Wednesday, February 25, 2015
By James Forsyth for The Mail on Sunday
Published: 00:35 GMT, 15 February 2015 | Updated: 12:41 GMT, 15 February 2015
Early on Monday evening, Tories trooped into the party’s Westminster campaign HQ for a phone canvassing session.
Telephone canvassing is regarded as a poor substitute for knocking on doors in person. But this time, it was probably best that people couldn’t see who was asking them to vote Tory.
For many of those present were dressed up for that night’s Black And White Ball. The sight of Tories ready to party with the super-rich would have confirmed many voters’ worst fears about the Tories.
David Cameron, arriving at the Black and White Ball with his wife Samantha knows the Conservative Party has to appeal to a wider section of society and show they are not just a party for the well off
Ed Miliband, pictured, took a calculated risk to target David Cameron over the issue of tax avoidance
David Cameron knows that the Tories have to do more to show that they are not just a party for the well off. Just last weekend, he was pushing his inner circle for more policies for the manifesto to help the low paid. As one of his closest allies puts it: ‘It’s the clearest answer to the unreasonable challenge that we’re the party of the rich.’
But the last week has been dominated by the Tories and their relationship with the wealthy. Cameron’s attempt to modernise the party hasn’t managed to shift the toxic impression that it is the political wing of the rich.
As one Cabinet Minister admits: ‘We’re still always seen as a party that, even if it manages the economy competently, is doing it in the interests of its rich friends.’
This is what has made the last few days, with the former Tory Treasurer Lord Fink’s declaration that ‘everyone’ avoids tax in some way, so damaging for them. Even Tory aides admit that all this ‘looks bad for the party’.
Just as worryingly for the Tories, it has given Ed Miliband’s stuttering campaign the break it so desperately needed.
Miliband took a calculated risk to go so hard on the issue of tax avoidance; one member of his circle says ‘there were endless meetings about that PMQs’ where Miliband accused Fink of ‘tax avoidance activities’ and called Cameron a ‘dodgy Prime Minister’.
So far, the gamble appears to have paid off. It has put him on the front foot and given him an issue on which he is on the populist, and popular, side of the argument.
‘These are the battles we need to be having’, one of the Labour leader’s confidants declares.
Ever since Miliband was told on Thursday of Lord Fink’s admission, just before delivering a speech on education at his old school, the mood in the Labour Party has been transformed.
Even frontbenchers who used to fear the worst are now wondering how long Tory discipline can hold if Labour’s slim lead in the polls continues.
One of them quips: ‘I wonder when they’ll start to get the willies.’ Miliband himself has confidently told colleagues: ‘The Tories are running out of runway.’ He feels the Tories have fired two of their biggest weapons – attacking Labour’s spending plans and rolling out businessmen to criticise the party – without fatally wounding him. But there is a danger for Miliband. By announcing his opposition to tax avoidance – which is legal – and setting himself up as a moral arbiter on the issue, he has made his financial affairs and those of his Shadow Cabinet, MPs and donors a legitimate matter of public interest.
It is no longer enough for their tax arrangements to be legal and declared. They will have to pass muster in the Court of Public Opinion that Miliband has called into session to pass verdict on individuals’ tax arrangements.
The risk for Labour is that this could turn very quickly into ‘back to basics’ for financial affairs.
If that happens, this week’s tactical victory will turn into a strategic defeat.
Why everyone wants Grant's gold stars...
Grant Shapps, pictured, has warned ministers that their performance over the General Election campaign is being closely monitored
Tory Ministers were all summoned to a meeting last week to be given their marching orders for the Election campaign. When they arrived, in a demonstration of the importance of the occasion, the big guns were all there to address them: David Cameron, campaign director Lynton Crosby, Party Chairman Grant Shapps and the Chief Whip Michael Gove.
Cameron told them that the most important thing they can be doing now is helping out with the Election campaign. Shapps then outlined how Ministers’ performance during the campaign would be monitored.
They would be given a point for every phone canvassing session at party HQ, and extra points for visits to marginal seats – but they would only receive half points if the candidate or MP they were there to support was not present. They would also be given a point for ‘Super Saturday’ campaigning with the young volunteers of the Shapps-created Team 2015. In a Hogwarts-style twist, Ministers will earn points both for themselves and their departmental teams.
Those there say it was clear that their future promotion prospects depend on where in the league table they finish. As one Minister put it: ‘You don’t want to be below the line when they’re cutting the ministerial cake.’ Indeed, Cameron was explicit that he would ‘thank’ those who end up at the top of the table. The only Ministers exempt from this regime are those facing a fight to save their own seats. I’m told that this initiative is designed to ensure that those ‘Ministers whose majorities you can weigh’ pull their weight in this campaign.
Rather than rebelling against being treated like schoolchildren, the Ministers lapped it up. The few questions that there were, were all about how to get as many points as possible. ‘Everyone just wants a gold star,’ remarked one of those present afterwards.
Points mean prizes is the new catchphrase of ambitious Ministers. They hope that if they and the Tories play their cards right, they will be sitting at the top table after May.
The real seat of power? It's in Room 101
In George Orwell’s 1984, Room 101 was where people came face to face with their worst nightmares. So it is, perhaps, appropriate that the Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood’s office is Room 101.
Heywood, 53, is the most formidable bureaucrat of his generation. He is a scarily effective behind-the-scenes operator, and is regarded by many in Whitehall as the most powerful man in Britain.
But he has become a pet hate of those Ministers who object to how much power and influence this unelected official wields. They would dearly love to consign him to their own Room 101.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood's office is deemed Room 101 by Cabinet Ministers afraid of his power
QUOTES of the week
Labour councillor Karen Danczuck, pictured
‘He’s a dodgy Prime Minister surrounded by dodgy donors.’
Labour leader Ed Miliband declares war on David Cameron in the wake of the HSBC Swiss bank account scandal.
‘It’s something my mother did 20 years ago, that was a decision she made.’
Ed Miliband then blames mum Marion for the ‘deed of variation’ on his father’s will, designed to let him avoid inheritance tax.
‘Monitor stock levels of rope, cable ties, masking tape and duct tape to ensure that supplies do not run low.’
B&Q instructs staff to prepare for a sales rush sparked by the opening of the film Fifty Shades Of Grey.
'When I first met Harriet Harman she said I was far too pretty to be interested in politics and should be in Girls Aloud.'
Rochdale councillor Karen Danczuk accuses the Deputy Labour Leader of discouraging her from getting into politics.
‘Marvin Gaye kept a sheep in my vineyard. He’d herd it through the grapevine.’
Comic Leo Kearse triumphs at the UK Pun Championships.
‘Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys.’
Singer Sam Smith pays tribute to a former lover for inspiring his success.
‘You haven’t lived until you have eaten with gold.’
Food scientist Dr Zoe Laughlin, whose study concluded that eating with gold cutlery makes food taste best.
‘Enjoy it while it lasts.’
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney urges the public to take advantage of cheap food and petrol as inflation continues to fall.
‘I tried boxing but didn’t like hitting people particularly, which is a bit of a problem.’
Former England cricket star Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff reveals why his subsequent attempt at a career in the ring failed.
‘I was more worried about touching it than getting my kit off.’
Helena Bonham Carter, on her nude photo session with a tuna for a campaign to highlight overfishing.
Actress Helena Bonham Carter wanted to highlight the danger of overfishing by being photographed next to a recently deceased tuna, although she was more worried about touching it rather than getting her kit off
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Published: 00:35 GMT, 15 February 2015 | Updated: 12:41 GMT, 15 February 2015
Early on Monday evening, Tories trooped into the party’s Westminster campaign HQ for a phone canvassing session.
Telephone canvassing is regarded as a poor substitute for knocking on doors in person. But this time, it was probably best that people couldn’t see who was asking them to vote Tory.
For many of those present were dressed up for that night’s Black And White Ball. The sight of Tories ready to party with the super-rich would have confirmed many voters’ worst fears about the Tories.
David Cameron, arriving at the Black and White Ball with his wife Samantha knows the Conservative Party has to appeal to a wider section of society and show they are not just a party for the well off Ed Miliband, pictured, took a calculated risk to target David Cameron over the issue of tax avoidanceDavid Cameron knows that the Tories have to do more to show that they are not just a party for the well off. Just last weekend, he was pushing his inner circle for more policies for the manifesto to help the low paid. As one of his closest allies puts it: ‘It’s the clearest answer to the unreasonable challenge that we’re the party of the rich.’
But the last week has been dominated by the Tories and their relationship with the wealthy. Cameron’s attempt to modernise the party hasn’t managed to shift the toxic impression that it is the political wing of the rich.
As one Cabinet Minister admits: ‘We’re still always seen as a party that, even if it manages the economy competently, is doing it in the interests of its rich friends.’
This is what has made the last few days, with the former Tory Treasurer Lord Fink’s declaration that ‘everyone’ avoids tax in some way, so damaging for them. Even Tory aides admit that all this ‘looks bad for the party’.
Just as worryingly for the Tories, it has given Ed Miliband’s stuttering campaign the break it so desperately needed.
Miliband took a calculated risk to go so hard on the issue of tax avoidance; one member of his circle says ‘there were endless meetings about that PMQs’ where Miliband accused Fink of ‘tax avoidance activities’ and called Cameron a ‘dodgy Prime Minister’.
So far, the gamble appears to have paid off. It has put him on the front foot and given him an issue on which he is on the populist, and popular, side of the argument.
‘These are the battles we need to be having’, one of the Labour leader’s confidants declares.
Ever since Miliband was told on Thursday of Lord Fink’s admission, just before delivering a speech on education at his old school, the mood in the Labour Party has been transformed.
Even frontbenchers who used to fear the worst are now wondering how long Tory discipline can hold if Labour’s slim lead in the polls continues.
One of them quips: ‘I wonder when they’ll start to get the willies.’ Miliband himself has confidently told colleagues: ‘The Tories are running out of runway.’ He feels the Tories have fired two of their biggest weapons – attacking Labour’s spending plans and rolling out businessmen to criticise the party – without fatally wounding him. But there is a danger for Miliband. By announcing his opposition to tax avoidance – which is legal – and setting himself up as a moral arbiter on the issue, he has made his financial affairs and those of his Shadow Cabinet, MPs and donors a legitimate matter of public interest.
It is no longer enough for their tax arrangements to be legal and declared. They will have to pass muster in the Court of Public Opinion that Miliband has called into session to pass verdict on individuals’ tax arrangements.
The risk for Labour is that this could turn very quickly into ‘back to basics’ for financial affairs.
If that happens, this week’s tactical victory will turn into a strategic defeat.
Why everyone wants Grant's gold stars...
Grant Shapps, pictured, has warned ministers that their performance over the General Election campaign is being closely monitored Tory Ministers were all summoned to a meeting last week to be given their marching orders for the Election campaign. When they arrived, in a demonstration of the importance of the occasion, the big guns were all there to address them: David Cameron, campaign director Lynton Crosby, Party Chairman Grant Shapps and the Chief Whip Michael Gove.
Cameron told them that the most important thing they can be doing now is helping out with the Election campaign. Shapps then outlined how Ministers’ performance during the campaign would be monitored.
They would be given a point for every phone canvassing session at party HQ, and extra points for visits to marginal seats – but they would only receive half points if the candidate or MP they were there to support was not present. They would also be given a point for ‘Super Saturday’ campaigning with the young volunteers of the Shapps-created Team 2015. In a Hogwarts-style twist, Ministers will earn points both for themselves and their departmental teams.
Those there say it was clear that their future promotion prospects depend on where in the league table they finish. As one Minister put it: ‘You don’t want to be below the line when they’re cutting the ministerial cake.’ Indeed, Cameron was explicit that he would ‘thank’ those who end up at the top of the table. The only Ministers exempt from this regime are those facing a fight to save their own seats. I’m told that this initiative is designed to ensure that those ‘Ministers whose majorities you can weigh’ pull their weight in this campaign.
Rather than rebelling against being treated like schoolchildren, the Ministers lapped it up. The few questions that there were, were all about how to get as many points as possible. ‘Everyone just wants a gold star,’ remarked one of those present afterwards.
Points mean prizes is the new catchphrase of ambitious Ministers. They hope that if they and the Tories play their cards right, they will be sitting at the top table after May.
The real seat of power? It's in Room 101
In George Orwell’s 1984, Room 101 was where people came face to face with their worst nightmares. So it is, perhaps, appropriate that the Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood’s office is Room 101.
Heywood, 53, is the most formidable bureaucrat of his generation. He is a scarily effective behind-the-scenes operator, and is regarded by many in Whitehall as the most powerful man in Britain.
But he has become a pet hate of those Ministers who object to how much power and influence this unelected official wields. They would dearly love to consign him to their own Room 101.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood's office is deemed Room 101 by Cabinet Ministers afraid of his powerQUOTES of the week
Labour councillor Karen Danczuck, pictured ‘He’s a dodgy Prime Minister surrounded by dodgy donors.’
Labour leader Ed Miliband declares war on David Cameron in the wake of the HSBC Swiss bank account scandal.
‘It’s something my mother did 20 years ago, that was a decision she made.’
Ed Miliband then blames mum Marion for the ‘deed of variation’ on his father’s will, designed to let him avoid inheritance tax.
‘Monitor stock levels of rope, cable ties, masking tape and duct tape to ensure that supplies do not run low.’
B&Q instructs staff to prepare for a sales rush sparked by the opening of the film Fifty Shades Of Grey.
'When I first met Harriet Harman she said I was far too pretty to be interested in politics and should be in Girls Aloud.'
Rochdale councillor Karen Danczuk accuses the Deputy Labour Leader of discouraging her from getting into politics.
‘Marvin Gaye kept a sheep in my vineyard. He’d herd it through the grapevine.’
Comic Leo Kearse triumphs at the UK Pun Championships.
‘Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys.’
Singer Sam Smith pays tribute to a former lover for inspiring his success.
‘You haven’t lived until you have eaten with gold.’
Food scientist Dr Zoe Laughlin, whose study concluded that eating with gold cutlery makes food taste best.
‘Enjoy it while it lasts.’
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney urges the public to take advantage of cheap food and petrol as inflation continues to fall.
‘I tried boxing but didn’t like hitting people particularly, which is a bit of a problem.’
Former England cricket star Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff reveals why his subsequent attempt at a career in the ring failed.
‘I was more worried about touching it than getting my kit off.’
Helena Bonham Carter, on her nude photo session with a tuna for a campaign to highlight overfishing.
Actress Helena Bonham Carter wanted to highlight the danger of overfishing by being photographed next to a recently deceased tuna, although she was more worried about touching it rather than getting her kit offwindow._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({mode: 'autosized-generated-text-under-1r-' + 'row', container: 'taboola-below-main-column', placement: 'wide'}); _taboola.push({flush:true}); var rcShoutCache = '{}'; window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({flush:true});
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