Coalition

Wednesday

David Blackburn

Riot sentencing row brews

David Cameron promised that looters would feel the full force of the law. Courts have been sitting round the clock holding defendants on remand and issuing stern sentences. This is causing disquiet in some circles. Lib Dem MPs complain that the government has overacted, incapable of resisting the temptation to take draconian decisions without adequate scrutiny. Tessa Munt told the Guardian that the government’s approach “smacks of headline grabbing by Conservatives, not calm, rational policy-making.” Lady Hamwee also told the paper that it would be a “great pity if what [the justice secretary] Ken Clarke has been doing – finding a better way of sentencing – was to be undone.” Much

David Blackburn

With an eye on 2015, Osborne is ramping up the growth agenda

30,000 new jobs by 2015: that is the glittering prediction made by the government as it announces the creation of more enterprise zones this morning. 11 zones* have been identified in total, tailored to foster the expansion of hi-tech manufacturing industries away from London and the M4 corridor. Enterprise zones certainly have their critics – notably the Work Foundation’s Andrew Sissons, who told the Today programme that they were merely an “expensive way of moving jobs around the country.” But the coalition is adamant that it has learnt from past mistakes, insisting that the policy will rebalance the economy and rejuvenate regions that have been “left behind”. There has been

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson

Inflation rises yet again

“Inflation destroys nations and societies as surely as invading nations do. Inflation is the parent of unemployment. It is the unseen robber of those who have saved. No policy which puts at risk the defeat of inflation – however great the short-term attraction – can be justified”. That was Margaret Thatcher, speaking in 1980 when inflation was much higher but British politicians actually cared about it. You won’t even hear the Governor of the Bank of England denounce today’s figures: CPI at 4.4 per cent and the traditional measure of inflation, RPI, at 5.0 per cent. It is seen as just another statistic. The government has also chosen to announce

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron’s missed opportunity

As David noted earlier, the big headline in Nick Clegg’s speech this morning is that the government will hold some kind of inquiry into the riots after all. This climb down in the face of demands from Ed Miliband makes it all the more baffling that Cameron didn’t announce his own inquiry earlier. If he had taken the initiative, he could have determined both its terms of reference and membership which would have ensured that it came up with the right answers. But, in policy terms, I suspect the more important announcement is that prisoners leaving jail will now be placed straight into the work programme. The work programme, masterminded

David Blackburn

Clegg makes his mark

This morning’s papers have been replete with rumours about Nick Cleg engineering some sort of official investigation into the riots, having brokered a deal between the government and Ed Miliband. Clegg has just delivered his post-riots speech. He ruled out a public inquiry (presumably on grounds of cost), but revealed that Whitehall is “tendering a contract for research” into broken communities: his Victims and Communities Commission. This is a minor victory for Clegg, who has marked his sign on these events, albeit in a wishy-washy way. It is also a limited victory for Ed Miliband, who first initiated talks of an inquiry.    

David Blackburn

Clegg joins the jamboree

Cometh the hour, cometh Nick Clegg. The Independent reports that the Deputy Prime Minister is to announce that first-time offenders convicted of looting but not given custodial sentences will be forced to do community service in the very streets that they ransacked. The government hopes to ensure that community sentences are robust, inculcating a sense of responsibility in first-time offenders and insulating them from malign criminal influences. The Probation Service already oversees similar community service programmes and will do so with this one, which Clegg is calling ‘Community Payback’. Clegg’s views also allow him to reposition the Liberal Democrats to an extent. The moisture that often characterises his rhetoric has dried

Monday

David Blackburn

IDS and the renewal of society

Iain Duncan Smith has made two notable media appearances today and his comments will reveal how the government’s plan to fight gangs and lawlessness will unfold. He has just told Sky News that cuts to local youth programmes should be revisited. If the government reverses some of these decisions, it might satisfy the need for a positive policy angle, as described by James earlier. On the other hand, some Tories voice private concerns about reversing spending decisions, fearing that it would play into the Harmanite school of thought that cuts are to blame in part. Youth schemes and work are IDS’ inclusive carrot, but he also wields a coercive stick. He has

Sunday

David Blackburn

“Zero tolerance”

The law and order debate has come full circle: the coalition is going to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. David Cameron’s promise that crime and anti-social behaviour will receive “zero-tolerance” recalls the rhetoric and politics of the Major and Blair years, an indication that, despite the annual celebration at lower crime rates and higher prison numbers, progress has been merely statistical. As James has noted, the success of the Cameron premiership now rests on delivering “zero tolerance”. Cameron is fortunate that the policies required are already in place, for the most part. Planned police reform will be essential, as will the radical plans for

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron mustn’t let the police top brass bully him into silence

The police have been busy defending themselves this weekend against any criticism of their performance. They aim to stop elected politicians from making any comment on their performance. But David Cameron should not—and must not—back down from both his criticism of police tactics and his conviction that the force urgently needs reforming. The truth is that the initial police response to the riots was hopelessly inadequate. If senior police officers really do think that the Met’s performance on Saturday, Sunday and Monday was adequate, then that in and of itself makes the case for reform. Losing control of the streets in sections of the capital is a failure. As one

Saturday

James Forsyth

Blunt’s flawed rehabilitation programme

The decisions of Crispin Blunt, the prisons’ minister, are hard to fathom. One wonders why-as the Daily Mail reports today — he allowed a man convicted of killing five people to give an unapologetic interview to a magazine. Blunt’s defence is that it wouldn’t have been right for him to stop it. That may be the case but that doesn’t explain his decision to send a press officer to assist with the whole procedure. Rehabilitating prisoners is vital if we are going to tackle crime in this country. But it is hard to see how this kind of thing — or parties in prison — help that noble aim. Rather

David Blackburn

Cameron lands Supercop as police acrimony mounts

Internationally renowned policeman Bill Bratton has agreed to advise the government on how to defeat gang culture. Bratton’s role is not official, but he will arrive for duty in the autumn nonetheless. The former LA police chief has already offered a diagnosis of Britain’s problems. In an interview with the Telegraph, he says that hoodlums have been “emboldened” by timid policing and lenient sentencing. Quite what this means for Ken Clarke’s justice policy, supported by the Liberal Democrats, remains to be seen. But the indications are that the government will bolster its law and order policies. Doubtless a wry smile will have broken across the face of Andy Coulson, who

Friday

David Blackburn

Justice is being done as relations between Downing Street and Sir Hugh Orde sour, again

“Busy?” I asked a friend who’s training as a criminal barrister. “You could say that.” Magistrates’ courts have sat through a second straight night. “I finished at five,” said my friend. “Back in court at 8.” The courts are determined to deliver what David Cameron described as “the full force of the law.” These are bail hearings for the 600 people charged so far. Defendants are apparently being arraigned in groups of three in some courts, an indication of the strain caused by these extraordinary circumstances. There will be little respite in the coming days. As I understand it, the overwhelming majority of applicants have been denied bail and will remain

Thursday

David Blackburn

The scale of IDS’ task

This afternoon’s parliamentary debate touched on the sociological issues that may have inspired the recent looting. Naturally, there are plenty of competing views on the subject, but I bring your attention to Harriet Sergeant’s, which she has expressed in the latest issue of the Spectator. Sergeant has conducted extensive investigations into the teenage gangs in London, acquainting herself with gang members and their way of life. Her observations are intriguing, albeit terrifying. An extended version of her magazine article is available online and I urge you to read it. But here is a short extract: ‘The young men I interviewed had very obviously failed to make the transition to manhood and

David Blackburn

A friendly gesture…

The police received a savaging in parliament earlier. I lost count of the number of MPs who relayed their constituents’ anger about riot police who stood by as buildings burned. Cameron’s defence – that the police response had been inadequate to adapt to a new threat posed by crime facilitated by social networking – did not allay the concern. By the end of the debate, there was consensus among many backbenchers that police officers should receive training in riot control as part of their basic training. The extraordinary incidents in London and elsewhere have been at the centre of the world’s eye, and the police have not escaped censure. Le Monde carries a wonderfully mischievous

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Should evictions from social housing be broadened?

I understand that the government’s view is that social housing tenants whose children live with them and are convicted of looting should be evicted from their homes. The law already allows for this, although only if the criminal act occurred within the borough in which the family lives, and the Department for Communities and Local Government is encouraging councils and housing associations to use these powers. Although, the final decision on any eviction would be for the courts. Personally, I think there might be a case for broadening this out. The problem with the current approach is that it lets off those dead-beat dads who take no interest at all

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron sets out his stall

David Cameron’s statement to the House of Commons was clear about the circumstances that led to these riots. ‘This is not about poverty, it’s about culture. A culture that glorifies violence, shows disrespect to authority, and says everything about rights but nothing about responsibilities.’ Later in the session, he said ‘you don’t hit moral failure with a wall of money.’ On this, Cameron is surely right. In a respectful atmosphere in the House of Commons, Cameron set out the government’s proposed response to the riots. The major legislative action he set out was a change to the law to allow the police to force people who they suspect of being

David Blackburn

Coalition united in restoring law, order and property

David Cameron’s convictions are best expressed in anger. Cameron exuded an air of the patrician yesterday with his righteous moral certainty. This may have made some observers squirm, but others would have seen this seething performance as the essence of leadership in crisis. Cameron is likely to sustain this tone in parliament today. He will say that there is a “sickness” in our society and set out his plan for curing the malaise. The political class has already offered the government a panoply of options to pursue, but the coalition is expected to stand by its current course of education and welfare reform; if anything, these riots confirm their necessity.

Wednesday

Jonathan Jones

The public wants firmer action

Judging by today’s YouGov polls, the riots have pushed crime sharply up the national agenda: it now ranks second, behind only the economy. In all, almost half of Brits think crime is one of the top three issues facing the country, more than double the number who said so a fortnight ago. The effect has, unsurprisingly, been strongest in London, where around two-in-three now see crime as a major concern: As for the causes of the riots, the majority blame “criminal behaviour” and “gang culture”. Contrary to what Harriet Harman may insinuate, just eight per cent blame the government’s cuts, and this is largely the 16 per cent of Labour

Peter Hoskin

Cameron gets forceful

So far as words matter, David Cameron has just delivered one of the most forceful statements of his political career. It contained all the anger of his address yesterday, but went much further in its diagnosis. “There are pockets of our society that are not only broken, but frankly sick,” he said, adding that, “the one word I would use to sum it up is irresponsibility.” His most memorable line was that, “It is as much a moral problem as it is a political problem.” This was the campaigning Cameron that we have glimpsed only briefly, most notably during his conference speech in 2009. Tim Montgomerie is saying that Cameron

Peter Hoskin

The politics of police cuts

Wow, that was a howitzer of a performance from Boris Johnson on the Today Progamme earlier. And all his shells were aimed at Downing St. Not only did the Mayor of London slander Cameron’s Broken Society thesis, not only did he support Diane Abbott against the jibes of Tory HQ, but he also committed the gravest act of all, given the current climate. He lined up with Labour in attacking the coalition’s police cuts. “This is not a time to think about making substantial cuts in police numbers,” said BoJo. “I think it would be a good thing if the government had another look,” he added, for emphasis.  There’s little