished I could have witnessed the expression on the faces of the Daily Mail reports and editorial staff as well as some of the newspapers who had laid into Nick Clegg the previous day for attempting to get a better deal from Labour although this was not true.
7.38 Thursday 13th of May 2010. The first agreement has been published which covers all the major areas of difference between the two Parties and the Civil service is now working on translating these headline notes, detailed headline notes, together with statements about all the other areas on which there was immediate agreement into policy documents which will govern the approach of the individual Ministries and their Civil Service Departments. I will hazard a guess that the Civil service will be thrilled at what has happened will enthusiastically to a man and woman put their backs into the enterprise. This is not to suggest they would not have given one hundred percent to which ever political party or individual set of Ministers appointed to their Ministries but now they will be willingly giving that extra which in fact will be required of them, especially because of the immediate freeze on filling of vacancies which will have been imposed and the immediate plans to slim down government on a permanent basis. A lot of people who thought they had secure jobs will find themselves joining everyone else living in uncertainty, with some facing severance deals.
I begin with the facts of what we know so far. The two leaders, now Prime Minister and Deputy explained that when they first met they quickly realised that to form a loose agreement in which the Lib Dems agreed not to bring down the government on the Queens Speech and Emergency Budget would work but for a limited period, six months to year and so on the basis of what had been immediately agreed between the two sets of negotiating teams, they decided to try and achieve a full coalition which would last five years. This is why I believe the Labour Administration quickly realised a deal with them was out of the question. There was no way, however willing some Ministers were, that the Labour Parliamentary Party and the National Executive Committee would have agreed to making Nick Clegg Deputy Prime Minister and surrendering four other Cabinet positions and 15 other ministerial jobs to the Lib Dems, or to creating new policies and programmes out of the two Manifestoes. This is the old politics of Labour with its traditional authoritarian and paternalistic streak.
Diane Abbott during the Politics This week Show confirmed that that a substantial number of the returning Labour Members appreciated they had lost the election, that the public would not have accepted a Labour led coalition or Gordon Brown continuing as Prime Minister for several months and then the appointment of a Prime Minister from within the Labour Party and who had not agreed to the terms of the coalition realising they had lost the General Election. It was also evident that Mr Brown and those involved in the negotiations would not have been able to have persuaded the Labour Party to then agree to the terms of the coalition.
Friday Morning The dilemma for true liberal socialists like Bill Bragg and me is that the Coalition is going to implement several cherished beliefs on fair votes, on fair income tax and on protecting personal freedoms for example. I have just joined Twitter to respond to what is being said on programmes such as Any Questions and Politics this week and got two followers, amazing, when I suggested if I was younger I would try and form a Democratic Liberal Socialist party to replace the British Labour Party. Bill Bragg was on Politics this week and provided a balanced reaction from someone on the left but also pointed out that the show would have to accommodate the Liberal Democratic view of the alliance. He expressed the right tone of confusion among true democratic liberal socialists.
I have been rewriting this Blog in free moments over the past three days, enjoying the better weather, some walkabouts in Nottingham, some good food, abandoning Durham who appeared destined to lose without in form bowlers or batsmen but I enjoyed England’s win the World Cup semi Final, but most keeping close to the News Channels and Political programmes.
The BBC is going to have to make some major adjustments to how they are going to do things from now on. Question Time was a disgrace with two angry and hysterical participants one from the left and one from the right and with the Labour man also demonstrating the old politics but Michael Heseltine showed great statesmanship and flexibility with also Simon Hughes also showing great understanding of what was happening to British politics. I forecast a major realignment between Political parties.
I bought the Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Independent Newspapers yesterday and found the Times Editorial inspiring for having understood the enormity of the change which commenced with what was communicated in the Rose Garden of Ten Downing Street by the new Prime Minister and his Deputy. Today I bought the Guardian.
I have axed most of what I have written and will stop. Go to Mansfield, have a good lunch, go and see Robin Hood, drive back to South Shields and set to work going through the published agreement, rereading the media and deciding if I am going to stick with Labour and see what they do or ask to join the Lib Dems.
It just before 9am on Friday 14th of May, a week after it became evident that no Political Party in Britain was going to have an overall majority and therefore could settle on a legislative programme for the Queens Speech and in the case of the Conservative Party settle on its first budget within 50 days.
The pace of change and confirmed developments is such that I am breathless rather than speechless as Nick Robinson after attending the first press conference between David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
I have been writing and rewriting this Blog for three days and have decided only to continue until 9.45 published and then go out in the sunshine and to Mansfield to sort out my mobile phone which for some reason functions normally but won’t let me send texts. I am back at the Trowell Travel Lodge on the M1 after three excellent days a Nottingham, Riverside.
6am 12th May 2010 could become as historic a day as was 11th and 10th and marks a fundamental change in British politics. (I wrote this because of the brief information which was emerging overnight that not only had the new Parliamentary Conservative and Liberal Democratic Parties agreed a full coalition but were reported to be intending to make changes to enable the arrangement to last a full five years with Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and the significance of which only began to dawn on everyone in the Westminster village later). I a now say it was an historic day.
15.30pm My instinct has been rewarded with a press conference by Prime Minister Dave Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in the Rose Garden of Ten Downing Street as the sun shone and the birds were singing and which amazed all the seasoned commentators political commentators in the UK and probably those from Europe and America. The Times subsequently recalled the words of T S Elliot in Burn Norton, Footfalls echo in the memory down the passage we did not take towards the door we never opened into the rose garden. Yesterday, the Times stated in its editorial, David Cameron and Nick Clegg dared to open the door into the rose garden and its front page was headed a very British Revolution.
The jaw dropping experience for most of those present, hard nosed and cynical used to interpreting the code in which politicians, particularly, Ministers and Shadow Minister speak, led some to reflect quietly before making an instant judgement before the camera, some were instantly converted, quickly moving from shock and disbelief to feeling inspired and exhilarated, while some were more cautious but wished the two leaders well in their endeavour to radically change the style and process of politics in the spirit of the 21st century. Expressions of hostility and anger were to follow, with hysterical rants one from the left and one from right on Question Time on Thursday evening.
Earlier there was the spectacle of Nick Clegg walking the last few yards along Downing Street to be greeted at the door of number 10 by the new Prime Minister, a shake of the hands and a pat on the back, each on the other. Later there was also Vince Cable having to be called back by his chauffer to the car used by Peter Mandelson as he was about to walk back out of the gates of Downing Street from whence he had come. You have gotta believe it Vince you are now in charge of business and banks.
I only wished I could have witnessed the expression on the faces of the Daily Mail reports and editorial staff as well as some of the newspapers who had laid into Nick Clegg the previous day for attempting to get a better deal from Labour although this was not true.
7.38 Thursday 13th of May 2010. The first agreement has been published which covers all the major areas of difference between the two Parties and the Civil service is now working on translating these headline notes, detailed headline notes, together with statements about all the other areas on which there was immediate agreement into policy documents which will govern the approach of the individual Ministries and their Civil Service Departments. I will hazard a guess that the Civil service will be thrilled at what has happened will enthusiastically to a man and woman put their backs into the enterprise. This is not to suggest they would not have given one hundred percent to which ever political party or individual set of Ministers appointed to their Ministries but now they will be willingly giving that extra which in fact will be required of them, especially because of the immediate freeze on filling of vacancies which will have been imposed and the immediate plans to slim down government on a permanent basis. A lot of people who thought they had secure jobs will find themselves joining everyone else living in uncertainty, with some facing severance deals.
I begin with the facts of what we know so far. The two leaders, now Prime Minister and Deputy explained that when they first met they quickly realised that to form a loose agreement in which the Lib Dems agreed not to bring down the government on the Queens Speech and Emergency Budget would work but for a limited period, six months to year and so on the basis of what had been immediately agreed between the two sets of negotiating teams, they decided to try and achieve a full coalition which would last five years. This is why I believe the Labour Administration quickly realised a deal with them was out of the question. There was no way, however willing some Ministers were, that the Labour Parliamentary Party and the National Executive Committee would have agreed to making Nick Clegg Deputy Prime Minister and surrendering four other Cabinet positions and 15 other ministerial jobs to the Lib Dems, or to creating new policies and programmes out of the two Manifestoes. This is the old politics of Labour with its traditional authoritarian and paternalistic streak.
Diane Abbott during the Politics This week Show confirmed that that a substantial number of the returning Labour Members appreciated they had lost the election, that the public would not have accepted a Labour led coalition or Gordon Brown continuing as Prime Minister for several months and then the appointment of a Prime Minister from within the Labour Party and who had not agreed to the terms of the coalition realising they had lost the General Election. It was also evident that Mr Brown and those involved in the negotiations would not have been able to have persuaded the Labour Party to then agree to the terms of the coalition.
Friday Morning The dilemma for true liberal socialists like Bill Bragg and me is that the Coalition is going to implement several cherished beliefs on fair votes, on fair income tax and on protecting personal freedoms for example. I have just joined Twitter to respond to what is being said on programmes such as Any Questions and Politics this week and got two followers, amazing, when I suggested if I was younger I would try and form a Democratic Liberal Socialist party to replace the British Labour Party. Bill Bragg was on Politics this week and provided a balanced reaction from someone on the left but also pointed out that the show would have to accommodate the Liberal Democratic view of the alliance. He expressed the right tone of confusion among true democratic liberal socialists.
I have been rewriting this Blog in free moments over the past three days, enjoying the better weather, some walkabouts in Nottingham, some good food, abandoning Durham who appeared destined to lose without in form bowlers or batsmen but I enjoyed England’s win the World Cup semi Final, but most keeping close to the News Channels and Political programmes.
The BBC is going to have to make some major adjustments to how they are going to do things from now on. Question Time was a disgrace with two angry and hysterical participants one from the left and one from the right and with the Labour man also demonstrating the old politics but Michael Heseltine showed great statesmanship and flexibility with also Simon Hughes also showing great understanding of what was happening to British politics. I forecast a major realignment between Political parties.
I bought the Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Independent Newspapers yesterday and found the Times Editorial inspiring for having understood the enormity of the change which commenced with what was communicated in the Rose Garden of Ten Downing Street by the new Prime Minister and his Deputy. Today I bought the Guardian.
I have axed most of what I have written and will stop. Go to Mansfield, have a good lunch, go and see Robin Hood, drive back to South Shields and set to work going through the published agreement, rereading the media and deciding if I am going to stick with Labour and see what they do or ask to join the Lib Dems.
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