Theresa Villiers deserves to stay in the shadow cabinet

ConservativeHome may have been resting for most of the last 72 hours but today's listing of newslinks shows that the Conservative frontbench was far from inactive:

• There's Jeremy Hunt proposing a UK schools 'Olympics'...
• Edward Garnier proposing a tribunal to govern foxhunting once the Hunting With Dogs Act has been repealed...
• Nick Herbert attacking Labour's soft record on foreign prisoners...
• [Eric Pickles warning of a council take hike for 'nice neighbourhoods' (added 11.45am)...]
• David Cameron spending Christmas in Yorkshire and ensuing good coverage in regional media...
• And, just before Christmas, Grant Shapps' homelessness initiative.

The best story was, I thought, the thoroughly sensible suggestion by Shadow Transport Minister Stephen Hammond that rail services should be provided on Boxing Day (see good related blog from Alex Singleton).  This is Mr Hammond quoted in The Independent:

"Boxing Day is a traditional sporting fixture across the country for many sports, not just football. Huge numbers of fans will be heading to games, enjoying the day out with their families. From just the Premier League and Championship (the top two football divisions) there are an expected 45,000 away fans travelling to games. While engineering work should be carried out in quiet periods for travel, Boxing Day can hardly be seen as a quiet period. Families and football fans will be given no choice but to get into their cars, pump more CO2 into the atmosphere and put up with potentially eye-watering levels of congestion because the railways remain shut."

There's been a lot of criticism of Theresa Villiers - including on these threads - but she leads a team that is beginning to make headlines.  I'm personally in favour of a third runway at Heathrow but I recognise that the position adopted by Ms Villiers is now the Conservative Party's flagship green policy (and, not coincidentally, is crucial in the battle to win many seats under Heathrow's flightpath).  It won't be a policy that changes if Ms Villiers is moved on.  I also welcome her support for the ending of the BAA monopoly, her scepticism about Boris' Thames Estuary airport plan and her plan for a new hi-speed rail link (although it's too slow in starting).

To be thrown into the shadow cabinet before any other member of the 2005 intake when she had been an MP for less than six months was a huge test for Ms Villiers.  Most observers agree that she struggled in her first role as Shadow Chief Secretary but she is now making her mark and deserves more time to complete the work she has begun.

Tim Montgomerie

Comments

[Michael Rutherford]

Good call I say. She isn't in the most high profile of roles but seems to get a reasonable amount of coverage.

I'm not really sure why the grassroots has such a love affair with Heathrow, mind. There can't be much economic gain from plane transfers which seems to be the main thing in mind for this extension.

[sbjme19]

I agree. I happen not to support the third runway but regardless of that I think she's doing well in the post.

[Class act]

Okay but let's be under no illusions about our Third Runway policy.

Cameron has ducked e v e r y difficult green decision except Heathrow. He has flip flopped on green taxes, nuclear power and supermarkets.

The only reason why Cameron Villiers and Boris are green on Heathrow is because they fear losing seats or wards to the Liberals in S W London.

[Felicity Mountjoy]

I agree. At least Teresa has done something in her portfolio. Can you name anything memorable done by Fox, Duncan, Ainsworth and the like?

[Mark Hudson]

She's far from the worst woman in the Shadow Cabinet, but it was a blessing to remove her from the Treasury team where she was a public embarassment.

SOME sensible ideas from the Shadow Cabinet, but I have always questioned the timing of such pronouncements. Does anyone think that the average punter cares what a politician says over Christmas? Get a life and give it a rest until the New Year.

[Mr Angry]

Theresa Villiers is not doing well and does not deserve to keep her Shadow Cabinet place.

On transport she is manifestly failing to propose anything that even looks like a Conservative policy and is in complete thrall to the increasingly irrelevent Green lobby.

A single piece of common sense from her Shadow Minister, not even her, about something simple on which everyone can agree does not make up for the rest of the lefty nonsense that she has become so very fond of espousing.

[Charles Tannock MEP]

Not only is Theresa an extremely dedicated and hardworking politician and posseses a forensic legal mind but also brings the unique advantage in my mind (having been her colleague as a London MEP for 6 years) of understanding in depth the workings of the EU which will require some interpetration at shadow cabinet level. Sadly too many Westminster MPs of all parties have little knowledge or interest in what we say or do in the European Parliament which is excusable up to a point but when we Conservatives are in goverment unacceptable when so much of our legislation has its origins in Brussels-PM Brown is using ex EU Commissioner Ld Mandelson's skills in this respect to his maximum advantage in networking across Europe on the economic front. Theresa who I believe is a robust but measured and calm eurorealist knows how to work the EU system to our national and party advantage and I am informed has led shadow cabinet debates on key issues relating to the EU and Conservative MEPs role. So I for one as an MEP hoping to be re-elected, hope she remains in the shadow cabinet though this call must ultimately entirely be one for David Cameron to make. I was also delighted on the recent policy proposals Theresa made on Heathrow and high speed rail which has great appeal to the electorate particularly in our mutual London Constituency.

[Sally Roberts]

Charles I entirely agree with you and you worked with Theresa for some considerable time when she was an MEP colleague and in fact Deputy Leader at one stage - so you probably know her better than most here! I remember Theresa when she was a member of one of the ward committees here in Hammersmith a few years back and she has done incredibly well to rise to the heights she has done - people should give her for what she has achieved.

[Sally Roberts]

"people should give her for what she has achieved"

Sorry - People should give her CREDIT for what she has achieved!!

[comstock]

Boxing day is needed for engineering, both to track and to trains. If trains were required on Boxing Day, more railway staff would need to work Xmas Day.

Of course public transport will never be a 9-5 job, but train and railway maintence men deserve Xmas day off.

Why the football couldn't be played today (as in Scotland) goodness only knows

[asquith]

Because it's all about TV. They couldn't care less about the sport, they just want to make a fast buck out of encouraging rich idiots with no appreciation of the game to give them money.

They'll be sorry when all the working-class fans are alienated & the trendies move onto some new fad, leaving the FA men beached.

[Legal Eagle]

I agree that Ms Villiers should be retained in the Shadow Cabinet however I do have some doubts as to whether the Transport portfolio is the best position for her. I'd sooner she was moved back into her previous position as deputy to George Osborne as she has a very sharp financial brain which could be put to immense use in the next few months ahead.

My concern about our current transport policies are not specifically related to the expansion of Heathrow but the general undercurrent that we are now as a Party apparently against ALL major airport expansion as demonstrated by Ms Villiers' lack of support for the proposed expansion of Gatwick and the construction of "Boris Island". If the British economy is to remain competitive in these trying times it seems imperative that we ensure our transport infrastructure meets the required capacity to ensure that the UK is best placed to ride out the economic maelstrom and thrive when the climate improves. I fear that by opposing all aviation expansion on rather nebulous grounds (the last press release I saw from Ms Villiers suggested expansion should be opposed as it would harm the hearing of children living near Heathrow), we will be sending a message to our competitors that the UK is not prepared to fully utilise our trading and inward-investment opportunities.

Personally I'd rather trust the job-creators and those who seek to knock down international barriers in the name of progress and development, than those who believe flying should once again be the pursuit of the rich in the name of pseudo- environmentalism.

[Matthew Reynolds]

Theresa Villiers is doing a fine job at transport - she is offering a green agenda designed to win over Liberal Democrats in marginal seats - in about 100 or so Labour at risk seats their majority is less than the Liberal vote. Why on earth sack someone who could be instrumental in burying the Lib Dems and helping to secure big gains from Labour in a general election ? At least her policy on Heathrow is memorable - messars Mitchell , Lansley , Ainsworth & Duncan are just an irrelevance . Francis Maude betrayed IDS , Theresa May called us nasty , Caroline Spelman cannot employ a nanny properly and David Willetts insulted grammar schools & those who send their offspring there - those kind of memorable contributions we can do without .

Theresa Villiers is clearly light-years ahead of that assortment of nonentities & PR disasters. David Cameron would be foolish to sack his able , competent and hardworking Shadow Transport Secretary when there are eight failures that need to be sacked ASAP. Non of that mob will help us win an election.

As a promotion the brilliant Michael Gove should keep the schools brief & merge it with Universities & Skills so he can attack all of the lefts educational disasters while thinking up suitable solutions to education issues in schools & universities alike. Likewise Theresa Villiers should keep transport and get the environment brief in-addition to that as a promotion. As she is already making an impact on green issues why not just make her Environment & Transport Shadow Secretary so that she can get us better headlines on environmental issues ? She has the communication skills & ideas so this promotion makes sense.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind with all his experience could be Shadow Commons Leader as he could easily see off Harriet Harman by just being an adult dealing with a child in an adults body. He could combine that with being Cabinet Office Spokesman with a remit for readying us for government - as a former cabinet minister he would know what that entails and as a great lover of parliament he could really do the job of Shadow Commons Leader to a high standard by fighting for the rights of MP's.

Chris Grayling knows how to hit Labour hard and has the skills to be a great Party Chairman while IDS has the ideas to help the poor and could sell them with conviction as Shadow Welfare Secretary. Ken Clarke is just the big-hitter needed to take on Mandy at Business Affairs and could add to our economic credibility as a former- chancellor with a great track-record .

Justine Greening could do the same great work with International Development as she has with motoring taxes . Having a photogenic and intelligent person like Miss Greening offering common sense ideas to help the Third-World would help the Tory image no end and might make swing voters feel better about voting Conservative. John Redwood would tear Alan Johnson apart while offering a common sense alternative on health - Redwood for Shadow Health Secretary ! What he has written on health is first rate and his work-rate is beyond belief.

Dominic Grieve needs to go back to being Shadow Attorney General as which he was excellent at leaving David Davis to return to a job that he is born to do to a very high standard. Jacqui Smith would hate that.

As David Mundell has failed as Shadow Scottish Secretary by falling out with the MSP's etc and as Eleanor Laing was one of the most gifted & attractive Tory MP's to shadow on Scottish Affairs since 1997 - why not name her Shadow Scottish Secretary ?

We need an injection of new faces & experienced old-timers to take Labour to task and offer a decent alternative so that we do not wake up to a fourth Labour term. The present Shadow Cabinet have too many in there who just do not cut it and as such help explain our slender poll lead.

[Dewsbury Tory]

Can someone help us here in Dewsbury? Baroness Warsi, who does she shadow in the Government and what is she Shadow Cabinet member for? We struggle to know up here and we never hear from her locally or nationally although those who are close to her are openly stating that she has told them she is to become Party Chariman

[Jack Stone]

Mr Angry. So the Conservative Transport policy should mean bigger airports resulting in more pollution, more road building, resulting in more cars and more pollution.If you think that`s Conservative or more to the point will gain the party support you are frankly Mr Barmy!!

[Ken Stevens]

Dewsbury Tory

Modern day version of a previous senior Tory? ..And he was only in Sarf London!

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.com/pa/cm199899/cmhansrd/vo981216/debtext/81216-33.htm

"..Duncan Sandys, who was accused of not visiting his constituency, said that he represented Streatham in Parliament, not Parliament in Streatham."

[Mr Angry]

Jack Stone, you're a fine one to be questioning anybody else's sanity. Please go back to LabourHome from whence you came.

[Steve Foley]

I work in an Aviation-related Industry and I am with Mr Angry on this. We have our airports were they are needed and we should grasp the nettle and provide an additional runway and associated facilities both at Heathrow and Gatwick. "Boris Island" is too silly for words especially given the presence of the LPG storage tanks on the Isle of Grain and a sunken WW2 munitions ship in the Thames. NOT an ideal site for an airport.

It is a fallacy that the Conservatives will fail to regain seats such as Surbiton, Richmond, Twickenham etc unless they join the Eco-nutcases and take an anti-airports stance. For a start there are many voters in those seats who work at Heathrow, likewise in Marginal Crawley and at Gatwick Airport. They are highly unlikely to vote for a threat to their livelihood, and indeed living in Reading West but my employment being threatened if the Heathrow Third Runway is blocked then I too could NOT vote Conservative if this is their policy at the General Election.

My own hope is that Brown gives the go ahead and work is actually well under way on site when in 2010 there is a General Election. I would think (and hope) it unlikely that a Tory Government would scrap such a major civil engineering project once it had actually started.

[Paul Biggs]

Villiers is useless and feather light. She has failed to properly oppose Labour's bad transport policies with wishy-washy fence sitting and half measures:

From the DM:

Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said: 'Labour's instinctive Big Brother approach to the management of our road systems is the wrong way to tackle congestion.

'We now know a spy-in-the-sky national road pricing scheme would not only penalise drivers but it is already costing the taxpayer millions. At a time when so many people are feeling the pinch and the public finances are in such a dire state, it is unacceptable for Labour to be wasting taxpayers' money spying on motorists in this way.'

.....well, maybe Ms Villiers might like to rule out 'local' and 'toll lane' road pricing from her party's manifesto, full stop.

Shadow cabinet members are just Cameron's 'yes' men/women. The Tory party has the dubious distinction of adopting New Labour policies that are anti-car and Cameron's factually challenged Etonian Eco-Toff anti-aviation policies. Will the real Tory party stand up before it is too late?