Michael White's Blog, page 34
November 11, 2014
European arrest warrant debacle proves a political shambles is often good news
Its usually good news to hear on the news or Andy Sparrows blog that theres been chaos or a shambles in parliament. Unlike chaos in the accounts department at Tesco or on the try line in a rugby match, some disorder in the Commons means that everyone is concentrating and the opposition is doing what its paid for.
That means challenging the government of the day on the substance of its business or, as in last nights shambles over the European arrest warrant (EAW), the manner in which it sought to win the business. Ministers appear to have used the procedural options at its disposal to avoid a direct vote on the EAW aspect of the wider criminal justice package you can read the Hansard here and been easily caught out for doing so.
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November 10, 2014
A big beast in suede shoes: Ken Clarke – an ‘authentic political personality’
Guardian journalist Michael White has known Ken Clarke for nearly 40 years. Here he shares his memories ahead of a Guardian Live event with the Tory heavyweight on 19 November
In the almost 40 years I have known Ken Clarke he doesn’t seem to have changed a bit, although of course he has: older, greyer, redder of countenance, a little more rotund, but his appearance still belies his 74 years. His career stands as testimony to the simple truth, in politics as in much else, that temperament and sheer stamina – physical and mental – are the key to survival.
“Resilience” is another way to sum it up. Denied the promotions that his talent deserved by Margaret Thatcher, he was later defeated three times for the Conservative leadership – much to the relief of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – and has seen his brand of liberal, pro-European Toryism pushed to the margins of David Cameron’s increasingly Eurosceptic party.
A big beast in suede shoes: Ken Clarke an authentic political personality
Guardian journalist Michael White has known Ken Clarke for nearly 40 years. Here he shares his memories ahead of a Guardian Live event with the Tory heavyweight on 19 November
In the almost 40 years I have known Ken Clarke he doesnt seem to have changed a bit, although of course he has: older, greyer, redder of countenance, a little more rotund, but his appearance still belies his 74 years. His career stands as testimony to the simple truth, in politics as in much else, that temperament and sheer stamina physical and mental are the key to survival.
Resilience is another way to sum it up. Denied the promotions that his talent deserved by Margaret Thatcher, he was later defeated three times for the Conservative leadership much to the relief of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and has seen his brand of liberal, pro-European Toryism pushed to the margins of David Camerons increasingly Eurosceptic party.
Plot against Ed Miliband distracts from Tory turmoil
In politics the first rule of plotting is that you have to have a candidate, someone to replace the leader you hope to get rid of. This may not be true of FTSE 100 companies or the Premier League, where there is a large international market in vaguely plausible executive talent. Politics isnt like that: there are rarely more than two or three options.
Thats what makes the past five days of bogus melodrama over the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, so ridiculous. Thank goodness the Guardian has kept its nerve. Sure, many of the shadowy wannabe-Cassius conspirators on the Labour benches do have a candidate: the former home secretary and all-purpose good guy, Alan Johnson. But as the Fleet Street commentariat has reluctantly started to acknowledge in their long weekend features, theres a large fly in that ointment: Johnson wont take the job even if wrapped in pink ribbon.
Continue reading...November 5, 2014
Let’s have a grown-up debate on migration, not this dangerous stalemate
Reading the new study on the benefits of migration into Britain I wondered what a Ukip voter, elderly or unskilled, would make of its upbeat conclusion that we’ve collectively benefited to the tune of a net £20bn from the arrival of so many skilled and educated people from across Europe.
“What’s in it for me?” they might ask in Clacton or Rochester, even before they got to the bit – buried away in the study published by University College London (UCL), but not by Times and Daily Mail headline writers – about non-EU/EEA migrants costing us an additional £118bn in the 17 years from 1995-2011 because they weren’t all so young, skilled and motivated to work hard. What the Mail et al were less explicit about was that this figure includes everyone who was not born in the UK, not just those who arrived in that period. The £118bn does not include the full tax contribution they have made during their working lives in the UK.
Continue reading...Lets have a grown-up debate on migration, not this dangerous stalemate
Reading the new study on the benefits of migration into Britain I wondered what a Ukip voter, elderly or unskilled, would make of its upbeat conclusion that weve collectively benefited to the tune of a net £20bn from the arrival of so many skilled and educated people from across Europe.
Whats in it for me? they might ask in Clacton or Rochester, even before they got to the bit buried away in the study published by University College London (UCL), but not by Times and Daily Mail headline writers about non-EU/EEA migrants costing us an additional £118bn in the 17 years from 1995-2011 because they werent all so young, skilled and motivated to work hard. What the Mail et al were less explicit about was that this figure includes everyone who was not born in the UK, not just those who arrived in that period. The £118bn does not include the full tax contribution they have made during their working lives in the UK.
Continue reading...November 4, 2014
What if Britain left the EU?
In a rare uncalculating moment, Boris Johnson wrote last year that, if Britain finally ended its sterile debate over Europe by leaving the EU, it would quickly discover that most of our problems are not caused by Brussels, but by chronic British short-termism, inadequate management, sloth, low skills and a culture of easy gratification and under-investment.
Continue reading...October 30, 2014
The law of unintended consequences affects refugees, drugs – even badgers
On refugee policy, then on drugs policy, MPs grappled on Thursday with one of their favourite bits of legislation: the law of unintended consequences. Rescue African asylum seekers from drowning in the Mediterranean? It only encourages more to risk death, ministers insisted. Oh dear. Prosecute recreational drug users? It drives them into the clutches of ruthless cartels, countered backbench MPs. Oh dear again.
Not even badgers are immune from the all-party Unintended Consequences Act. The government’s cull is “unpopular, ineffective, cruel and bad science by the nasty party,” roared Paul Flynn, the bearded Welsh leftie who could pass for a badger himself at dusk. Liz (Take No Prisoners) Truss, Cameroon over-achiever and newly appointed environment secretary, was having none of it. Having defeated the “Turnip Taliban” (copyright Mail on Sunday) in Norfolk to win her seat, she is prepared at every opportunity to gas or shoot the Badger Taliban.
Continue reading...The law of unintended consequences affects refugees, drugs even badgers
On refugee policy, then on drugs policy, MPs grappled on Thursday with one of their favourite bits of legislation: the law of unintended consequences. Rescue African asylum seekers from drowning in the Mediterranean? It only encourages more to risk death, ministers insisted. Oh dear. Prosecute recreational drug users? It drives them into the clutches of ruthless cartels, countered backbench MPs. Oh dear again.
Not even badgers are immune from the all-party Unintended Consequences Act. The governments cull is unpopular, ineffective, cruel and bad science by the nasty party, roared Paul Flynn, the bearded Welsh leftie who could pass for a badger himself at dusk. Liz (Take No Prisoners) Truss, Cameroon over-achiever and newly appointed environment secretary, was having none of it. Having defeated the Turnip Taliban (copyright Mail on Sunday) in Norfolk to win her seat, she is prepared at every opportunity to gas or shoot the Badger Taliban.
Continue reading...October 29, 2014
Europe is drifting and divided. This feels more like 1914 than 2014
With every day that passes it gets easier to see how Britain might accidentally stumble into withdrawal from the European Union into a highly uncertain future by 2017. More than that, with every passing day that the eurozone fails to address its economic malaise and political paralysis, it becomes easier to imagine the EUs eventual break-up into well, no one knows, but it will not be pretty.
Last week the Brussels commission sprung a surprise on David Cameron, though not on Treasury officials and diplomats, it seems, in the shape of that £1.7bn surcharge which Angela Merkel and now Denmarks Mrs Borgen say London must play by the rules and pay without complaint. Apparently they dont realise that it cant do so without also gifting sackfuls of know-nothing votes to the UK Independence party.
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