Tuesday am update:
I am reliably informed that the Conservative with an even
longer-standing interest in this whole issue is Justine Greening.
During her time as a shadow Treasury and then Communities minister, she
established how much the ministerial cars cost through a series of
parliamentary questions.
She spoke out about ministers abusing the privilege certainly as long ago as March 2008 and was continuing to criticise the waste of taxpayers' money on ministerial cars in late 2009.
Like Ed Vaizey, she too is now a minister.
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Of the various cuts announced this morning by George Osborne and David Laws, one will have a very direct impact on ministers (who have already taken a 5% pay cut):
As Laws explained:
"In the future, no Minister should have a dedicated car or driver other than in exceptional circumstances. Ministers will be expected to walk or take public transport where possible, or use a pooled car. The pooling of cars will allow big savings to be made."
The saving is estimated at £5 million and follow through on a promise David Cameron made last September, but whose idea was it?
Nick Watt at the Guardian suggests that David Cameron was inspired by ex-Labour minister Chris Mullin to make the promise.
But in my column in GQ magazine in December, I suggested that the Tory leader had been lobbied by one of his own front bench about the idea:
Back in the summer, David Cameron announced that a Tory Government would reduce the number of chauffeur-driven cars available to ministers – not a move that went down especially well with those eyeing up jobs after the election. But if budding Conservative ministers want someone to blame, they need look no further than their colleague, Ed Vaizey, who was heard to complain after the announcement that he was not getting any credit for coming up with the idea. So now we know.
ConHome noted Ed Vaizey's view on the issue here back in February 2009.
Now a minister, Ed Vaizey is regularly to be spotted dashing by foot between the Commons and the two departments to which he is attached...
