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There were many doubters, both within the respective parties, the public, and the media. Despite this, the new government seemed to make the perfect start, at least from a PR point of view. Indeed, Clegg and Cameron proved to be a fine political couple on screen; oozing the same semi-youthful zest and optimism that Brown hardly exuded during his stint in Number 10. In fact, looking at and listening to the two men standing side by side or shaking hands outside of Downing Street it seemed so strange to imagine that only weeks earlier they had been involved in truly tempestuous on-air exchanges.
Early Scandal
However, this week has seen the coalition suffer its first major casualty in the form of its Chief Secretary of the Treasury, David Laws. The Lib Dem Cabinet minister resigned in the wake of the Daily Telegraph’s revelations about the £40,000 he had claimed on expenses in recent years. The money was claimed to pay for rooms rented in his partner, James Lundie’s property between 2001 and 2007. Laws asserted that the money was claimed in the name of privacy, not greed, as he wished to keep his sexuality out of the public eye.
He has agreed to pay back the £40,000 and his resignation was swift, but the damage has already been done. As Chief Secretary of the Treasury, Laws has very much been the Lib Dem at George Osborne’s side and his partner in undertaking the £6.2bn of spending cuts that lies at the very heart of the new government’s economic policy. He stood in Osborne’s stead last Wednesday in Parliament, in a performance that was widely seen as competent and confident.
Indeed, the self-made millionaire’s talent was heralded by many from both parties – but that alone is not why his loss is such a blow. The new government has sought early-on to represent ‘new politics’ - a clean break from the previous incumbent’s time in office. However, the expenses scandal, more than most things can be seen as inexorably linked to the so-called ‘old politics’ of greed and self interest. The scandal affected all parties; however this fresh chapter in the expenses story will no doubt taint the new government’s image, very early on in Cameron’s Premiership.
Not only this, but Laws’ exit may fuel any already extant divisions. The way in which he had perceivably gone about the task of implementing public service cuts with relish made him, in BBC correspondent Norman Smith’s words, “assuage the concerns of many Tories about their Lib Dem partners”. In lieu of this, his loss could signal a great loss of unity within the coalition.
Signs of Infighting
Laws’ resignation has come after a week that has seen the first real signs of division amongst the coalition ranks. As predicted, coalition plans have not been widely embraced by all within the respective parties. This week, senior Conservative figures John Forsyth and David Davis have publically questioned the government’s proposed Capital gains tax.
Conservative backbenchers have further fuelled suggestions of unrest in their choice of chairman of the party’s 1922 committee. The new chairman of the committee, Graham Brady, has been touted by some as a ‘rebel’ choice. Indeed, as someone who resigned from the parties’ front bench in 2007, it is unlikely that he would have been Cameron’s first choice.
All of this will serve as a powerful reminder of how great the challenges are facing this new coalition government. Premature as it would be to begin reading this coalition its last rites, one thing is now certain - the honeymoon period is over, perhaps before it even begun.
Good piece.
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