Someone made that point to me on Twitter during PMQs.That makes sense as political tactics (if not overdone, Ed), but it prompts me to ask if it is actually true. "Less than half the cabinet are very privileged,
kate spade wallet sale," I told my friend on Twitter. Actually that's an exaggeration, as a quick canter through their Wiki CVs will confirm.Briefly Cameron,
marc by marc jacobs tote, Nick Clegg and chancellor Osborne are famously children of upper middle-class metropolitan privilege. Broadly speaking so are Jeremy Hunt (health) and Owen Paterson (environment), in the sense that they went to well-known public schools and Oxbridge. Lord Strathclyde is quite posh too, like Mitchell the son of a Tory MP who (as it happens) was unfairly hounded by the tabloids in the Vassall spy affair.
Two major announcements on counter-terrorism and family immigration that also due this week are now said to be 50:50. Downing Street has not been able to focus on them long enough to sign them off. As the Commons rises for the summer recess next Tuesday the longer the phone-hacking scandal goes on this week, the more problems it is likely to cause around the rest of Whitehall. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA 2.29pm: Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, has said that Ed Miliband should not be lecturing the government on phone hacking. According to PoliticsHome, he put it like this.First of all, I think it is completely untrue [that David Cameron has been following Ed Miliband's lead on phone hacking}.
b. On Ministerial visits, whether in the UK or abroad, departments should make sure there is no confusion about who is and is not a member of the Ministerial party. c. Officials should accompany Ministers to all official visits and meetings overseas at which it is expected that official matters may be raised, and should seek guidance from the FCO if there is any uncertainty about the status of such meetings or the attendance of non-officials at them. d. Permanent Secretaries should discuss with Ministers at the time of their appointment and regularly thereafter whether any acquaintances or advisers have contractual relationships with the department or are involved in policy development.
Gosh, I hope the Lib Dems will stop complaining about being ignored by the media – at least for a week or two. Of course they won't stop.It's a good speech, very wholesome in many ways, full of admirable sentiments. But is it true, is it a fair description of Britain today, its problems and its urgent needs? I don't think it is, though it's a decent stab, and John Kampfner of Index puts a very positive gloss on it in an article for the Guardian's comment pages.Kampfner concludes that post-New Labour under Ed Miliband and a Cleggster-led third party have much in shared ambition, which they should work to fulfil. OK,
marc jacobs wallets, if you say so; that's a decent enough goal too.Clegg is obviously trying to regain political ground, among party activists and the wider electorate, lost during 18 months as junior coalition partner, culminating in David Cameron's clumsy summit mis-negotiation in Brussels, which gave the Tories a brief but unsettling boost in the opinion polls.
This is what he actually said.We should also simplify the age related allowances – which the Office of Tax Simplification have recently highlighted as a particularly complicated feature of the tax system.The NAO points out that many pensioners don't understand them.These allowances require around 150,000 pensioners to fill in self-assessment forms, and as we have real increases in the personal allowances, their value is already being eroded away.So over time we will simplify the tax system for pensioners by doing away with the complexity of the additional age-related allowances for anyone reaching the age of 65 on or after 6th April 2013 and I will freeze the cash value of the allowance for existing pensioners until it aligns with the personal allowance.
As for the rest of the papers, here are some articles and stories that are particularly interesting.? Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative 1922 committee, explains in an article in the Daily Telegraph why he will vote for an EU referendum when the issue comes to the Commons on Monday.David Cameron has said that he won't support the motion, because he thinks there are more important issues at the moment. That is perfectly reasonable: this is a backbench debate, and there is no need for ministers to participate. What matters is that backbench MPs of all parties should be free to vote in accordance with our beliefs and in the interests of our constituents.The Coalition Agreement commits ministers to examining "the balance of the EU's existing competences".
Chat Sentinela
