2014, Part 1, Big Brother
Many expected Vince Cable to run for President but his popularity amongst Lib Dem supporters was falling
"Eying up this year's election and amongst rumours of a Presidential bid, Vince Cable had turned his guns on both party leaders by criticising their “economic illiteracy”. In a speech in the City last night, the business secretary appeared to lay the blame for economic stagnation at former Prime Minister George Osborne. “It is extraordinary and irrational that with capital so cheap there wasn't more public investment. It isn’t as if our infrastructure doesn’t need investment,” Dr Cable said at the annual Trade and Industry dinner at the Mansion House. "I have now served under two Prime Ministers of different parties and neither of them seemed to have ever picked up an economics textbook." Despite being the Lib Dem's most senior figure, Cable is becoming increasingly unpopular amongst Lib Dem registered supporters. One YouGov poll showed Cable coming third in a hypothetical primary of ten senior Lib Dems." - Cable attacks economic "illiterates'' - Robert Lea, The Times (2013)
As the election drew nearer and nearer both Vince Cable and Ed Balls began to turn on the spending taps, Balls announced the Government would be raising the minimum wage to £8 by the end of the next Parliament. Balls said it was “not good enough” that one in six people in the Commonwealth were on low pay. The minimum wage had been one of the coalition’s great success stories rising from £5.80 when they came into office to £7 an hour. However the coalition still faced criticisms from it’s left flank and the trade union movement who argued the wage should be £10 an hour.
Many union leaders felt Ed Miliband "owed" them
The minimum wage debate revealed a crack in the Labour family, presumptive nominee Ed Miliband found himself caught between his Prime Minister and the Unions who had backed and bankrolled his campaign during the primary. Miliband was repeatedly pressed in the media on which side he was on, whether he wanted £8 or £10. Miliband had come under attack during the primary for being too close to the unions and being a “puppet” of Jerry Hicks, Unite’s left-wing General Secretary. Eventually Miliband sided with Balls supporting the £8 minimum wage target, much to the disappointment of the young progressives who had backed him in the primary.
Early 2014 also saw an escalation of tensions abroad and in the middle east. Two Britons were among 20 victims of a suicide attack at a restaurant in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Among them was Del Singh, Labour Party State Senator in the South East, who was among 12 foreigners and eight Afghans killed. A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the restaurant. Wabel Abdallah, the head of the IMF's Afghanistan office, was one of the victims - as were two US citizens. The area in which the attack took place - in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood - was home to many foreign embassies and organisations. Singh served as a Labour member of the South East Senate and as South East Labour's Europe and Foreign Aid Spokesperson. He had before been an adviser to the European Mission in Kosovo and had worked on UN and DFID-funded projects in Afghanistan. Ed Miliband said Singh, had "dedicated his life to working with people across the world who needed his support. My thoughts are with the family and friends of Del Singh."
“A Labour MSEP has been confirmed as among 20 people killed in a suicide bomb and gun attack in the Afghan capital Kabul. Dhamender Singh Phangurha, 39, known as Del Singh, was killed in the attack at a restaurant in the city. Born and raised in Southampton, he was a volunteer at two charities for the homeless and mentored job seekers. Labour Party nominee Ed Miliband and other party figures have paid tribute to him. Local politicians have also paid tribute. Trade Secretary John Denham said: "Del was an inspirational man and one of the nicest people you could meet. Everything he did was driven by a passion to make a real difference to people's lives." Fellow MSEP Anneliese Dodds said: "Del was a very generous, warm-hearted man. He always spoke about how he was proud to have started his working life alongside his mother on the shop floor of Mr Kipling's cakes in Eastleigh. Del then worked hard to get university qualifications and go on to a career in international development." - BBC South East News (2014)
Singh was the first elected official to be killed in a terrorist attack for 24 years
The Kabul bombing followed a wave of unconnected terror attacks across the Middle East, including in Baghdad and Cairo. In Bannu the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed 19 people. In response to the attacks Conservative nominee Micheal Howard pledged to bring in emergency laws to track calls, texts and visits to websites in order to prevent extremist attacks. The measures were necessary to defend national security against terrorist threats Howard argued. The consequences of not acting were “grave”, the President said. The measures were partly a response to a ruling by the ECJ. This ruling struck down regulations requiring companies to retain data for police use for a year. Internet and phone companies would soon start deleting the data. Buckingham said the move would have “serious consequences” for police and counter-terror investigations. Howard said the new laws will also create a “clearer legal framework” for when police want to intercept communications. The need for new laws is “urgent”, Buckingham said. Howard was confident if re-elected he could reach cross-party agreement. “It is the first duty of government to protect our national security and to act when that security is compromised,” Howard said. “As events in the Middle East prove, now is not the time to be scaling back on our ability to keep our people safe."
"Judges could risk Britain's security by opposing new proposed anti-terror laws, Michael Howard has said. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, President Howard warned judges not to thwart his wishes. He argued it was the job of the President and MPs to balance new counter-terrorism measures against the human rights of suspects. But Green MP Mark Cridge, said: "The President shouldn't be overriding international human rights law." Natalie Bennett recently said Parliament would oppose any new anti-privacy laws Howard proposed. President Howard Parliament and the judges are being difficult. He blames the government for drawing the courts into the "political sphere" by enhancing the Human Rights Act. The new amendments mean judges have to decide whether new laws are proportionate to their intended effect. The President says the judiciary, together with the government, have a duty to play its part in combating the terrorism threat. But he says he is worried that "judicial activism" has reached an unprecedented level. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said: "elected officials must be supreme."” - Howard warns judges over terror, Andrew Sparrow, the Guardian (2014)
Howard's campaign strategy became increasingly populist, going after judges and the courts
Whilst the two main parties were engaged in debates over low pay and civil liberties, UKIP was also facing controversies of its own as it prepared to hold its presidential primaries. A UKIP Member of the South East Parliament David Silvester was suspended after blaming floods in the Commonwealth on the legalisation of gay marriage in 2011. In a letter to his local paper, Silvester, South East UKIP’s communities spokesperson, said he had warned the Prime Minister the legislation would result in "disaster". He said Ed Balls had acted "against the Gospel". UKIP South East leader Marta Andreasen said he was entitled to his "view of the world", but had defied a request not to do further media interviews. "So we suspended him." Conservative Senator Andrew Robathan said UKIP was "the only big protest party at the moment. It still counts one or two fruitcakes" among its members. He told BBC One's Sunday Politics: "Protest parties hoover up a lot of votes. That's why we've got to be very clear now in our European message that we're the only party that can reform Europe and give people a proper choice. The first [EU] referendum for over 40 years." UKIP Chief Whip Mark Reckless told the Sun on Sunday that "about 15" of the 51 MPs elected for UKIP in 2011 would not stand again. "Some have been pushed and some have jumped," he explained. "Politics needs people with personality and backgrounds and they will all have one or two flaws."
The Slivester affair damaged UKIP just months before the Presidential and Parliamentary election. Senior UKIP figures like Farage, Nuttall and Bannerman had been desperately trying to shed the “fruitcake” image of the past to portray themselves as a responsible party of Government, pointing to their governing successes across southern and midland England. UKIP’s strong hand against SIlvester also created divisions in the party over free speech, with the Faragists wanting a disciplined party that would at least hide their bigotry. Some of UKIP’s right wing faction, like London MP Raheem Kassam, publicly broke with the party line to defend Silvevster. With UKIP polling on 17% they couldn’t afford a slip-up.
“In the run up to parliamentary elections we will hear the oft repeated claim from UKIP that they are going to “win” the elections. They aim to gain a large minority of the seats on offer through the complex system of PR. UKIP followers who love to set out their case on this site have been “warning” us of this possible outcome for many months. Today I am giving UKIP supporters a free chance to make their case. Last summer it was revealed that our current UKIP MPs have the worst attendance and voting record of any party in the Parliament. Three of their MPs turned up for less than half the votes. As Mr Nuttall said at the time ” I’ll hold my hand up, as my attendance record is flaky to say the least”. They prefer to draw the pay and support staff costs to help them campaign and take up issues around the country. UKIP also enjoys the biggest loss rate of MPs by a long way, finding it difficult to keep people in their party once elected to office. It would be good to hear some answers from UKIP on what we could expect if 100 UKIP MPs are elected in 2014.” - John Redwood speaking at an election hustings in Reading (2014)
Howard expected he would need UKIP to form, so he appointed right-wing former Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove as his personal emissary to the party
Critically assess Micheal Howard’s record on human rights and civil liberties (30 Marks) - A Level Politics Exam (2019)
Last edited:
