Politics

Westminster Needs More MPs To Act Like Margaret Hodge

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

Margaret Hodge Parliament Public Accounts Committee 1

 

After Margaret Hodge MP humiliated HSBC’s top brass in a Public Accounts Committee hearing, some politicians and commentators would rather close ranks in defence of the establishment than support those who hold the powerful to account.

By at least one count, Margaret Hodge‘s tenure as chair of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has been a complete failure.

Back in 2011, in a speech to the Institute for Government, the MP for Barking outlined her vision of how the committee should conduct its business as Britain entered the age of austerity under the Conservative-LibDem coalition government. Among her priorities at that time – a less confrontational approach to witnesses:

In her speech (approximately 10 minutes into the above video), Margaret Hodge said:

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Constitutional Reform Is The Elephant In The Room This Election Season

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

Constitutional Reform British General Election 2015

 

Conservative Home is currently running an important series on the three urgent political issues which are being pointedly and shamefully ignored by the main political parties in the run-up to the 2015 general election. These are identified as the constitution, national defence and the truth about spending reductions.

On constitutional reform in particular, ConHome is quite right to call attention to the lurking threat:

Yes, there’s plenty of speculation about what might happen in a hung Parliament, and who might form coalitions or pacts with whom.  But there has been no big debate to date about how we should be governed – what an English-votes-for-English-laws Commons would look like; what the knock-on effects on Scotland might be; what would happen to the Lords in consequence; how much devolution there should be in England (and elsewhere); what would replace the ECHR (if anything) were Britain to leave it; where an EU referendum fits into this picture; whether the UK will survive at all.

Will the UK survive at all? A sobering question to ponder, and yet when faced with these unresolved questions of national character, purpose and even survival, too often our politicians focus on the minutiae of daily life as they seek to either prey on our fears or appeal to our wallets.

This blog makes no apology for having singled out the Labour Party and Ed Miliband as the worst culprits as they seek to reduce the 2015 general election to a petty contest about public services, when Britain’s greatness is so much more than the sum of local government services and “our NHS”, here on the occasion of the Labour Party leader’s most recent relaunch:

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How Dare David Cameron Question The Patriotism Of Britain’s Military Chiefs?

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

British Prime Minister David Cameron (C)

 

Anything goes in the build-up to a British general election. And the British people have certainly come to take for granted the endless stream of personal attacks, exaggerated claims, obfuscations and outright lies emanating from the main parties as they vie for position.

But jaded as we are, one still has to admire the gall displayed by David Cameron – a privileged, cosseted man who has never served a day in uniform – when he takes it upon himself to publicly question the patriotism and motivation of Britain’s senior military officers.

The Prime Minister, in full electioneering and damage control mode, did exactly this when responding to the growing chorus of concerns from current and ex-service chiefs alarmed at the degradation of Britain’s military capability and the prioritisation of almost every other area of government spending at the expense of the Defence budget.

The Telegraph reports:

David Cameron appears to have questioned the motives of senior military figures criticising his failure to commit to spending 2 per cent of GDP of defence.

The Prime Minister slapped down retired generals who have attacked the Government over its cuts to the military budget.

Speaking to LBC Radio, Mr Cameron put the generals’ interventions down to them “having their own book to talk, sometimes quite literally a book to talk”.

This is a hit below the belt, even by the no-holds-barred standard of British political debate. But more than this, it is an intolerable insult to the honour and dedication of the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces. And all this coming from someone who has never served personally, but who has been the happy beneficiary of the peace dividend made possible in part by Britain’s military capabilities.

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Conservative Media Demeans Itself By Calling Cameron’s Debate Critics ‘Totalitarian’

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

General Election 2015 Leaders Debate Cameron Miliband Totalitarian

 

The new political week picks up exactly where last week left off, with much of the right-wing press waging a furious rearguard effort to distract attention from David Cameron’s cowardly attempt to scupper the televised leaders’ debates.

The Telegraph in particular is hitting back at the near-universal condemnation of the Prime Minister with nearly the same intensity with which they defended themselves against ex-columnist Peter Oborne’s devastating accusations of compromised editorial standards relating to the newspaper’s coverage of HSBC, an important advertiser.

But now some in the Tory-friendly media have outdone themselves, accusing those who criticise David Cameron’s weaselling out of the television debates and who want to see such debates permanently enshrined in the British political calendar of harbouring “totalitarian” instincts.

Graeme Archer writes in his latest Telegraph column:

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Why Is The Conservative Press Excusing Cameron’s Debate Cowardice?

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

David Cameron Leaders Debate General Election 2015

 

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a supposed Conservative, is so terrified of debating Labour’s ineffectual leader that he is refusing to take part in planned televised leaders’ debates ahead of the general election. But rather than excoriating David Cameron for refusing to articulate conservative, small government principles to a national audience, the Tory-friendly press is squandering its credibility defending him. Why?

You can work out the party allegiance of any British newspaper simply by observing its coverage of David Cameron’s craven refusal to give the people what they want, a series of televised pre-election debates featuring the Prime Minister and the leaders of various other parties.

But while British newspapers have a dubious tradition of naked partisanship, not remotely confined to the editorial section, it is disheartening to view the speed with which much of the Conservative-friendly press has been willing to throw the national interest and the health of our democracy out the window in the attempt to shore up David Cameron’s indefensible position.

The Telegraph is the worst offender, clearly not the least bit chastened after having been caught red-handed in the process of dismantling the “Chinese wall” between their commercial and editorial operations in their desperation to keep scandal-plagued HSBC’s advertising account.

Leading with an article about the BBC’s “institutional arrogance”, the Telegraph managed to turn David Cameron’s months of manoeuvrings and evasions into a story about failings within the British media:

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