Richard Reeves Demos Is a Think-Tank Focused on Power and Politics
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Richard Reeves Demos is a think-tank focused on power and politics. Our unique approach challenges the traditional, 'ivory tower' model of policymaking by giving a voice to people and communities. We work together with the groups and individuals who are the focus of our research, including them in citizens’ juries, deliberative workshops, focus groups and ethnographic research. Through our high quality and socially responsible research, Demos has established itself as the leading independent think-tank in British politics. In 2012, our work is focused on four programmes: Family and Society; Public Services and Welfare; Violence and Extremism; and Citizens. Alongside and connected with our research programes, Demos has political projects focused on the burning issues in current political thinking, including the Progressive Conservatism Project, the Centre for London at Demos and Demos Collections, bringing together topical essays by leading thinkers and commentators. Our work is driven by the goal of a society populated by free, capable, secure and powerful citizens. Find out more at www.demos.co.uk. A LIBERAL INSIDE Richard Reeves First published in !"#! © Demos. Some rights reserved Magdalen House, !"# Tooley Street London, SE! $TU, UK ISBN $%&-#-$"$"'%-#%-( Copy edited by Susannah Wight Series design by modernactivity Typeset by modernactivity Set in Gotham Rounded and Baskerville #" Open access. Some rights reserved. As the publisher of this work, Demos wants to encourage the circulation of our work as widely as possible while retaining the copyright. We therefore have an open access policy which enables anyone to access our content online without charge. Anyone can download, save, perform or distribute this work in any format, including translation, without written permission. )is is subject to the terms of the Demos licence found at the back of this publication. Its main conditions are: · Demos and the author(s) are credited · )is summary and the address www.demos.co.uk are displayed · )e text is not altered and is used in full · )e work is not resold · A copy of the work or link to its use online is sent to Demos You are welcome to ask for permission to use this work for purposes other than those covered by the licence. Demos gratefully acknowledges the work of Creative Commons in inspiring our approach to copyright. To find out more go to www.creativecommons.org Contents 1 Introduction 9 2 Coalition policies: the good, the bad, the ugly 19 3 Coalition culture: tribalism versus pluralism 35 4 What would JS Mill think? 41 5 What liberals do next 51 Notes 57 References 61 9 1 Introduction From the distance of a few weeks and a few thousand miles, the UK’s Coalition Government looks pretty good. Of course there have been plenty of bumps and scrapes. Many mistakes have been made, although mostly on relatively minor issues. Exaggerated ‘split’ stories — always the easiest to write — continue to fill the pages of the politically inclined newspapers. As I write, there is apparently a row raging over some unexceptional comments by Nick Clegg about his desire to tax wealth more (although it seems to me that if, as the leader of the Liberal Party he did not, that would be a real story). No doubt by the time you are reading this, a different row will be ‘raging’. But from my new vantage point in Washington DC, the sight of two very different political parties running a broadly successful government together in perilous economic times is little short of miraculous. Contemporary American politics is characterised by a debilitating tribalism, which has killed all attempts to reach an agreement on long-term deficit reduction. )is narrow partisanship, and the resulting failure to deliver good policy, is a stark contrast to the statesmanship demonstrated by David Cameron and Nick Clegg and their respective parties in the critical year of !"#". Whether coalition will change politics for the longer term is a different question. Political journalists, party donors, parliamentarians, party activists, lobbyists and civil servants are all, to varying degrees, wrestling with the strange beast of coalition government. Many are simply biding their time, waiting for ‘normal’ politics to resume. Although the coalition is a genuine departure, it has not ‘broken the mould’ of politics. It will take at least one more coalition to do that — fortunately, as things stand, another coalition is quite likely. Introduction 11 )is essay is a brief attempt to assess the performance created the need and space for policy discussions based on of the Coalition to date, from an unapologetically liberal the merits of competing arguments, rather than the adoption perspective. How good is this Government? How liberal is of tribal, pre-ordained positions. It is invigorating to see two its track record so far? And what next for the liberal cause? cabinet ministers of different parties go hammer and tongs It hardly needs saying that my viewpoint is far from at each other on the substance of one issue on one day, but objective, given that I served alongside Nick Clegg for two be united against other colleagues on another. It doesn’t years as his Director of Strategy. It would also be ridiculous happen all the time, perhaps not even most of the time, but for me to pose as anything other than a staunch liberal. My it has happened a lot, and a lot more than under the previous thought-question tends to be ‘what would Mill think?’ In government. For liberals who believe in the vital importance Nick’s office, it was standard procedure to use me as a kind of a productive collision of ideas, this is refreshing. of in-house liberal litmus test; colleagues would wander into Of course there are costs to coalition too. Decisions require my office and say: ‘Policy so-and-so. Liberal or not liberal?’ more time — although that is no bad thing in most cases. More And I would give a thumbs-up or down. (Disappointingly, significant is the danger of splitting differences between existing this was not treated as the final word on the matter.) party policies rather than taking the opportunity to do something I have also been careful to treat private conversations different, and potentially more exciting. )e difference-splitting as just that; what was private then remains private now. danger is increasing as the parliament proceeds. But rather )ere are no juicy secrets or personal details in what than splitting differences in each individual area of policy, it is follows. And to say that my coverage of policy is patchy generally better to make bigger deals — to concede lots of ground would be an understatement. I’ve ignored whole swathes in one area, in exchange for large gains in another. )is requires of government activity while others are examined in some both parties to be willing to make that kind of trade, and that detail. I wish I could think of some elegant, even if post-hoc, willingness is diminishing. rationale for the selection. But the truth is that I have simply )e !"#! budget, for example, could have been more radical written about things I know at least something about; that for both parties. One option on the table was a cut in the top rate I care about; and/or that I think are important in getting a of income tax to ."p, funded by the introduction of a ‘mansion sense of how the Coalition is doing. tax’ on high value property. )e top rate cut would have been a It is also difficult to prevent the necessarily personal big Tory prize, but one that any self-respecting liberal could live loyalties of politics from distorting the picture. But I have with: a-er all, one of Clegg’s achievements was to wean his party striven to be fair, and to be as tough on my former colleagues off its ("p top rate policy. And the first proper wealth tax on the as on their political rivals. In any case I have always believed British statute books would have been a big liberal prize, but one that the tribal territories of party politics obscure more than that any self-respecting ‘compassionate’ conservative should be they reveal. )ere are liberals in all the main parties, and able to stomach. conservatives in them all too. People are liberal on some issues, But in the end the Prime Minister couldn’t make but not on others. But I have also seen at first hand how hard it the leap: the hostility to any kind of wealth tax on his is to let tribalism go. In an era demanding pluralism, tribalism backbenches and in the Tory shires scared him off. So we still too o-en prevails. ended up with a (p cut in the top rate — enough to give )e Coalition has certainly acted as a force for political Labour an attack angle about a ‘budget for millionaires’ but pluralism within the corridors of government, even if not not enough to win much more than lukewarm support from more widely. )e presence of two parties in the room has business and the conservative press — and a minimum tax rate Introduction 13 for the better off, that few in Whitehall, let alone the general land with elected mayors. )e ‘greenest government ever’ public, understand. What could have been a radical budget ambition is in jeopardy. )e Government has an irrational was barely a reforming one. Only the above-expectations policy on immigration but has held to its commitment on increase in the income tax threshold lent real substance. international development. I started, though, by saying the Coalition looks pretty It has to be said that in most of these areas the Coalition’s good: it looks better, in fact, than it felt when I was in it.