One of the most interesting weekend stories appeared in Saturday's Telegraph. In yet another example of Copycat Labour we learnt that Chief Secretary to the Treasury Andy Burnham conceded that there were moral arguments for using the tax system to encourage marriage. Had he cleared this with Harriet Harman, I wonder? The feminist Ms Harman has attacked David Cameron's support for marriage as 'back to basics in a open necked shirt'.
If Mr Burnham is genuine it is hugely to be welcomed. The evidence for the importance of marriage for the upbringing of children is overwhelming and a cross-party consensus in favour of rebuilding the family would be very valuable for child welfare and for the war on poverty.
There are many people who can be credited for making marriage fashionable again within policy circles. Guy Hordern of the Renewing One Nation project (2000 to 2003) is one person who has campaigned on these issues for at least twenty years. Dr Samantha Callan, who chaired Iain Duncan Smith's family policy taskforce, is another. One of the first and most effective champions was Jill Kirby (pictured). Jill has authored a number of papers for the Centre for Policy Studies that have set out the case for rebuilding the two parent family and marriage, in particular. Her Broken Hearts paper (pdf) was, perhaps, the breakthrough publication. Over the last six years Jill Kirby has chaired the CPS' working party on social and family policy. She was also a member of Lord Forsyth's Tax Reform Commission.
The CPS, founded by Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph in 1974, has announced that Jill Kirby is to replace Ruth Lea as its Director when Ruth steps down on 5th November. Ruth, will stay as a CPS Board Member, but will focus upon developing Global Vision - the campaigning think tank established earlier this year to advocate a looser UK-EU relationship. Jill has promised to defend the CPS' principles and contend for a Britain where the frontiers of the state are rolled back and families enjoy more control over their own lives. I regard Jill as a friend and am personally thrilled at her appointment. I have no doubt that she'll be a very successful and innovative Director.
On Friday ConservativeHome set out some of the challenges facing centre right think tanks.
An excellent appointment.
Good luck to Ruth Lea too.
I hope Global Vision flourishes under her direction.
Posted by: Jennifer Wells | October 14, 2007 at 23:59
Jill Kirby has proved herself as an authoritative writer, a forthright commentator and a lady of the utmost integrity. This is a superb promotion for someone who has never hesitated to challenge the liberal elite with the reality of the consequences of their permissive agenda. Congratulations.
Posted by: Julia Manning | October 15, 2007 at 00:50
Congratualtions to Jill -- overdue recognition for her understated impact on the policy debate.
Posted by: Peter Franklin | October 15, 2007 at 09:46
The evidence for the importance of marriage for the upbringing of children is overwhelming and a cross-party consensus in favour of rebuilding the family would be very valuable for child welfare and for the war on poverty.
I disagree. The evidence merely shows that children who are raised by married parents do better than those who are not. This does not imply that getting married magically transforms bad parents into good ones. It seems much more likely that people who choose to get married have certain attributes (moral values, religiosity etc.) which are are also beneficial when it comes to child rearing.
If people get married for different reasons, such as for financial gain in the form of lower taxes, then the rules of the game change and it is naive to expect those people--who do not share the values mentioned above else would have gotten married without the tax breaks--to be any better parents than if they remained unmarried.
Posted by: Jonathan Powell | October 15, 2007 at 11:27
Congratulations, Jill. Fantastic news!
Political opinion seems to be moving in the right direction at last and as Director of CPS you will be perfectly placed to make sure that family policy gets the attention and publicity it deserves.
Your hard work over many years is finally paying off.
Posted by: Deborah | October 15, 2007 at 11:36
The CPS, like other centre-right think tanks with the exception of Policy Exchange, are shadows of their former selves. In recent years, donations have slumped and staff and budgets have been cut back. The IPPR has more staff than the centre-right thinks combined!! The Social Market is not far behind.
The think tanks have failed to grasp the reality of the internet age. They are stuck in the 1980s and all we get are boring seminars, drinks receptions and tedious pamphlets (PDFs if we are lucky). I no longer waste my time and money on them and support hungry campaign groups like the Taxpayers Alliance and Freedom Association instead.
Posted by: Moral minority | October 15, 2007 at 11:59