Ross Clark Ross Clark

The battle for Heathrow was over long ago

issue 09 June 2018

Whatever happened to the political squall that was Heathrow’s third runway? For several years it looked as if the issue could deeply harm the Conservatives. After all, hadn’t David Cameron ruled out a third runway – “no ifs, no buts” – in 2010. It was deeply embarrassing for him to do an about turn two years later and say well, maybe – even if he did attempt to wriggle out of the charge of hypocrisy by trying to outsource the decision to Sir Howard Davies. West London Tory MPs threatened to rebel, splitting his party. Like John Major on Maastricht, Cameron thought that by endlessly putting off the day of decision everything would come out alright in the end.

And in a sense he was right. Where is the political sting over today’s decision to go ahead with the third runway? Boris might have to be shipped out of the country for the vote, or allowed licensed dissent.

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