Frank Field threatens Brown with "no confidence"

How is it that this has recieved so little comment? Any Questions last edition featured Frank Field and Alan Duncan. On the programme, Frank Field stated openly that he - and the Labour backbenches - were prepared to bring down the government if the 10p tax losers were not compensated in full, and that it was all backdated. (The sensational threat starts at 17:43 - hear for yourselves).

Field is a highly principled man. He is a Labour MP because he sees it as Labour's mission to assist the poor. As his Spectator article points out, there is no point being a Labour MP if Gordon Brown's new mantra is to be "tax the poor until the pips squeak".

We all know the story. Field tabled an amendment to alter the 10p tax penalty and had enough Labour MPs to force Brown to back down. Brown saw Field one on one and personally promised him that all losers would be compensated and the compensation would be backdated to April. Satisfied, Field withdrew his amendment. But as soon as Field backed off, Brown backtracked.

Well, he underestimated Mr. Field's passion for social justice.

Yvette Cooper was on Newsnight that very evening refusing to commit to anything concrete and talking about 60-64 year olds. Field said dismissively she had been "badly briefed". But Treasury support for Brown's word came there none. He might want to ask soon-to-be bestselling author Cherie Booth just what Mr. Brown's word is worth. The blogs were alive with commenters condemning Field's stupidity and spinelessness, that he had been gulled by Brown. They misunderstood the man totally. He is a politician of supreme integrity.

Jonathan Dimbleby lets nothing slip past him, and pressed Field on the "no confidence" issue. Here, as best I can manage it, is the transcript of the crucial part of Field's answer to a question on 10p tax. But do listen to the whole thing. This is a conscience issue for Mr. Field. He can and will cause a General Election rather than penalise 5.3 million of the poorest people in the country.

FF = Frank Field, JD=Jonathan Dimbleby, and AD=Alan Duncan who was superb as usual in this programme and who recently got raves for his Have I Got News for You performance.

FF: I saw people nodding when Alan said I'd been duped. The budget comes back in...at the very beginning of July...and there will then be a blocking mechanism down by Labour members.. and while I'm quite certain the government is working hard on that package, they have shown an extraordinary inability to communicate what they comminucated in private publicly, which is where it is important that it is communicated - and I do believe the stakes are very very high for the Prime Minister indeed. That if his backbenchers are not satisfied by then on the form that the compensation package will take, it may destroy his premiership."

JD: Because you, amongst others, are prepared to go into the lobbies and vote against the Budget, through an amendment, and that will be treated, at least by the party, as a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister? And therefore he falls?

FF: It would be very difficult, obviously, for him to continue...

AD: We have just witnessed a very very serious moment in British politics... [Brown's] entire credibility and decency are on the line"

Incidentally, Charles Kennedy was a no-show. He missed his train and despite being offered a link from London to record did not show up at all. Chris Rennard took his place at the very last minute. Any Questions is a very major show with a massive audience. No politician should skip it lightly. Charles Kennedy ought to have been there.

Comments

[peterbuss]

This is dramatic news indeed. I am also gobsmacked that it has eceived no aiing - so well done Coffeee House again.

Ever since Yvette Coopers' shifty performance on Newsnight and the inability of Brown to give simple and straightforward answers to direct questions on this issue I hva believed that the PM is acting like a charlatan on this matter.

[Tony Makara]

"Yvette Coopers' shifty performance on Newsnight"

What we have is a government that believes it is above accountability. As ever with Labour they go into 'consultation-mode' in the hope that the public will get bored or even forget about the issue the longer it drags on. Whatever happened to the honest open government promised by Gordon Brown? The so-called fresh start is stale and stinking and now not even Labour backbenchers have confidence in this corpse of a government.

[snegchui]

Frank Field has nothing to lose in his dealings with this administration. What is important is how many people back him (who may have something to lose in how they deal with this administration)? I like what I see of Frank Field and I wish him strength in the smearing campaign that is now likely to start - especially if those backing numbers are significant. I think the fight will not be about the 10p but Grabber's personal style, because he has had a year of dire warnings from within and without his party to pull back from this policy, but he wouldn't. He has history in suddenly countermanding the SIPP regulations that would have heavily benefitted the 40% Tax-payers, so not doing something similar in a year to help the worst-paid is abysmally stupid or arrogant.

[Will Stobart]

Is there a podcast of this? I can't find it anywhere on iTunes.

[Louise Bagshawe]

Will, click on the link above ("Any Questions" in blue) go to Radio 4 and select "Any Questions". I don't know why my direct link didn't work. Once you get to the show, the exchange can be heard at 17minutes, 45 seconds.

Tony Makara, thank you for this comment and your kind remarks on my earlier thread - I follow all your contributions and am really grateful for your good wishes!

[Will Stobart]

Louise, I was asking specifically abour Podcasts, but I just realised that it's part of the Today programme, so I expect I'll find it in that section eventually.

But thanks anyway. :)

[Simon Chapman]

Thanks for picking up on this Louise. I was one of those who blogged at the time that the deal Brown had done with Frank Field had struck was unravelling at an extraordinary speed*. I am not surprised that Frank Field is still on the case, and I hope he keeps the pressure on this time. This is another example of the way in which Brown's habit of buying himself a short-term headline or breathing space only creates worse problems in the long-term.

*See here: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2008/04/fiddler-on-the.html

[sjm]

But where is the Chancellor in all this? I'm not talking about vague attributions to 'the Treasury', I'm talking about Alistair Darling in person, in interviews, giving his explanations - does anyone else get the impression Mr Darling is ruing the day he accepted the position?

[Patsy Sergeant]

I should think most definitely 'sjm' @ 10.56, since it would not be unreasonable to think that he is really more of a 'mouthpiece' than a fully occupied chancellor anyway.

[cheeky charlie]

Am also interested in why Kennedy not able to make his train.

He has form on this from a couple of years ago, mostly caused by, ahem, social activity. Is he back off the wagon?

[Angelo Basu]

Has anyone managed to produce a list of likely candidates to support any such move by Field? If a significant proportion are MPs for marginal seats where extra votes for their support of a motion bringing down the government would be likely to be outweighed by a national swing away from Labour, the threat might still be overstated. On the other hand, if there are enough who feel that taking a principled stand to do something in the interests of their constituency would allow them to buck the trend to punish Brown, Field will have a genuine threat to offer.

[http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35657&SESSION=891Mark Wadsworth]

Yada yada, why hasn't Frank Field signed up to this?