Today's Tory MPs awayday will be told that the 40/40 strategy is now a 50/40 strategy

By Paul Goodman
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Today's Conservative Parliamentary Party awayday takes place at a mystery location in Oxfordshire - indeed and to be more specific, in David Cameron's constituency, I am told.  Downing Street is presenting it as a chance for the Prime Minister to "listen to the views and concerns of Conservative MPs".  Predictably, Cameron will address the gathering.  Almost as predictably, so will Lynton Crosby.  Break-out sessions on policy will be led by George Osborne, Theresa May, Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove.

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We're governed less by professional politicians than we think

By Paul Goodman
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The combination of Eastleigh and Italy have between them unleashed a tidal wave of commentary about the drawbacks of being governed by the professional politics.  Consider Charles Moore's column in today's Daily Telegraph:

"Eastleigh brings out something which more and more voters feel. A quarter of a century ago, when people used to complain in pubs that “they’re all the same”, I used to argue back: it seemed to me patently false. Today, I stay quiet. Nigel Farage says that we have three social democrat parties now. There is a bit of truth in that, but I would put it differently. It is not so much that they all think the same thing. It is more that they are all the same sort of people. They all belong to a political elite whose attitudes and careers are pretty different from those of the rest of us."

Even the briefest inspection of David Cameron and Ed Miliband supports this view.  Miliband has been a full-time political apparatchick since University.  Cameron briefly had a job in television, but not a career: the post was acknowledged to be a waiting room for the Commons, even by his employers.

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Conservatives dominate the top 20 most mentioned politicians of 2012

By Matthew Barrett
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The annual newspaper index report by Hanover Communications into media coverage of MPs shows that 12 of the top 20 most-mentioned politicians are Conservatives. The index, which measures newspaper coverage over the last year, shows few Labour frontbenchers have media profiles, with only Ed Balls and Ed Miliband featuring in the list.

I list below the top twenty politicians and the number of mentions they received:

• David Cameron - 18384
• George Osborne - 9531
• Ed Miliband - 6211
• Nick Clegg - 6155
• Boris Johnson - 3320
• Michael Gove - 2844
• Tony Blair - 2694
• Gordon Brown - 2387
• Ed Balls - 2201
• Vincent Cable - 2061
• Theresa May - 1743
• Andrew Lansley - 1621
• William Hague - 1580
• Jeremy Hunt - 1525
• John Major - 960
• Ken Livingstone - 861
• Andrew Mitchell - 858
• Nadine Dorries - 857
• Iain Duncan Smith - 857
• Ed Davey - 823

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In a letter to Theresa May, Dominic Raab MP sets out Tory backbenchers’ concerns about the Communications Data Bill

By Peter Hoskin
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We already knew that the Government is redrafting the Communications Data Bill after opposition to the current plans from Tory MPs and many others. But now, this morning, we have a clearer sense of the depth of feeling on the Tory backbenches. Dominic Raab has written a letter to Theresa May, signed by 40 of his party colleagues, to highlight his and their concerns about the policy as it stands.

I have reproduced the entire text of the letter at the bottom of this post, although here are its four main points of order:

1. “We urge you to limit the application of the Bill to terrorist offences and the most serious crimes, limit access to such data to the intelligence agencies, SOCA and the police, and make the regime subject to judicial warrant as a safeguard against abuse.”
2. “From a law enforcement perspective, there has been no explanation as to how those using foreign internet and communications service providers will be prevented from circumventing the regime.”
3. “Equally, given the public sector's woeful track record of protecting personal data, we are concerned about the vulnerability of the scheme to both the negligence of officials and attempts to infiltrate the system by those with criminal intent. We would urge you to consult in further detail with the Information Commissioner, internet providers, telephone companies and other external experts, to test the technical integrity of the proposals.”
4. “Finally, the Home Office estimates the proposals would cost £2 billion. The Committee stated that these estimates ‘are not robust’. We urge Ministers to subject the proposals to external audit and re-consider their law enforcement cost-benefit in light of the suggestions made, above, to limit their breadth and tighten their focus.”

The stand-out line, though, comes at the very end: “In the absence of reassurance on these points, we would find it difficult to support the proposals.” So who are “we”? The full list of signatories is not being made public, although Mr Raab is saying that around half of them are from the 2010 intake. Strikingly, the 40 Tory MPs outnumber the entire cohort of 38 Lib Dem backbenchers, who might also be expected to rebel on this matter.  

“Dear Home Secretary,

The Joint Parliamentary Committee considering the Draft Communications Bill reported last week, highlighting a range of serious issues with the current proposals. We share many of them.

We support your efforts to strengthen law enforcement, but believe it is crucial to ensure such measures focus on the fight against terrorism and the most serious crime. The current proposals would expand the wide net of existing surveillance powers to cover every telephone call, email, web access and text message from every law-abiding citizen, to be processed by what the Committee described as a ‘federated database’. There has been no proper explanation of how clauses 14 to 16, concerning ‘filtering arrangements’, will work in practice. It is clear that they would authorise datamining, deep packet inspection and other techniques designed to infer potentially suspicious activity from the patterns of mass data held on every innocent citizen in this country.

The Information Commissioner has warned that these plans would herald ‘a step change in the relationship between the citizen and the state’. We urge you to limit the application of the Bill to terrorist offences and the most serious crimes, limit access to such data to the intelligence agencies, SOCA and the police, and make the regime subject to judicial warrant as a safeguard against abuse.

From a law enforcement perspective, there has been no explanation as to how those using foreign internet and communications service providers will be prevented from circumventing the regime. Equally, given the public sector's woeful track record of protecting personal data, we are concerned about the vulnerability of the scheme to both the negligence of officials and attempts to infiltrate the system by those with criminal intent. We would urge you to consult in further detail with the Information Commissioner, internet providers, telephone companies and other external experts, to test the technical integrity of the proposals.

Finally, the Home Office estimates the proposals would cost £2 billion. The Committee stated that these estimates ‘are not robust’. We urge Ministers to subject the proposals to external audit and re-consider their law enforcement cost-benefit in light of the suggestions made, above, to limit their breadth and tighten their focus.

In the absence of reassurance on these points, we would find it difficult to support the proposals.

Yours sincerely,

Dominic Raab”

Theresa May, Andrea Leadsom, Liz Truss, Charles Walker and Jesse Norman amongst the stars of the Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year awards

By Matthew Barrett
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Below are the winners of the different categories of the Spectator's Parliamentarian of the Year awards, which were held this afternoon.

• Newcomer of the Year – Andrea Leadsom MP (Con)
• Backbencher of the Year – Alistair Darling MP (Lab)
• Campaigner of the Year – Andy Burnham MP (Lab)
• Inquisitor of the Year – Margaret Hodge MP (Lab)
• Speech of the Year – Charles Walker MP (Con) & Kevan Jones MP (Lab)
• Resignation of the Year – Lord Hill of Oareford (Con)
• Apology of the Year – Nick Clegg MP (Lib Dem)
• Resurrection of the Year – Sir George Young MP (Con)
• Minister to Watch – Elizabeth Truss MP (Con)
• Double Act of the Year – Edward Davey MP (Lib Dem) & John Hayes MP (Con)
• Peer of the Year – Rt Revd Justin Welby
• Minister of the Year – Theresa May MP (Con)
• Parliamentarian of the Year – Jesse Norman MP (Con)
• Politician of the Year – Boris Johnson (Con)

Three names especially strike me: Jesse Norman, Andrea Leadsom and Theresa May.

Jesse Norman deserves relentless praise for his defence of our constitution against the offensive, mandate-lacking desire of some in the Coalition to see the House of Lords destroyed. But Mr Norman is far from being a mere skilled rebel. He is a serious economic and philosophical thinker, and a remarkable talent on the backbenches. His award is richly deserved.

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New 1922 Committee and Select Committee members elected

By Matthew Barrett
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After today's 1922 Committee elections, Robert Buckland has been elected Joint-Secretary (replacing Karen Bradley, an Assistant Whip) and Simon Hart and Karl McCartney have also been elected to the Executive, replacing George Hollingbery (now PPS to Theresa May) and Simon Kirby (now PPS to Hugh Robertson).

A few results of the Select Committee elections have trickled through, and this post will be updated with a full list of newly elected committee members in due course.

7pm Update: 

The following MPs have been elected to Select Committee vacancies:

Business, Innovation and Skills Committee

Caroline Dinenage and Robin Walker

Culture, Media and Sport Committee

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Conservative Select Committee appointments announced

By Matthew Barrett
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Guido Fawkes has a list of new Conservative members of Select Committees, from Graham Brady's office. Mr Brady explains: "For the following committees I have received the same number of nominations as there are vacancies, the following are therefore elected". The appointments are:

Communities and Local Government

John Stevenson (Carlisle), replacing George Hollingbery (Meon Valley), who became PPS to Theresa May at the reshuffle.

Education

Chris Skidmore (Kingswood), replacing Damian Hinds (East Hampshire), who became PPS to Mark Francois, the Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans.

Health

Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole), replacing Dr Daniel Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich), who was made the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Health Services.

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Full post-reshuffle list of Ministers

By Matthew Barrett
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Following on from the last few days' rolling blogs, I have below a final list of the MPs (and Baroness Warsi) appointed as Ministers for each department. I have put new appointments in bold.

Cabinet Office

• Minister for the Cabinet Office, Paymaster General – Rt Hon Francis Maude MP
• Minister for Government Policy – Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP
• Minister of State – Rt Hon David Laws MP (jointly with the Department for Education)
• Parliamentary Secretary – Nick Hurd MP
• Parliamentary Secretary – Chloe Smith MP

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

• Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills; and President of the Board of Trade – Rt Hon Dr Vincent Cable MP
• Minister of State (Universities and Science) – Rt Hon David Willetts MP
• Minister of State – Michael Fallon MP
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Jo Swinson MP
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Matthew Hancock MP (jointly
• with the Department for Education)

Department for Communities and Local Government

• Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP
• Senior Minister of State (Faith and Communities) – Rt Hon Baroness Warsi (jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
• Minister of State (Housing) – Mark Prisk MP
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Planning) - Nicholas Boles MP
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Rt Hon Don Foster MP
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Brandon Lewis MP

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Theresa May's statement to the House: "We can soon put Qatada on a plane and get him out of our country for good"

By Matthew Barrett
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After much legal and diplomatic wrangling, Theresa May has managed to get Qatada back behind bars and begin the deportation process - if the courts will let her. May told the House this afternoon:

"The assurances and information that the Government has secured from Jordan mean that we can undertake deportation in full compliance with the law and with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. Deportation might still take time – the proper processes must be followed and the rule of law must take precedence – but today Qatada has been arrested and deportation is underway."

The Qatada problem has been a legal headache for May. When the ECHR ruled against Qatada's deportation in January, it did so on the unprecedented grounds that "evidence obtained from the torture of others might be used against him in future legal proceedings in Jordan". Since that time, May has had, crudely put, the right-wing press - in particular the Sun, which has campaigned almost daily on the matter - urging her to find a way around the ruling. Number 10 has also been keen for Qatada to be kicked back to Jordan, with the Prime Minister discussing Qatada’s deportation with the country's head of state, King Abdullah.

As well as being vigorously urged to take action by the press, May has faced calls from her backbenches to simply ignore the ECHR ruling and deport Qatada directly to Jordan. However, May has not done this: she has taken the route of comprehensively satisfying the conditions the ECHR ruling made clear. May described this process to the House:

"I have been to Jordan and held meetings with the King, the Prime Minister and several other ministers.  My Honourable Friend the Minister for Crime and Security [James Brokenshire] has travelled to Jordan.  And there have been several official delegations to follow up on ministerial negotiations. And these discussions are ongoing. The result is that we now have the material we need to satisfy the courts and to resume deportation."

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The Government is delivering on its commitments to tackle domestic violence, says Theresa May

By Joseph Willits 
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Yesterday in the Commons, Home Secretary Theresa May reaffirmed her commitment to tackling and ending domestic violence, stating that the Government had fulfilled its pledge. Asked by Devizes MP Claire Perry, about the ways in which the Government was trying to deal with domestic violence against women, May cited a "cross-Government action plan on tackling violence against women and girls", published in March by the Home Office. May said: 

"It includes 88 commitments from 12 Departments to improve the provision of services for victims of violence and to prevent violence from happening in the first place. We have already delivered 22 of those commitments."

Perry spoke of the successes of a pilot scheme running in Swindon and Wiltshire, "in which perpetrators of domestic violence are effectively banned from the family home, rather than the family and the women being forced to move out, as happened previously". Due to the scheme, she said, "82 abusive perpetrators have been removed from family homes", and had been "reaching women who have never been helped before" according to the head of Wiltshire victim support unit said that the programme. The BBC reported in November that 65 Domestic Violence Protection Notices and Orders (DVPN/DVPO) had been issued.

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A selection of comments and questions asked by Conservative MPs in the Commons debate on the riots

By Joseph Willits 
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Social networking, flashbacks to the G20 riots, the role of CCTV, restorative justice, and the power of the police in their approach, seemed to be some of the themes covered.

Tracey Crouch (Chatham & Aylesford) highlighted the role social networking had played in the disruption, but also how it countered and assisted, she said “social networks such as Twitter have also provided the police … with an opportunity to dispel rumours and myths about where future disturbances happen.”  She asked the Home Secretary to “congratulate forces that have used social networking to their advantage and concentrate on the closed networking opportunities” such as Blackberry.

Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) whose constituency was devastated in parts by the rioting welcomed, alongside other factors, David Cameron’s talk of “fresh powers” in regard to social networking.  He also welcomed aforesaid “fresh powers” on “curfews ... and on powers for the police in relation to people who cover their faces”.  He heaped praise on the people of his constituency who played their part in their attempts to undo the damage caused. “People want criminals brought to justice” he said, and talked of “the crucial role” that CCTV played “in identifying who was responsible” he added, “I hope that members on the Treasury Bench will take note of that”.  Barwell also reiterated the sentiments of many people.  “People want those responsible to be properly punished and to make reparation to those they have damaged.  They want those who have committed these crimes to have access to taxpayers’ money in the form of benefits. They want those who are council tenants evicted, so that decent people on the waiting list get a home instead. They want those who are not British citizens removed from this country.”

Lee Scott (Ilford North) whose constituency was also affected by the riots, urged more powers to be given to the police that it is important we take off their “handcuffs” and that they “should be allowed to do what they think they need to.  The use of water cannons, and rubber bullets should be at their discretions, he said.

Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) stressed that it was important for “political leaders to articulate their support” and that “we must not fall into the trap that her Government did when Ministers in the Ministry of Defence failed to give backing to troops doing very difficult jobs in very difficult circumstances.”

Angie Bray (Ealing Central & Action), member of another affected constituency, encouraged the debate on “what policing wants.”  She welcomed such a debate between the public, their elected representatives and the police.  She stressed the need for “consent” particularly in they need to “provide a slightly more robust response” during events we have just witnessed.

Margot James (Stourbridge) asked about the stand-and-observe order given to police under certain circumstances.  She asked the Home Secretary, “given that they have been criticised for how they dealt with the G20 riots, on which there is a case pending in the European Court of Human Rights  … whatever police powers we end up agreeing with … we must provide consistent support when things go wrong.”

Robert Buckland (South Swindon) highlighted that many involved in the rioting and looting have been young children.  He encouraged the need for “restorative justice … making them face up to the victims of their crimes and making them play their part in restoring the damage that they have done”.  He suggested this as a a “good way to divert those young children from further involvement in the gang culture and crimes that we have seen.”

Theresa May highlights Britain's "deep-rooted" social problems in her Commons statement on the riots

Highlights from Theresa May's speech to the House of Commons on the public disorder in London, Manchester, Birmingham and other English cities.

There are real social problems in Britain: "Almost 2 million children are brought up in households in which no one works. One in three children leaves primary school unable to read, write and add up properly. We have the highest level of drug abuse in Europe. Almost 100 knife crimes are committed every day and nearly 1 million violent crimes every year. Half of all prisoners reoffend within a year of their release from prison. Those are serious social problems, and we cannot go on ignoring them. No one is pretending that there are easy answers to such deep-rooted problems, but they are the reasons why the reform of welfare, schools and the criminal justice system cannot wait."

Tackling gang culture must become a priority: "Six per cent. of young people are thought to belong to a gang of one kind or another. Gangs are inherently criminal. On average, entrenched gang members have 11 criminal convictions, and the average age for the first conviction of a gang member is just 15. They are also inherently violent. Gangs across the country are involved with the use and supply of drugs, firearms and knives. From talking to chief constables who have dealt with the violence of the past few days, it is clear that many of the perpetrators, but by no means all of them, are known gang members. So we have to do more to tackle gang culture."

Police capacity can be maintained despite tighter budgets: "At the end of the spending review period, the police will have the numbers to enable them to deploy in the way they have done during the last few days. It is possible to make cuts in police budgets by taking money out of matters such as better procurement to ensure that we can achieve the cuts that we need to make while still leaving police able to do the job that we want them to do and that they want to do. In January 2011, the chief constable of Greater Manchester police, Peter Fahy, told the Home Affairs Committee: “we have large numbers of officers still in roles that do not require the skills, the powers and expertise of a police officer. It is through that route over the next four years where we will achieve quite a bit of savings.”"

The different police tactics that restored public order: "On Tuesday, the Prime Minister and I held a meeting with the acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner, in which he set out his intention at least to double the deployment of officers. During the day, a number of offenders were identified, arrested and taken out of circulation. Officers took a tougher approach and intervened earlier to disperse groups before trouble began. Leave was cancelled, special constables were mobilised and mutual aid was stepped up, so up to 16,000 officers were deployed in total. As I said, officers took a more robust approach to tackling disorder and making arrests. There are tricky days and nights ahead, but thanks to the efforts of those thousands of officers order has in large part been restored."

Social media and the riots: "This is not the first time that criminals with plans to disrupt life in our towns and cities have used technology to plot their crimes. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and messaging services such as BlackBerry Messenger have been used to co-ordinate criminality and stay one step ahead of the police. I will therefore convene a meeting with ACPO, the police and representatives from the social media industry to work out how we can improve the technological and related legal capabilities of the police."

David Davis draws attention to prison-visiting imam who celebrated Taliban jail-break

By Matthew Barrett
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Yesterday in Parliament, during questions on the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy (which Paul Goodman covered on ToryDiary yesterday), former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis highlighted the case of a Muslim prisoner who had witnessed extremist preaching in a "high-security prison": 

"Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con): I welcome wholeheartedly my right hon. Friend’s statement and comments, not least because a couple of weeks ago I received a letter from a Muslim inmate of one of our high-security prisons, in which he said:

‘Last week our prison service imam told us ‘not to believe western media’ in relation to the death of Usama bin Laden. The week prior to that the imam celebrated the escape of hundreds of Taliban prisoners from the Kabul jail. He went on to list equally inappropriate teachings by prison imams in a total of five prisons.

The Home Secretary is right to draw attention to the previous Government’s complacency over the issue. Will she give an undertaking that this will be put right and that we will not be able to say those things next year?"

In response, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, promised to work more closely with the prison service in order to stamp out extremism of the nature Mr Davis mentioned. 

"Mrs May: I thank my right hon. Friend for bringing that letter to the attention of the House and, in doing so, raising a very important aspect of the work on which we wish to focus. There is a great deal more to be done in prisons, and a number of steps that we intend to take are set out in the Prevent strategy today. I should be very happy to receive a copy of that letter, if he feels able to share it with me, so that we can look at the specific allegations that have been made, but we intend to work more carefully with prisons, prison staff, the National Offender Management Service and those going into prisons to deal with individual prisoners in order to try to ensure that we do not see the sort of activity taking place that he has identified."

Theresa May recommits David Cameron to appointing women to a third of government jobs by 2015

By Jonathan Isaby

Remember how David Cameron said in March 2008 that he wanted a third of his ministers to be women?

It caused a backlash from meritocrats everywhere - including most female Tories I know, who find such quotas patronising.

Then in April 2009 Mr Cameron repeated the promise:

"If elected, by the end of our first Parliament I want a third of all my ministers to be female," is what he was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail.

I don't recall having heard Mr Cameron repeat the ludicrous pledge since then - and once it turned out that he would be leading a Coalition government I assumed it had been ditched, not least because the Lib Dems have proportionately even fewer female MPs than the Conservatives (7/50 as opposed to 49/257) and the Coalition has meant having to sacrifice certain commitments etc etc.

But it would seem not.

Answering questions in the Commons yesterday in her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, Theresa May was yesterday challenged by Labour MP Chi Onwurah with Andrew Neil's observation from his BBC  documentary, Posh and Posher, that there are more male Cabinet members from one Oxford college than there are women of any background in the Cabinet.

Mrs May replied:

"I simply point out that she should look at the balance in the previous Cabinet under the Labour Government. The Prime Minister has made it absolutely clear that he has a commitment to ensure that a third of ministerial places are taken up by women by the end of the Parliament."

So what are the numbers?

I calculate that there are 119 Ministers and whips across both the the Commons and the Lords.

• 100 are male - 80 Conservative and 20 Lib Dem - which accounts for 84% of the Government.
• 19 are female - 17 Conservative and 2 Lib Dem - accounting for 16% of the Government.

There are proportionately many more women in government in the appointed House.

Of the 24 peers who are ministers, 8 are women (all Conservative) and 16 are men (12 Conservative and 4 Liberal Democrats).

The figures in the Commons are 84 men (68 Conservative and 16 Lib Dem) and 11 women (9 Conservative and 2 Lib Dem).

So across both Houses, if David Cameron is to hit his quota, he would need to have a total of 40 female  ministers out of 119 - that's 21 more than are in place today.

Make no mistake, there are a number of very talented potential female ministers, not least among the 2010 intake of MPs, and it possible that the target number could be reached on merit alone.

But I remain of the view that committing yourself to a box-ticking exercise when appointing ministers is not the right way to go about forming a government. Furthermore, it has the potential not only to make female ministers feel patronised, but also to breed resentment among male colleagues who have not been promoted.

Theresa May unveils the conclusions of the Counter-Terrorism review, signalling a restoration of civil liberties while ensuring people's safety and security

By Jonathan Isaby

Home Secretary Theresa May has just made a statement to the Commons on the outcome of the review of counter-terrorism and security powers.

The Government's consistent aim has been "not only to protect the security of our citizens but also the freedoms of us all", she said, stating that too much of the existing counter-terrorism legislation bequeathed by the Labour Government was "excessive and unnecessary". The Government wants to "prevent the excessive use of state power", she added.

Here are the key passages of her statement:

Pre-charge detention: "The sunset clause inserted by the last Government has now brought the maximum period of pre-charge detention down to 14 days" BUT "in exceptional circumstance only this might need to be temporarily increased to 28 days. We will therefore draw up draft primary legislation to be introduced for parliamentary consideration only in  such  circumstances. . We will therefore publish a draft bill and propose that this be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny.  I should make clear to the House that until it is repealed by the Freedom Bill, Section 25 of the Terrorism Act 2006 will remain on the statute book allowing the Government to increase the maximum period to 28 days in an emergency, subject to Parliament’s agreement.  There has therefore been no gap in our ability to seek Parliament’s consent to increase the period of pre-charge detention should the need arise".

Section 44 stop and search powers: "The current provisions "represented an unacceptable intrusion on an individual’s human rights and must be repealed" BUT "where there is a credible threat of an imminent terrorist attack, the absence of such powers might create a gap in the ability of the police to protect the public". SO "we therefore propose to repeal section 44 and to replace it with a tightly- defined power which would allow a senior police officer to make an authorisation of much more limited scope and duration for no-suspicion stop and search powers to prevent a terrorist attack where there is a specific threat. This targeted measure will also prevent the misuse of these powers against photographers, which I know was a significant concern with the previous regime".

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