Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Iain Duncan Smith and Welfare Reform

IDS came from nowhere to lead the Conservative Party. It was all a mistake. It was not his finest hour, but if he pulls off the radical reconstruction of the benefit system, so long acknowledged as necessary, but ducked by weak governments who retreated into spin, his finest hour is in real prospect.

He has invested his recent  life in researching and coming up with solutions as to how to bring the new underclass back into productive society, whilst also asking questions about the affordability of giving millionaires child benefit, state pensions and winter fuel allowances. It is imperative that we deal with both ends of this problem. Anyone who was brought up in politics in the Macmillan era, with the shiny new estates and the liberated people from the bad old days who moved into them, finds the appalling images of deprivation, decay and crime nothing less than a terrible betrayal of the post war social settlement. IDS has toured these places and talked to the people trapped in them. Few others have bothered and very few Tories. 

To reform  benefits is obvious. What is curiously contentious is the idea of removing them from people who do not need them. The argument is they have contributed and deserve them. That is rubbish. It is like saying that because we all contribute to the NHS, we must all take medicine whether we are ill or not and all have our hips replaced even when  there is no need. Linking benefits to the tax system stops silly talk about means tests. The tax code will do the job.

The going, on this project, will now get tough. Iain Duncan Smith must press forward with vigour. The electoral reward for the Conservative Party, if he is allowed to succeed, will be huge. This was New Labour’s task but, as with so much else (except unwinnable wars) it spun itself off the track and walked away. The voters will remember. Just as they did in the post war housing crisis, when Labour failed to hit the targets for newly built homes. The Tories hit the targets and surpassed them. They went on to win two more elections, increasing their majority each time.

George Osborne and the Ministry of Defence

George Osborne has been very rude about the MOD’s financial ineptitude. He is right. This Blog would go much further and shut the MOD down.

Regular readers will know that this is not the first time I have suggested this dramatic move. The fact is that we have never used this organisational structure in full scale wartime (in WW I and II we had the Admiralty, Air ministry and War Office for the Army), but in the wars in which it has been operational is has been found incompetent. Add to this procurement chaos and a budget over which its officials have entirely lost control and the case for getting rid of this ghastly department is near overwhelming.

The defence of this isalnd nation rests with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. Both have a shining record of protecting and preserving the freedom and indpendence of our country. It is inherent in our blood that these two arms should be strong.

The record of the Army is much more mixed. Some notable victories with allies are tarnished by a catalogue of retreats, evacuations and defeats, starting at the Battle of Hastings. The United Kingdom is not a land power and the British Empire was built by trade and protected by the Navy. In the order of priorities the Army should be last on the list. It needs to be cut back and brought home.

The idea that a giant Ministry of Defence is cheaper to run and more efficient that three smaller offices for each of the three services is totally flawed. Big is rarely better in management or administrative terms. More often it is unwieldy, over staffed, muddle headed, self serving and financially inept.

Michael Gove and Empowering Teachers

Michael Gove, who has a had a somewhat rough ride in the early months of the Coalition, is to announce the re-establishment of commonsense practice, empowering teachers to enforce discipline in schools. Teachers will be allowed physical contact when appropriate for order or for comfort. This is welcome news.

It is right that people should be protected from exploitation and abuse. But when such regulations have the effect of dis-empowering those who are vital in the chain of maintaining civilised order, so that anything goes, things have gone too far the other way. The failure of the remote and spinning hierarchy of  New Labour to see this, is one of many reasons why Labour is now in opposition and New Labour is dead and buried.

Likewise Health and Safety. Lord Young’s report is welcome. Its recommendations need to be put into effect quickly. As the Tory Conference gathers in Birmingham, these snippets of news are helpful. While in no way wishing to downgrade the critical importance of eliminating the deficit, there is a lot else that needs attention in our country, to which this government must apply itself with vigour. Sorting out school discipline and organising realistic rather than over zealous Health and Safety are good places to start. The word cuts is becoming a bit over used.