– Andrew Sparrow with all today’s politics news – including David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s joint press conference – Read Andrew Sparrow’s lunchtime summary
2.40pm: Q: (to Cameron:) Are you aware of the dangers swine flu poses to pregnant women?
Q: (to Clegg:) If you are a liability to the AV campaign, will you take a back seat?
Cameron says the cabinet had a report on flu this morning. There is “very good grip” in the health service on this issue.
Clegg says the yes campaign should not be run by politicians. – Clegg says politicians should not be running the yes to AV campaign. He says he is “not straining at the leash at all” to play a prominent role in the campaign.
2.38pm: Q: Can you give a categorical assurance that you won’t change the winter fuel allowance?
Q: Will you both campaign against each other at the general election?
Cameron says the government has made its choices on the winter fuel allowance and that it won’t be changing those decisions.
– Cameron refuses to rule out further changes to the winter fuel allowance.
Cameron says that at the general election he and Clegg will both be defending a shared record. But he acknowledges that some in his party are less keen on the coalition than others.
Clegg says the two parties will fight the general election as separate parties. But they might be more friendly towards each other than they have been in the past.
Q: If the coalition is good for Britain now, won’t it be good for Britain after 2015?
Clegg says that that is for the public to decide.
2.34pm: Q: Shouldn’t you be preparing the public more for the pain to come? Was Gus O’Donnell right to prepare a plan B?
Cameron says he is “not at all complacent about the economy or the difficulties people will face”.
The government has taken a long-term view. People understand that that means some “difficult decisions now”.
Clegg says the government has a plan.
These are “anxious times for many, many people in the country,” Clegg says.
– The economy has not yet recovered “full steam”, Clegg says.
But it would be a mistake to talk the economy down.
Even after all the cuts have been imposed, the government will be spending 41% of public wealth. That is more than when Labour came to power.
The government is “bringing some sense to the public finances”. That’s why he is “optimistic” the government’s decisions will stand the test of time.
2.30pm: Q: (to Clegg:) Have other Lib Dems been targeted?
Q: What are you going to do about the banks?
Clegg says he is not aware of having been targeted personally by Telegraph undercover journalists.
On banks, he says the banks are operating in a different environment to the one that applied 15 years ago because they are being underwritten by the taxpayer. But he is not going to set out a series of threats now.
Cameron says he completely agrees with that.
2.28pm: Q: Has Cable offered to resign?
– Cable was “very apologetic” at cabinet, Cameron says.
– Cameron denies planning to cut the winter fuel allowance. What Cable said about this was “not true”, Cameron says.
But he points out that there are disagreements within government.
Clegg says Cable is going to be more careful in the future. “He’s right to be embarrassed,” Clegg says. Clegg says he spoke to Cable this morning. Both men agreed that they should thrash out their differences in private and then move forward “as a team”.
2.26pm: Q: (to Cameron:) How much do you trust Vince Cable?
Cameron says that he does not agree with Cable on everything. But Cable is a colleague who has worked well in cabinet. Cameron says he regrets what is in the paper. And he jokes about being happy to find a Lib Dem enthusiastic about nuclear weapons.
Clegg says Cable has taken some bold decisions on tuition fees.
Cameron says one of the advantages of coalition is that it brings together big figures. He says Ken Clarke sometimes jokes about his inner Liberal coming out. “I sometimes try to pop it back in again.”
2.24pm: Q: Is it acceptable for George Osborne to call a gay MP (Chris Bryant) a pantomime dame?
Q: Should the ownership of BAA be changed?
On BAA, Cameron says the key is to get Heathrow working. On Bryant, Cameron says he did not hear the remark. There is “rough and tumble” in the chamber, he says.
– Clegg says that Osborne’s comment about Bryant was not homophobic. “Of course” it wasn’t, Clegg says.
2.21pm: Q: (to Cameron:) Will the bank bonuses issue push Vince Cable into resigning?
Q: (to Clegg:) Do your two parties still have different ideas?
– Clegg says Cable is “right to be embarrassed” by the Telegraph revelations. Clegg says the coalition will only work if ministers thrash out their differences in private and then stick together.
Cameron says people have identified a series of issues that were supposed to break the coalition apart.
On the issue of bank bonuses, the government will come to a “good resolution”.
– Cable was “apologetic” at cabinet, Cameron reveals. He says that Cable was right to be embarrassed by what he said. On winter fuel payments, he was “wrong”, Cameron says.
Cameron says he gets on with Cable “extremely well”.
I find the way the cabinet is working … people are doing a good job … I’m very happy with the way the team is working.
Clegg says it is in the interests of the banks to take notice of what people say.
2.17pm: Nick Clegg is speaking now. He starts with a joke. He says he has not seen so many journalists in one room “since my last constituency surgery”. As you can tell, it’s not exactly a rib-tickler.
Clegg says the government will “do what it takes” to address “the deep unfairness in our society”.
The government has embarked on a programme to rebuild British society. He mentions the pupil premium, free childcare, the work programme and the rise in the income tax threshold. The tuition fee changes will also make it “easier and cheaper” for bright pupils from poor backgrounds to go to university.
The government will be “self-confident”. It wants to trust people. “We believe that our decisions will stand the test of time,” he says.
Clegg also says the government has confounded the idea that coalition does not work. In other walks of life people accept that people with different views can work together. He hopes that soon this will be seen as normal in politics too.
2.13pm: Cameron is now talking about what the coalition has achieved. He says it can be summed up with two words:
– Cameron claims that the coalition has carried out a “rescue mission”.
He lists the steps the government has taken to control the deficit. The UK’s credit rating is safe. Confidence has been “restored”.
The government has also been on an urgent mission to drive growth.
This government is determined to give a shot in the arm to British business.
The country is in a stronger position to deal with the economic risks ahead, he says.
All the government’s work on the economy has only been possible through “the strength of the coalition”. There have been risks; the coalition partners do not agree on everything. But the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
2.10pm: People stuck at the airport are having “an incredibly difficult time”. Everything must be done to get them moving, or get them home.
2.09pm: Cameron says he is “frustrated” by how long it is taking to clear Heathrow. Snow ploughs are now on the second runway. It will be open by this evening.
2.09pm: He is going to start by talking about the snow. The weather has been “exceptional”. The government has been taking action to help. Cold weather payments are being paid permanently, and the government has “protected” winter fuel payments. Rules have been suspended to allow night flights.
2.06pm: Cameron and Clegg have arrived and Cameron begins by wishing everyone a happy Christmas and a happy new year. He says he wants to offer special greetings to the armed forces in Afghanistan.
2.01pm: The government has offered the army to help clear the snow at Heathrow (left), Sky is reporting.
1.58pm: Here’s the live blog from the Rose Garden press conference that Cameron and Clegg held in May. At the time they were making jokes about sharing a car to campaign for their parties in the forthcoming Thirsk election (the one that was held late because a candidate died). I wonder if we’ll get the same joke about the Oldham East and Saddleworth byelection.
1.50pm: The Cameron-Clegg press conference will be starting at 2pm. No prizes for guessing what the first question will be about. The DWP has said today that winter fuel payments will not be scrapped (see 12.32pm ), but Cameron is almost certain to come under pressure to give a slightly stronger commitment than that. As Sunder Katwala points out at Next Left , Cameron gave firm assurances during the election campaign about winter fuel payments.
“Let me say very clearly to pensioners: if you have a Conservative government your winter fuel allowance, your bus pass, your pension credit, your free TV licence, all these things are safe,” Cameron said. “You can read my lips, that is a promise from my heart.” Will he say the same this afternoon?
But I hope the press conference won’t be dominated by this issue. The best prime ministerial press conferences are those that cover a wide range of topics. If 20 journalists all ask about the same thing, it can get rather dull. The press conference is in Downing Street, but it’s easier for me to live blog it from the office and so I’ll be watching it on TV.
1.22pm: This is what some of my Guardian colleagues are saying about the Vince Cable sting:
– Patrick Wintour says it is surprising that Cable was tricked by the undercover journalists .
I happened to be with a senior government member last night when the Cable news broke and their reaction was one of disbelief – disbelief that Vince Cable could have been so foolish as to sing like a canary to two “constituents” he had never met that happened to turn up to his surgery in Twickenham.
– Tom Clark says the coalition should be worried about the fact that there are more revelations of this kind to come .
The Telegraph says that they have more to come on what top Lib Dem dogs really think of their “Conservative friends”. If the unguarded Vince has been followed in to the subterfuge trap by, for example, a hapless Norman Lamb or Sarah Teather then the coalition really would be in trouble. The official line for today will no doubt be, “look, this is Vince being Vince”. If that ceases to be usable then all bets are suddenly off.
– Michael White thinks the Telegraph tactics were not justified .
My feeling is that there was no public interest justification for the Telegraph sting. It’s not as if the tape proved that Vince likes cocaine or underage rent boys, both illegal activities and thus legitimate targets of press inquiry – as was the News of the World’s Pakistani match-fixing probe, but not its hacking into royal or celeb gossip.
1.10pm: Here’s a lunchtime summary :
– Labour has warned pensioners not to trust the government’s assurances about the future of winter fuel payments after Vince Cable was secretly recorded saying they would be cut. The government put out a statement saying winter fuel payments “will not be scrapped”. But Cable told two undercover Daily Telegraph journalists that the payments were probably next on the government’s target list for cuts. It’s not clear at this stage whether Cable was guessing, or whether he was privy to secret information. “You won’t believe the warm words that are now being issued in public when Vince Cable in private has confirmed David Cameron is thinking about either abolishing or reducing the winter fuel allowance in the future,” Douglas Alexander, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said. Even though Cable spoke candidly about the policy disagreements within the government, Geoge Osborne told MPs that he viewed Cable as a “powerful ally”. Cable doesn’t appear to have caused any serious damage to the government, although his comments betray a sense of self-importance and he has said that he is “embarrassed” by what he said. (See 9.38am and 12.32pm .)
– The European Commission has unconditionally approved News Corporation’s bid to take full control of BSkyB on competition grounds. As my colleague James Robinson reports, this means the British authorities have the final say over whether or not the bid will go ahead.
– Ministers have launched a consultation on their plans to end child poverty. The process could lead to the Child Poverty Commission, which the government has to set up under the Child Poverty Act, having its remit widened to include “life chances” as well as poverty. “Tackling child poverty is not about primarily moving people above an arbitrary income line; it is about ensuring that people have the support, incentives and skills they need to create a better life for themselves,” the consultation document says.
– The Treasury has published a report claiming that the government could save up to £3bn a year by managing major infrastructure projects more effectively. (See 11.44am .)
– Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has launched a public consultation on how Public Health England, the new public health service, will operate.
12.32pm: In the light of Vince Cable’s comments about the winter fuel payments (see 9.38am ), the Department for Work and Pensions has issued this statement: “Winter fuel payments will not be scrapped. A decision was taken in the spending review to protect them and nothing has changed since then.” And during Treasury questions Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has also just told MPs that the government is sticking with winter fuel payments .
But Douglas Alexander, the shadow work and pensions secretary (above), has told Sky that people are entitled to be sceptical about the government’s assurances. According to PoliticsHome , this is what Alexander said:
You won’t believe the warm words that are now being issued in public when Vince Cable in private has confirmed David Cameron is thinking about either abolishing or reducing the winter fuel allowance in the future … I’m afraid I’m interested this morning in what one of the most senior members of the cabinet has confirmed, which is what Labour has been alleging for a number of months, which is that David Cameron in private has been planning to reduce or to abolish the winter fuel payment.
Douglas Alexander has got a point. The DWP statement only commits the government to keeping winter fuel payments. Ministers do not seem to have ruled cutting the amount of money spent on them, either by reducing their value or changing the eligibility rules.
12.10pm: Eric Pickles is giving evidence to the communities committee at the moment. He has just told them – jokingly, I think – that you would have to be a “sad person” to fully understand the system used to allocate money to local government.
I don’t think he’s been asked about Christmas yet, but thanks to Robert Neill, the local government minister, we know what his department thinks. Caroline Flint, the shadow communities secretary, asked a parliamentary question about how much money the department would be spending on Christmas parties and drinks receptions. This is how Neill replied :
As the secretary of state indicated in his departmental press notice of 29 November 2010, the new administration is committed to celebrating Christmas, including its Christian heritage. We should not allow politically correct Grinches to marginalise Christmas and the importance of the birth of Christ.
Ministers recognise that we live in frugal times due to the need to pay off the significant public deficit and national debt that the government have inherited from the previous administration. But there is no need to play Scrooge.
In this context, a Christmas tree has been placed in the department’s reception at Eland House which has been provided at no cost to the taxpayer. This is in contrast to the previous cost of £1,037 for a Christmas tree …
Last year, the department spent £2,855 of taxpayers’ money on Christmas cards. This year the departmental Christmas card, now with appropriate Christian imagery, has been produced at no cost to the taxpayer and will be sent electronically.
12.00pm: The home affairs committee has been taking evidence this morning about the government’s review of counterterrorism legislation. Lady Neville-Jones, the security minister, and Lord Carlile, the government’s independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, were both giving evidence and they may have given us a clue as to what the government will do about replacing control orders.
Carlile said that he had suggested to the government replacing control orders with a three-tier system, involving: international travel restrictions; domestic travel restrictions; and “conduct orders” for the most serious suspects. Carlile said conduct orders would be like control orders, but less restrictive. However, he also said that if these orders did not include curfews and restrictions covering who a suspect could meet and his or her use of the internet, they would be pointless.
Neville-Jones would not say what the government was planning. But she said she did regard Carlile’s proposals as “very helpful”.
11.49am: In Treasury questions in the Commons just now, Alan Johnson, the shadow chancellor, asked George Osborne about the Vince Cable revelations. Osborne responded by saying that Cable was a “powerful ally” in the battle to promote growth. “He has forgotten more about economics than the shadow chancellor ever knew,” Osborne went on. Johnson and Osborne then exchanged insults with a Christmas theme. Johnson listed various problems with the economy and asked if Osborne was hoping for a “plan B” for Christmas. Osborne said the shadow chancellor was “the incredible no man” because he always rejected the government’s ideas for reducing the deficit.
11.44am: The Treasury has published a report this morning claiming that the government could save up to £3bn a year by managing major infrastructure projects more effectively. “One look at projects like the Olympics, where over £600m has been saved, shows that the UK can deliver big infrastructure projects on time and within budget,” said Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury. “We just have to make sure that the rest learn from the best.”
11.14am: I’ve already posted my thoughts on Cablegate. (See 9.38am .) Here’s what other people are saying on the blogosphere.
– Tim Montgomerie at ConservativeHome says none of Cable’s views were surprising.
It would be an exaggeration to say these revelations rock the coalition but they do confirm that there are real differences between the two governing parties. What we see in these tapes are the sort of thing Mr Cable says “off the record” to journalists all the time. He is known as an indiscreet and attention-seeking minister.
– Caron at Caron’s Musings says she disapproves of the tactics used by the Daily Telegraph.
I always thought that it was illegal to record a conversation without the other person’s knowledge and consent. That’s why, when you phone the tax credits office, or your insurance company, or your bank, they tell you that your conversation may be recorded. If the Telegraph hasn’t broken the law, they’ve certainly been sneaky, devious, discourteous and lazy. I find it interesting that they’ve released the audio of Vince, but not of these women telling lies.
If papers go to this length, how long is it going to be before they try to get reporters into private family occasions, maybe posing as friends, or even people who date their kids?
– Sunder Katwala at Next Left challenges David Cameron to give a categorical assurance that he won’t cut the winter fuel allowance, in the light of Vince Cable’s revelation that he does expect it to be reduced.
– Benedict Brogan on his blog says that Vince Cable should realise that he is not indispensable.
Plenty of Lib Dems I speak to find him insufferable and self-important. He may find his colleagues happy to wave goodbye. Back in the summer senior figures assured me that Mr Clegg privately hoped Mr Cable would do him the favour of quitting before the year was out. Perhaps he might learn from Tony Blair’s failure to call Gordon Brown’s bluff, and decide to prove that, indeed, no one is indispensable.
– Mark Pack at Liberal Democrat Voice finds it odd that the Telegraph is criticising Vince Cable for being honest.
– Jon Craig on his Sky blog says many Tory MPs would like to see David Laws replace Vince Cable.
I was present a few weeks ago when David Cameron was asked if he would like to bring David Laws back into the cabinet and when. “Yes and soon,” the PM replied.
Many Tory MPs – already grumbling about too many concessions to the Lib Dems in the coaltion – would be delighted to see the back of Vince and the return of the enthusiastic costcutter and former Treasury chief secretary.
Laws would slot nicely into Vince’s job as business secretary.
– Alastair Campbell on his blog says that Cable will be weakened by the Telegraph revelations.
What is toe-curling is the boastfulness of it all, the idea that one word of protest and a storm-out from cabinet would bring the whole government down … Michael Heseltine tried that and he was an altogether bigger beast back then than ex-Saint Vince is now.
10.47am: You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here . And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today’s paper, are here .
As for the rest of the papers, apart from the Telegraph’s Vince Cable sting (see 9.38am ), they’re a bit thin. But here are three articles I found interesting:
– Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, in the Daily Mail says that Joseph, the father of Jesus, should be seen as a role model.
I am not a churchman and I am not given to commenting on Christian theology – rather I raise all this partly because I have long wondered why Joseph seems to have been so forgotten and partly because it has a very clear message for our own time …
Joseph was not an absent father; he was there, with Mary and with Jesus; and the Christian church, by underplaying the importance of this in the story of Christ, has missed a real example of selfless dedication and commitment which should resound today.
Whether it was battling for accommodation for his pregnant and exhausted wife in a crowded town or protecting his family as they fled from Herod’s soldiers, this simple man of courage and honour was always there when his wife and son needed him. For some children, we might reasonably ask: where are the men of such courage and honour today?
– Rachel Sylvester in the Times (paywall) says the coalition parties are split over what to do about the banks:
There is also a difference of opinion about how the government should deal with the publicly owned banks. With the Royal Bank of Scotland said to be planning lavish bonuses, the Lib Dems want to step in. Lord Oakeshott even suggested yesterday that, as the government owns 84% of RBS, it could follow Ireland and refuse to sign the bonus cheques.
The Conservatives, in contrast, think it would be wrong to single out taxpayer-supported banks. “We all want them to show restraint,” says a Treasury source. “But as a shareholder we have an interest in these banks being successful. We shouldn’t discriminate between different types of banks.”
In the longer term, the Lib Dems also want to see the banks broken up into their retail and investment arms – something the Tories are far more ambiguous about. The question is now being examined by the Independent Commission on Banking. Its conclusions will, one senior Lib Dem says, be “crunch time” for the coalition.
– Nick Bosanquet, professor of health policy at Imperial College London, says in the Times (paywall) the government should delay its health reform plans because the NHS will hit a crisis around November next year.
“The Great Hallowe’en Health Shock”: that is the kind of newspaper headline you can expect to read in autumn 2011. Around November next year, the various hospital trusts will be confronted with the full implications of rising demand and costs in an era of reduced cashflow. The shock will mean much longer waits for patients, as well as fewer services and job losses.
This crunch is hard to avoid. Costs in the health services are tunnelling frantically like rodents, breaching that carefully constructed ringfence around the NHS budget. For instance, the pension costs of staff are rapidly rising. Superannuation costs rose from £6.4bn in 2004-05 to £17.7bn in 2010-11. And over the next four years there will be an extra £7bn of payments to private finance initiative schemes, the hangover from the big building splurge of the past decade.
10.22am: Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has today announced that he is spending up to £20m getting the children most at risk of becoming obese involved in school sports . Up to £14m will go to primary schools, to enable them to take part in the School Games initiative, and another £6.4m will go to Change4Life clubs, clubs for teenagers who do not regularly take part in sport.
9.38am: The most interesting story of the morning, by far, is in the Daily Telegraph, which is reporting what Vince Cable told two undercover journalists posing as constituents who turned up at his surgery in Twickenham to ask about the abolition of child benefit for high earners – and all sorts of other things too. It’s the first instalment in a series that the Telegraph is running examining the concerns that Liberal Democrat ministers have about the coalition government and their Conservative coalition colleagues.
Cable made a series of indiscreet comments about the coalition. My colleague Helen Pidd has summarised them here , you can read the full Telegraph transcript here , and the Telegraph has also posted a recording of Cable on its website here .
This morning Cable seems to be in the doghouse. He has said that he is “embarrassed” by his comments and that he regrets them. But, actually, the revelations aren’t really that embarrassing. The only toxic one is the claim that a cut in the winter fuel allowance is on the way. Reading the transcript, and listening to the recording, it is hard to tell whether Cable is actually revealing something that has been talked about in government, or just guessing what might happen in the future. Whatever, Downing Street sources are insisting today that there is “no truth” in what Cable was saying about the winter fuel payment being cut.
Otherwise, what’s surprising is how polite Cable was about his colleagues. Even though he thought he was having a private conversation, he does not appear to have criticised any of his Tory ministerial colleagues and he even managed to be quite civil about Howard Flight (“he is a nice but rather silly public schoolboy”).
Cable’s comment about using the “nuclear option” (resignation) to bring down the government sounds dramatic, but, if you read the transcript carefully, you’ll see that he’s not issuing a threat. He is just describing how government works. And the point doesn’t just apply to cabinet government. In any government, cabinet ministers do not have many “conventional weapons” (to use Cable’s analogy), but they can use the threat of resignation (the nuclear option) to get their way. There is no guarantee that a Cable resignation would bring down the government, and the comment reveals a touch of vanity. But essentially he was giving the undercover reporters a lecture in how collective government operates; he wasn’t issuing a threat.
One other comment was particularly revealing, because it echoes a complaint that many people are making about the government at the moment. This was Cable saying the government is doing too much. “There is a kind of Maoist revolution happening in a lot of areas like the health service, local government reform, all this kind of stuff, which is in danger of getting out of control. We are trying to do to many things, actually,” Cable said. But this isn’t the first time that Cable has complained about the “Maoist” pace of the government’s reforms. He used the adjective last month, in a public speech in Birmingham (although admittedly just in reference to regional development).
8.39am: Remember the Rose Garden press conference? The David Cameron-Nick Clegg civil partnership ceremony, as someone dubbed it, or that moment when it appeared that we were being governed by two characters from a Richard Curtis film, as another colleague commented at the time. That was seven months ago. Today Cameron and Clegg are having another joint press conference at Downing Street. They haven’t got anything special to announce, it seems. It’s being billed as just an “end of term” press conference. The weather has changed considerably since May, and they certainly won’t be in the Rose Garden. As for what else is different? We’ll find out at 2pm.
Today is the last day that the Commons will be sitting before the Christmas recess. The Cameron-Clegg press conference will be the main event of the day, but there are other things on the agenda too. Here’s a full list:
11am: Lord Carlile, the government’s independent adviser on anti-terrorism legislation, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee on the government’s review of counterterrorism law.
11.30am: Treasury questions in the Commons.
11.30am: Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, gives evidence to a Commons committee about the spending review.
12.30pm: More than 50 MPs are due to take part in a pre-Christmas adjournment debate. They can use this to raise any topic they want.
2pm: Cameron and Clegg hold a joint press conference.
As usual, I’ll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. David Cameron Vince Cable Liberal-Conservative coalition Conservatives Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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