At no cost to the taxpayer, Lib Dem Voice brings you this morning’s picks from the news and blogs (still dominated by the revelations about MPs’ expenses):
Michael Martin, the Commons Speaker, will today make a desperate appeal to stay in his job, as MPs plot to make him the most prominent casualty of the Westminster expenses furore.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, broke with convention yesterday in calling for Mr Martin to resign. David Cameron, Tory leader, refused to say how he would vote in a confidence motion to be
Over at The Observer, Nick Clegg argues, after a tumultuous week in politics, that the public must be given more power than the politicians. Here’s an excerpt:
We are in the eye of the perfect storm: an economic crisis followed by a total collapse of public faith in politicians. One way or another, MPs’ self-serving expenses will now, thankfully, be changed for good. But this must be a moment for fundamental change, not just tinkering to eliminate the worst excesses of the past. The uncomfortable truth is that these revelations are merely the tip of an iceberg – our whole political
Lib Dem leader has become the first party leader publicly to call on House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin to quit. The BBC has the story:
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has called on Commons Speaker Michael Martin to stand down, saying he has become an obstacle to much-needed reform of Parliament. Mr Clegg said the speaker should do the “decent thing” and step aside, saying he was not the “right man” for the job. He criticised the speaker for “dragging his feet” over the issue of MPs’ expenses, causing such public anger. …
Okay, so it’s not the most controversial headline you’re going to read on a Lib Dem blog all week. But, still, I think it needs saying – because though we Lib Dems, especially in the blogosphere, tend to be quite good at criticising our leadership, MPs and other ‘powers that be’, I’m not sure we always spread the love when it’s deserved.
I kept my powder dry during the leadership campaign, didn’t declare my voting intention, have never publicly disclosed it since. I felt both candidates – Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne – had very real strengths. I also thought each …
As if my shopping list for Nick Clegg’s priorities wasn’t already long enough, I also think this whole expenses furore is the absolutely perfect hook for the root and branch electoral reform the Liberal Democrats have been advocating since the dawn of recorded time.
It’s maybe not one for immediate execution, while public anger abates and basic reparations and undertakings are being made (see my previous post).
But the kind of systemic corruption that has been exposed over the past week is clearly linked to our topsey-turvey electoral and constitutional system. Cicero explains in
Let’s start by giving praise where it is due – Nick Clegg may not have done the truly brave thing and published everyone’s expenses before the Telegraph could, but he did haveone real, concrete response ready for the expenses scandal and it was this: Liberal Democrat MPs will pass all gains from their second homes back to the taxpayer on sale. Talking of concrete, I was impressed by the “ton of bricks” imagery, which clearly went down well with the Metro.
Our daily review and preview of the day’s big stories…
2 Big Stories
MPs’ expenses dominate the headlines … again
Another day, another bleak day for Parliamentary politics. Former Agriculture minister Elliot Morley was suspended from the Labour party for claiming £16,000 in expenses on a mortgage he had paid off. Meanwhile, Andrew MacKay, a senior aide to Tory leader David Cameron, resigned after claiming tens of thousands of pounds in second-home expenses on a London property that his wife, Tory MP Julie Kirkbride, designated as her main home. And as if that wasn’t enough, the House of Lords took the exceptional step …
This news release popped into the Voice’s inbox from party HQ late this afternoon – Nick Clegg has today written to Gordon Brown and David Cameron to call on them to declare that they will accept in full the recommendations of Sir Christopher Kelly’s investigation into MPs’ expenses.
If you missed it last night, fear not! The latest Lib Dem party election broadcast is yours to view via the magic of YouTube, below – in fact, why watch it just once?
Two days ago, like m’colleague Alix, I was nervously braced, fully expecting that at least one Lib Dem MP would be exposed by the Telegraph as a major expenses-sponging freeloader. The downside of the party having grown to 63 MPs was, surely, that one of them would have made a catastrophic error of judgement, one so serious it would result in their being publicly shamed.
The party as a whole, and in particular Nick Clegg as leader, would then have the painful task of working out how they should be disciplined (withdrawal of the whip, compulsory reselection?), almost certainly …
Of course, I realise that’s not entirely the point – to have ill-advisedly claimed even the most minor items brings the system and Parliament into disrepute, allowing the media and our opponents to say we’re all the same. And as Hywel notes in an LDV comment thread below, ‘“Not as corrupt as other MPs” …
Well, it’s Tuesday evening, five days after the Telegraph first started ‘naming and shaming’ Labour and Tory MPs who have deliberately taken advantage of their own system of MPs’ expenses to make frequently indefensible claims ranging from the petty to the extravagant… And all Lib Dems are currently holding our breaths to see if tomorrow or Thursday will bring revelations of what our own MPs have been up to, if anything.
Nick Clegg was on the BBC today making a staunch defence of the party’s previous efforts to reform the system, blocked by Labour and the Tories:
Welcome to what’s intended to be a daily feature here on LDV: an early preview of the two big news stories of the day, and a click-though to two of the must-read Lib Dem blog posts just published. Each day a member of the LDV collective will take their turn to bagpipe fact into news*.
Lib Dem support for the Gurkhas will cost them seats
His rationale for this, erm, counter-intuitive view? Though crediting Nick Clegg’s campaigning on behalf of the Gurkhas as “principled”, Kevin then argues that his “cosying up in bed together will cost the Lib Dems seats”.
Hmmm. Quite apart from the idea that the Lib Dem leader could (even if he’d wanted to) refuse to stand on the same platform as his Tory counterpart as part of a non-partisan campaign, what’s the evidence for Kevin’s suggestion?
Some real desperate farce from the House this afternoon. Brown’s answers to Cameron were incredibly poor throughout – “I’m sure that sounded great in the bunker” Cameron said after one particularly otherworldly response. As a further indicator of the standard on the government side, planted questions enable the PM to mention the National Minimum Wage and football, and several involved waving the scary “before 1997” card.
A sneering question comes from a Tory backbencher about bullying in the workplace (vis, Number 10) referring to reports of “a Whitehall official” throwing office equipment around. Gordon even manages to
We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV – of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends.
Here, in chronological order, are the results of the eight polls published in April:
Tories 41%, Labour 34%, Lib Dems 16% – YouGov/S. Times (5th April 2009)
Tories 43%, Labour 30%, Lib Dems 18% – Populus/Times (7th April)
Tories 43%, Labour 26%, Lib Dems 21%
The Telegraph suggests that “senior” Labour MPs and peers are considering breaking away from their party in disgust at Gordon Brown’s leadership and fear of a lurch to the left. Talks are apparently afoot to convince them to become Liberal Democrats. As usual with unattributed stories, it is impossible to tell whether there is any basis to the newspaper’s speculation – or whether it is entirely unfounded.
But assuming for a moment it is true, some will be tempted to question whether the party should welcome defectors from Labour. I’ve previously outlined why I don’t subscribe to the view …
“The hour of his greatest triumph may seem an eccentric time to suggest this, but this is the perfect moment for Nick Clegg to hand Vince Cable his job,” says Indy columnist Matthew Norman. (Eccentric doesn’t cover it, Matthew, but let’s hear you out:)
It is through no fault of his own that his party is poised to squander a second successive breakthrough opportunity (the last drowned in the dregs of Charlie Kennedy’s Glenlivet after a woefully lacklustre campaign). A likable, intelligent and evidently sincere chap, and a gifted communicator, Mr Clegg can’t help looking like the centre picture in
Today’s historic victory for the Gurkhas and an historic defeat for Gordon Brown has already been chronicled by our own Alix Mortimer. Here is the Channel 4 News report:
Nick Clegg’s superb performance at today’s PMQ already won him rave reviews, as our Alex Foster noted.
Other mentions in dispatches for the role Nick Clegg played in forcing this issue:
“Credit in particular to Nick Clegg” – The Telegraph’sBenedict Brogan
“the Liberal Democrats can feel justifiably pleased that their long game has truly paid off” – BBC’s Gary …
Nick Clegg’s Opposition Day debate motion has passed this afternoon by 267 votes to 246 – a narrow but highly significant victory. The motion demanded that all retired Gurkhas be awarded the right to settle in the UK.
Brown seems to have a political death wish at the moment. He was on the wrong side of today’s argument and he’ll be on the wrong side tomorrow when he tries to push through his hasty YouTube mash-up of MPs expense reforms too.
More analysis when that happens – suffice it to say for the moment that
As I type, the Lib Dems are holding the Government to account on their stance on rights for Ghurka troops to settle in the UK.
But in PMQs this afternoon, Clegg launched a blistering attack on the Prime Minister on the Ghurka issue, despite following Cameron’s similar question.
And he’s been rewarded for his efforts with a round of ace reviews from bloggers across the spectrum:
But it was Clegg who played the real blinder. This was the Lib Dem leader’s best performance at PMQs. Clegg has struggled to find the right issue to get the PM on,
In an interview now available through the BBC, Nick Clegg spelled out to Newsnight his dedication to reforming MPs’ expenses. He quite rightly notes the chaos over reform just looks like “rats fighting in a sack” to a public wanting transparency and clarity.
The Daily Mail is speculating that at least one senior Lib Dem MP will be caught up in the expected criticism of MPs’ expense claims, when receipts are published in July. The newspaper reports here that Nick Clegg has been asked for an assurance by a front-bencher that there will be no sackings for Lib Dems embarrassed by their published expenses; an assurance Nick apparently refused to give.
Whether there is any truth to this gossip remains to be seen. Earlier today, Political Betting’s Mike Smithson suggested that the Lib Dems could be winners, particularly in London, given …
These are just some reactions to a Government announcement today on settlement rights for Gurkhas who retired before 1997.
So what’s the story and background?
Gurkhas have served all across the world in the defence of our country for nearly 200 years. Over 45,000 died in the two World Wars as part of the British Army, and they are still fighting in the British Army today.
But until quite recently, the Gurkhas had no right to citizenship in this country after completing …
Gordon Brown published his own plan yesterday which included replacing the second home allowance with a daily attendance allowance. It got short shrift from Nick, but it seems the Prime Minister is unshiftable. Speaking to BBC News tonight after the talks, Nick said:
Gordon Brown wont budge. He wants to move to this system where MPs would basically given a cheque
Today we got a pick and mix Budget of recycled announcements from a government skilled in raising people’s hopes but incompetent at actually delivering help.
“This Budget is a political supermarket sweep of random promises, without even a hint of a plan or any likelihood the promises will be put into practice. The biggest disappointment in this Budget is its failure to sort out Britain’s unfair tax system. To put money into people’s pockets to help them make it through this recession.
“Britain’s taxes are too heavy on those who can least afford it. And too easy to avoid for those who know how. The 50p rate will further encourage the very wealthy to avoid tax unless we tackle the unfair loopholes they exploit.
“The Liberal Democrats would get practical help to people who are struggling and cut the vast majority of people’s Income Tax bills by £700, paid for by taking aggressive action to clamp down on all the loopholes and exemptions that benefit the richest people and biggest businesses.
“We would take big choices about what government should and shouldn’t do. With a shocking deficit this year of £175bn we need a national debate about what the state can and cannot afford in the future. That is the responsible way – the honest way – to reduce spending in the years ahead and avoid painful higher taxes.
“But Labour is out of ideas and out of steam. Today they have condemned us to years of unemployment and a decade of debt. The country deserves something different.”
A video excerpt of Nick Clegg’s Commons response is below:
You can read the full text over at the party’s website HERE, or after the jump:
The Evening Standard billboards I walked past this evening proclaimed, more than a little hyperbolically, Brown axes MPs’ expenses. The truth is a little more mundane – you can read the full text of the written statement from Commons leader Harriet Harman’s statement to the Commons setting out Labour’s proposed changes to MPs’ expenses rules via the BBC HERE.
The headline-grabbing announcement is the scrapping of the second homes’ allowance, and its replacement with ‘a flat-rate daily allowance, based on actual attendance at Westminster on parliamentary and government business or the business of the Opposition frontbenches’ limited to the …
Time was the announcement of Lib Dem taxation policies would have been almost entirely ignored. And, if they were covered, the focus would have been exclusively on the ‘U-turn’ element of yesterday’s announcement that the party has dropped its less-than-a-year-old pledge to cut income tax by 4p in favour of raising the personal tax allowance threshold to £10,000.
But that time was Before Vince. Today, there is much positive coverage (in the former broadsheets anyway) of the Lib Dems’ tax-cutting pledge. Let’s start with The Independent’s glowing editorial:
… the Liberal Democrats have been ahead of the pack in
Neil Hickman The current World Cup, beside being a monumental exercise in chiselling, is a massive ego trip for one of the most unpleasant and dangerous individuals on the p...
Tom Bailey Thumbs up to this article. FWIW, I feel that something has changed in this Iran~US~Israel “debacle”, that will transform the region. Iran, in their Memora...
expats David Raw 14th Jun '26 - 1:14pm;
David, Jack Priestley, obviously, never watched Millwall or Leeds Utd in the 1970's...
I read ‘The Good Companions’ ...
David Raw I normally agree with Nonconformist and Expats on most things, but clearly they've never read up on that son of literature from Bradford, J.B. Priestley. Here's...
Tom Reeve I always feel smarter after reading one of your columns! Informative, polemical, pointed. Thank you.
The biggest question we face as a society (after climat...
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Lord Bonkers: "Something less terrible than the truth"
Two new Makerfield by-election polls gives Burnham 5 and 12 point leads
Reform under water
Neil Hickman 
Tom Bailey 
expats 
David Raw 
Tom Reeve 