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"
