The King's Speech

Beefeaters searching for gunpowder

Wednesday, 17 July 2024

It was the King's Speech, time for Sir Keir Starmer's government to set out its legislation programme for the year ahead. There were 40 Bills covering much of what had been in the manifesto -"a mission-led approach" to delivering the changes that were needed to provide the growth that is essential to rectify the damage wreaked on public services by austerity, poor procurement, Brexit and Covid incompetence and 14 years of slogan rich but delivery light governments.

But first, we had to watch the charades at Westminster as hundreds of footmen, soldiers, titled lackeys, and the King and Queen, together with horses, coaches, swords, crowns and hats were dribbled through London. Meanwhile, the Yeoman of the Guards wearing royal red tunics and stockings, white ruffs and black Panama hats were searching the bowels of the Palace of Westminster for gunpowder. It must have made King Charles and Queen Camilla feel at home as they too were dolled up in their ancestors' old clothes, medals and jewels.

We then watched Black Rod lead 649 MPs from the Commons to the Lords and gain access by knocking on the door that had just been slammed in her face. The MPs went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah! They laughed and smiled, the election was over and even Sir Keir and Rishi looked like best mates, maybe realising that they were the last PMs still in the House after the demise of Theresa, Boris and mad Liz.

It was the longest Queen's or King's Speech since the one in 1945. Starmer's speech was delivered without a stammer. My main regret was that it held back from some of the more radical measures on matters like community care, housing, land ownership and digital identity, all of which could have turbocharged the well-being of citizens and communities.

As Lewis Carroll advised and Tony Blair admitted: "In the end ...We only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.” Sage advice for the new government.

Strange Days

Strange Days have found us, they're going to destroy our casual joys

Before the news this morning, we heard that it was the coldest May morning for many years and then on the news that David Cameron had moved into no. 10. Last night provided compulsive viewing with both Channel 4 and BBC excelling themselves, the latter maybe partly due to the absence of Jeremy Paxman, whose trenchant style would have been unsuited to the occasion. It was a time to reach across political allegiances, acknowledge Brown's efforts and the determination of Cameron to put together a coalition government, and wish them both well. Most commentators and the majority of politicians rose to the occasion, although John Prescott remained true to his tribal roots and John Redmond was thankfully locked away for the night.

Nick Clegg had finally decided to enter a civil partnership with the Tories instead of living in sin with them or the old rascals in the Labour Party. The sense was that the Labour Party had run out of steam and almost wanted this outcome, but Mandelson, Alistair Campbell and Gordon Brown, scheming until the last dance, set up a second front to box the Tories into making a less regressive deal with the Lib Dems than they were initially prepared to offer.

The concessions from the Lib Dems were significant on spending cuts, nuclear power, proportional representation, Europe and probably many social issues not yet revealed. More surprising was the extent to which Cameron went to secure the deal. Allowing Vince Cable into the cabinet along with 4 other Lib Dems, raising the tax threshold and giving up inheritance tax changes.  If only George Osborne could have been sacrificed instead. The free vote on a referendum on Alternative Voting amounts to little more than political candy. Making Nick Clegg the deputy PM is no big deal either, it simply provides a headlock on the partnership. It would appear from the snippets we hear that the deal could have been a whole lot more extreme, but the real test will come with the emergency budget, by which time the honeymoon will be over, and the new politics will be gathering experience and breathing heavily.

Strange days indeed, the Tories have agreed to lower taxes for the least well-off, the Lib Dems have agreed to invest in nuclear power, and Labour have admitted that they lost.  Labour is taking what they seem to think will be a sabbatical to regroup and revitalise their progressive credentials. In these last few days of game playing, the only thing that hasn't changed is the elixir of power.

Political Poker

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

The results of the general election could not have been better engineered to cause a game of political poker. The next couple of days will be fascinating to see what emerges from this stalemate of an election. The real issue is to tackle the financial deficit, all the more so in light of the Greek tragedy and the fragility of European economies. And the second issue is a commitment to electoral and constitutional reform. It would make great sense if an agreement could be reached between the main parties and progress made on these two issues, with the promise of an election in, say, 2 to 3 years. Long enough to progress these issues, but not too long to create the bad vibrations that could scupper economic recovery and escalate our endemic political antagonisms even more.

Either Brown or Cameron could secure a deal with Clegg and the smaller parties. Brown has the first shot as the sitting PM but will probably need the Greens, SDLP, Alliance and maybe the Nats, who would certainly favour some types of proportional representation, to bolster any agreement with the Lib Dems. Cameron and Clegg would have a good working majority, but there is an enormous gulf between them on the economy and taxation. The Tories would probably prefer not to concede any commitment to electoral reform.

So it's over to you, Nick, who lurves you the most and whilst the mantra of the eader's debates was "I agree with Nick", who do you agree with? From a disappointing set of election results for the LibDems, you can outface either of the big players, or if you want, just let the Tories take the strain over the next year or so in a minority government and then have another go at a first past the post election. By which time the Tories may be in the mire of economic and public service collapse, and Cameron and Osborne don't take prisoners; they are Bullingdon boys. Labour under Brown would be tribal, although there may be a change of leader.  It is not an easy choice and not one to get wrong for the sake of the country.