This story from the last few days shows that the Labour Party may still be divided over the Iraq War, but maybe in electing Ed Miliband, they will be able to move on quicker than if one of the other candidates had been elected. Ed Miliband was not an MP in 2003 when the decision was taken, which means he is in a better position to talk about the War being wrong, as he was not even a Minister let alone bound by Collective Responsibility.
(Executive, Parliament, Political Parties)
British Prime Ministers have always been able to choose the date on the next General Election, thus giving them some power over the opposition parties. Since 1911, they have had to call an election within at least 5 years since the last one. This is an element of the British Constitution.
The Coalition government are currently passing a bill which will see Britain have 5 year fixed term Parliaments. In the process of this bill they have recently announced that there will be no Queen’s Speech next year,with the next one occurring in Spring 2012 (when they will happen every 12 months, instead of the traditional Autumn sitting – think Guy Fawkes!).
This story shows that some believe that this is an example of the Government stealing power away from Parliament. We will return to this story in the coming weeks
(Parliament, Constitution, Executive)
As mentioned in class, I do love a political scandal. Perhaps more than is healthy for a Government & Politics teacher, but this does mean that the current story that has been growing over the last year about alleged phone tapping of MPs is of great interest.
Just to recap…..
In 2007, 2 News of the World journalists were jailed for 6 months each for breaking into the voicemail of Princes William & Harry. As a result the editor of the News of the World took responsibility and resigned.
This seemed the end of the story, until in 2009 The Guardian alleged that the phone tapping and hacking was more widespread and extended to surveillance of celebrities and (importantly) MPs, and that they had paid 1 million pounds to settle cases out of court where they had been discovered. This story has been supported by an article in the New York Times that claimed the practise was widespread at the NOTW. The Police began, and stopped, an investigation, but today the House of Commons has decided to hold an enquiry into it, to get to the bottom of the allegations.
The thing that turns this from a good old-fashioned spying story into a proper political scandal, is that the Editor of the NOTW, who resigned after the initial event, Andy Coulson, is now arguably the most powerful non-MP in Downing Street, working as the Director of Communications for the Conservative Party.
So the story has now become, did the Head of Spin and PR for the Government sanction the illegal tapping and surveillance of politicians in his former job. Obviously there is a bigger issue with bugging the Mayor of London or the Deputy Prime Minister than bugging for instance George Michael or Nigella Lawson, as politicians phones may hold incredibly sensitive information about national security.
This is a scandal/story that will grow over the next few months, and could cause problems for the Government. Watch this space!
(Civil Liberties, Parliament, Executive)
In the past, one of the key powers of the Prime Minister derived from Royal Prerogative (or Powers previously held by the Monarch) was the power to declare war and make peace.
This changed under Tony Blair when he had a vote in the Commons on whether to invade Iraq in 2003. Gordon Brown continued this by saying that were he to take troops into war, he too would get the permission of Parliament first.
This has been further set in stone by the vote being held later today on whether we should keep troops in Afghanistan. This may seem a small thing, but it is a traditional power of the PM that has now been transferred to Parliament.
(Executive, Parliament)
Amidst the party policy negotiations between the Conservatives and Lib Dems, they have proposed some pretty important changes to the British Constitution. They are to bring in fixed term parliaments (next election to be held on 7th May 2015) and a change to the rule when parliament can dissolve parliament. Currently this happens when 50% plus 1 of MPs vote against the government in a vote of no confidence. The coalition want to bring in a new rule that requires 55% of MPs to vote against the government. The following Guardian piece goes through some of the issues that this change involves. It is worth mentioning that all the other MPs voting together could not dissolve a Conservative minority government under this new rule
Worth listening to is this piece by Professor Peter Hennessy (our “B*****ks on stilts” friend) on the Today programme talking about the “very iffy politics indeed” of this change.
Finally, the new Government have returned the title of Education Minister for Michael Gove, not the Children, Schools & Families title held by Ed Balls.
(Constitution, Parliament, Executive)
The new coalition cabinet was chosen yesterday (see the link here) and there are more Liberal Democrats (5) than women (4). This article from the Guardian also points out that 69% of the new Cabinet went to either Oxford or Cambridge.
Baroness Warsi is also pointed out to be the first Muslim woman in a British Cabinet, but she is also the only ethnic minority cabinet minister. This probably says as much about the Conservatives as politics in general, as they do not have that many ethnic minority candidates, or MPs in Scotland and Wales, leading to the fact that the Scottish Ministers is a Lib Dem and the Welsh Minister is the candidate for Amersham, in Buckinghamshire! (although born in Wales)
(Executive, Parliament)
The BBC website currently has some fantastic stuff for politics students due to the election. Terms and concepts that have previously been difficult for students to grasp are now well explained, with video and flashy graphics.
Here is an example, explaining what a Hung Parliament means. Have a look around the BBC Election site to see if there are any other things that could help to clear up difficult areas for you.
(Elections, Parliament, Executive)
Here is another example of the House of Lords defeating a government bill. I think the Anti-Terrorism Bill defeat from 2008 is still the more newsworthy, due to the important nature of the legislation, but this is a good up to date example a story worth reading (if you can understand the language used – unlike a digital immigrant like me!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8549112.stm
(Parliament, Executive)
Some interesting observations in the press this weekend following the publication of a book on the PM by Andrew Rawnsley. These two stories shed some light on what the “style” of Gordon Brown may be, linked to the ideas we spoke about in class about him being a control freak, who had had total control over the Treasury when he was Chancellor, and how difficult he has found it to be unable to have total control over all affairs since becoming PM. This also links clearly to work done on the power of the Prime Minister
(The Constitution)
As mentioned in our quiz a couple of weeks ago, Gordon Brown had plans to scrap tax relief on childcare vouchers. This Times article explains the fact that he has bowed to pressure from within his party and changed his mind.
What does this say about Gordon Brown as a leader? Is he a collegiate leader who takes in account the veiws of his party? Or is he a weak leader, on the way out, who is trying desparately to avoid a backbench rebellion.
The answer is probably somewhere in between, but this is a useful case study to illustrate PM power, the power of backbenchers as well as a further indication of spin (particularly if you look at this story on other websites or newspapers)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6943472.ece
(Executive)
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