[A-List] UK state: the fog of war

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

How the deafening noise of war 'buried' Labour's bad news
By Nigel Morris and Ben Russell
The Independent
03 April 2003

A controversial minister hands Labour the biggest donation in its history,
another party donor is in the frame to win a multimillion-pound vaccine
deal, long-awaited figures show up to £5bn in benefits are unclaimed and the
taxpayer is forced to bail out MPs' pensions to the tune of £25m.

In any normal fortnight it would be the stuff of political rows, opposition
outrage, banner headlines and drama. But with British troops in action in
Iraq, the usual hostilities in Westminster are suspended.

Yesterday Tony Blair faced calls to get back to his desk and deal with
domestic issues. Paul Tyler, the Liberal Democrats' Commons leader, said:
"Now that even the Pentagon is talking in terms of months of war, Mr Blair
must surely deal with some of the urgent issues at home."

Thursday 20 March

On the first full day of war, the Department of Transport makes an
embarrassing U-turn in restoring to police forces the power to install
hidden speed cameras. It had originally agreed to calls from motoring
organisations to paint the cameras yellow, but safety campaigners objected.

Friday 21 March

Controversial plans to "name and shame" racist employers are released with
little fanfare. Downing Street had feared that the proposals would look
anti-business.

Monday 24 March

The Government announces that the taxpayer will have to rescue the
parliamentary pension fund after it crashed to a £25m deficit, ensuring MPs
do not have to endure the deprivation facing millions of other employees.

At any other time, that would have been the cue for a traditional political
row, played out in newspaper column inches and radio phone-ins across the
country. This time, nothing.

Tuesday 25 March

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, drops his threat to cap town halls
threatening big council tax rises. With five weeks to go before a difficult
set of local elections, he publishes figures revealing council tax bills
across England will go up by an average 12.9 per cent this month.

Wednesday 26 March

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, widens police powers dramatically to
allow officers to take fingerprints and DNA swabs from anyone arrested.

There is barely a ripple of protest when the Lord Chancellor's Department
announces that bailiffs are being given extra authority to force their way
into homes. They will be allowed to use "forcible entry" if they have
obtained permission from a judge or magistrate.

In what would normally have attracted charges of cronyism, Mr Blair's senior
policy adviser on media and telecommunications, Ed Richards, is appointed to
the board of Ofcom, the new regulator for television, radio and the
telecommunications industry.

Thursday 27 March

It emerges that legislation to create new Foundation Hospitals has been
delayed. The move has proved hugely contentious among Labour backbenchers.
After an 18-month delay, ministers produce statistics showing Britain's
poorest households are missing out on more than £5bn a year in benefits.
Take-up levels of income support, housing benefit, council tax benefit and
jobseekers' allowance all fell in 2000-01.

Mr Prescott announces a hugely controversial new Bill giving him the power
to impose terms and conditions within the Fire Service. He threatens to
impose lower pay rises than the 16 per cent on the table.

Startling Home Office figures show that stopping and searching of Asians is
up by 16 per cent, with a 6 per cent increase among black people in 2001-02,
while searches of white people fell by 2 per cent. The Home Office escapes a
fresh storm over drugs policy when Bob Ainsworth, a junior minister,
forecasts that cannabis-based medicines could be available in chemists by
December.

Friday 28 March

The publication of proposals to send asylum-seekers to "processing centres"
outside the European Union is hardly noticed. The plan, debated by Mr
Blunkett and his EU opposite numbers, was actually first presented to EU
leaders by Mr Blair at an emergency summit in Brussels a week earlier.

Monday 31 March

In a brief, late-afternoon press release, the Labour Party announces that
Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the Science minister, has given it £2.5m,
bringing his total contributions to £8.5m. At any other time the hand-out
would have plunged the party into a row about cronyism and accusations that
his presence in Government will influence the crucial decision over whether
to licence genetically-modified foods.

Tuesday 1 April

Powderject, a drug company run by the Labour donor Paul Drayson, emerges as
a frontrunner for a government contract worth up to £120m for smallpox
vaccine. Last year, the company was controversially awarded an exclusive
deal to supply emergency stocks of the vaccine.

Yesterday

Mr Blair's spokesman defends the Prime Minister's failure to replace the
three ministers who quit the Government a fortnight earlier in protest over
war in Iraq. Following Robin Cook's departure, the Commons is in the bizarre
position of having no Leader. The Speaker, Michael Martin, has made known
his concern over the vacancy.