The lobbying bill was back in the Lords this week after a six-week panic pause. Despite an on-the-record promise that the government would use the pause to complete ‘wide consultation’ and to ‘try to address the concerns’ of charities and campaigners, the bill remains unamended and there is little evidence that the government has listened to anyone at all. I asked Andrew Lansley why he was still ignoring the warnings of charities and campaigners that this bad bill will have a chilling effect on democratic debate.
At this time of year there is nothing better than sitting in front of the fire with a good read. And my recommended stocking filler is the Conservative party’s 2014 Campaign Toolkit. Rather than 50 shades of grey apparently there are only three shades of grey approved for use in Tory literature. And strangely there are only three approved photos of the prime minister too. I assume this is to prevent anyone accidentally using a photo of his second cousin nine generations removed, Catherine the Great, to whom he bears such an eerie resemblance. She was an enlightened despot who became less enlightened and more despotic as she got older. So perhaps the family traits don’t just end with appearance!
On page 12 of the campaign toolkit under the title ‘Out of date visual identity’ we learn that blue sky has been banished because sunshine no longer rules the day. It wasn’t just sunshine that the Tories confined to history in 2013 – it was the prime minister’s hollow claim to be a moderniser. He used to tell us that we were all in it together but this year we got a tax cut for millionaires while real wages fell by more than £360. He used to tell us he’d fight for a new politics, but all we’ve had is Lynton Crosby and his politics of fear and smear. And he used to tell us he was a compassionate conservative but he gave us the bedroom tax, the closure of hundreds of sure start centres and yesterday his MPs laughed and jeered as we debated the record numbers of people forced to turn to food banks to feed themselves and their families in Tory Britain.
As it was the final sitting before the Christmas recess I wished everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – and I wish the same to you. I’ve been considering what it would be like if the cabinet had Christmas dinner together. First of all everyone would be late because they’d spent their journey arguing about the route and U-turning so often they were driving round in circles. The turkey would be half-cooked, like their policies, and the leader of the House would have to call for a pause halfway through the meal. And the prime minister’s ‘lapdog’, the deputy prime minister, would be encouraged to learn that election promises are for life, not just for Christmas. Perhaps the joke in the Christmas crackers could simply read ‘vote Lib Dem’.
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Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey, shadow leader of the House of Commons and writes the weekly Business of Parliament column for Progress. She tweets @AngelaEagle