Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

The parliamentary year ends today and so does blogging until we resume our sittings. 

A year ago, Gordon Brown was riding high and indeed it looked as if we were heading towards a General Election. How unimaginably have things changed. 

His reputation as a skilful manager of the British economy is now in ruins, and endless U-turns are a regular feature of political life. He had come to believe his own propaganda, that somehow he had extinguished the economic cycle. We now know that the edifice he created was a Potemkin village. Far from being a frugal Presbyterian he has reduced savings to a post-war low as people struggle to make ends meet with higher prices and higher taxation. He is more like Lady Docker or Leona Helmsley in the spending stakes, and at least it was their money. 

Have a brilliant summer. The last year has been one of the most exhilarating in post war British history and there is surely more to come. 

As I, like all other MPs, have witnessed, people who are out of work and on benefit often lose the capacity and confidence to work. On one level, you feel sorry for them, as they can be dispirited and sadly de-humanised, and with that comes introspection and depression. You ache for them to recover their sense of self-worth. Of course there are others who simply abuse the system. There is allegedly anecdotal evidence that GPs, perhaps pestered by somebody, succumbing to assisting in getting that individual on to long term benefit, simply to get rid of them.

James Purnell’s announcement is therefore welcome, however belated. There are indeed many gaps to be filled – how people would lose their benefits, would there be an appeal process, what is the timing involved? It is a huge task, fraught with difficulty, but at least the political mood has changed to make this possible.

This Government has become intellectually bankrupt, bereft of inspiration and so obviously exhausted. It is therefore unsurprising that much of this has been lifted from the Conservatives, who are bursting with ideas.

The Government have collectively become magpies, but like that particular bird, will remain unloved whatever they do.

We have been visibly reminded of the tragedy of conflict in the Middle East by the sight of two coffins crossing the border from Lebanon to Israel. Last summer I visited the exact place where the two soldiers were captured on the border itself.

Yet there is suddenly some movement, which is positive. Lebanon has a government which appears to embrace most important factions, Syria and Lebanon may well actually exchange ambassadors, and Israel and Syria have been in a low-key dialogue. President Sarkozy at least in public relations terms, stole the show with the parade of leaders in Paris last week, from every Mediterranean country. And where is Britain in all of this activity, we are entitled to ask?

However it is the US sending a senior official to Tehran that is most interesting of all.  Hithertofore the Americans refused to talk directly to Iran unless they abandoned nuclear enrichment and support for terrorist organisations. No Iranian government could or would accept such pre-conditions.

As finally happened with North Korea, a direct dialogue became necessary, and was successful. So we shall watch this space. Equally the Americans are no longer preventing the Israelis from having a dialogue with Syria.

In the end, the United States is crucial in all of this, and clearly a more functional approach has replaced axis of evil condemnation. As we observed those Iranian missiles being fired, and the Israelis reaction, a fresh attempt to re-order the region’s jigsaw puzzle is to be welcomed greatly.  

Liberal Democrats, to the extent that it is possible, are noted for their interest in supporting higher taxes. I seem to remember a 1p tax increase would sort out education (it would not) and the highest tax rate should rise to 50% (oh dear). Now apparently they are tax cutters at the very time that the public recognises how very difficult tax cuts would be, given our fiscal imbalances. 

I wonder what their supporters will think. Their brilliant ability to do well in by-elections disappeared at Henley, and at Crewe and Nantwich. 

In the current climate, I fear that promising tax cuts, when the reverse trend is more believable, is not good politics. The public do not believe politicians when they promise specific tax cuts, which is understandable. Also the public knows which political party really does believe in lower taxation, and it isn’t the Liberal Democrats. 

Harold Macmillan used to say that when the catalpa trees in New Palace Yard are in blossom the inhabitants of the House of Commons are ready for the summer recess…… because by this time of the year they are quite mad!

Members of Parliament are thinking of their summer holiday plans. I cannot think of a less appropriate place than for Gordon Brown to go to Southwold in Suffolk which is like 1950s England frozen in time. It is prosperous, charming and safe and he is least unlikely to get knifed, unlike in many other parts of our country, like so many of our fellow citizens who are currently being attacked.

Somehow I suspect Gordon will come back less refreshed in Southwold than before he started his holiday.

Just watch this space….

Today is the day of the Haltemprice and Howden by-election. As debate on the Government’s 42-day proposals continues, Gordon Brown’s arguments in favour of the legislation are sounding weaker by the day. 

It is clear that the legislation was always designed as a political calculation to outflank the Conservatives and make the Prime Minister appear tough on security. Scoring political points was at the core of the exercise. 

Earlier this week, members of the House of Lords lined up to criticise the legislation. These attacks were led by Lady Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5. Her concerns were remarkably similar to what David Davis has been saying. 

Yesterday a poll conducted for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust showed that only a third supported the Prime Minister’s call for an extension to the time terror suspects can be held. 

It is now up to the House of Lords to kick this piece of legislation into touch. The legislation has been shown to be the worst sort of politics, and nothing really to do with combating terrorism effectively. 

If the head of M15 thinks this, it says it all……. 

PS. I am off to Ukraine today, so blogging will be suspended until Wednesday. 

Of course the declining economic environment is preoccupying people, but so is crime. The Government keeps telling us that overall crime has fallen sharply, but the terrible level of violent crime deeply shocks British people.

Yesterday Conservative Business Relations hosted a discussion for sixty key people from our increasingly beleaguered retail community. What we heard was so shocking. Group 4 Securicor told us that their vans are held up on average three times a day. The founder of Iceland Foods quoted some devastating statistics in respect of his stores – in the last six weeks there have been over 3,000 attempts at shoplifting, 66 violent attacks on staff and seven staff members’ cars were damaged and there is gun or knife related crime every two weeks. It is a breathtaking indictment of contemporary British society. The British Retail Consortium told us that in the latest retail crime survey, in one year violent acts against staff were up by 50% and threats of violence against staff had doubled.

It is a huge and unmeasured cost to business. It puts in context Gordon Brown’s comments about wasting food. What is also true about this yet another example of the fractured nature of our society is that the level of retail criminality is much greater than in the rest of Europe.

There is indeed a difference between right and wrong. Stealing, violent and verbal abuse against retail staff is simply wrong. There can simply be no excuses for this behaviour.

Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime……….. oh yeah. 

I am not sure how many Conservative MPs have gone up to help in the by-election there on Thursday, but a group of us did yesterday. There certainly is plenty of campaign activity even if the poll is likely to be low. Everybody, was, however, very much aware of the by-election being on. 

I happen to agree with David Davis’ views on the State’s intrusion into our civil liberties, but of course people are very concerned about the economic conditions now prevailing, particularly the cost of fuel. 

Gordon Brown’s appeal not to waste food has really gone down as one of the gems of misplaced political rhetoric. And it is getting worse by the day… 

Today I shall be in the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden to support David Davis in his by-election campaign.

Whether one thinks his resignation was foolish or brave: his passion for defending our fundamental freedoms can be in no doubt. His decision to make a stand against a Government that has undermined our civil liberties reflects this view.  

Gordon Brown’s refusal to face the electorate on such an important issue is nothing short of cowardice. The introduction of anti-terror legislation has, I suspect, precious little to do with the issue itself, but rather an attempt to look tough and to make the Tories look feeble. I fear this is all about party political advantage.

David Davis has set down clear lines of rejection of invasions of our liberties. Yet the Government are refusing to defend its own record.

Whether it is the growth of the surveillance state, the threat of ID cards or 42 day terror detention – the assault on our liberties continues.

It is always particularly busy at this time of the year, and this week has been no exception. 

One of the highlights was an event at Bloomberg’s in the City for Boris Johnson. The hospitality was provided by Bloomberg – it is a truly magnificent backdrop and they invited guests, as did Conservative City Future. 400 people pitched up. It would be an understatement to say that Boris got a rapturous reception. We plan a very large event for him in the autumn. 

In his inimitable way, he spoke of what he had done since becoming mayor, and it was an impressive list. Afterwards he was swamped by people waiting to talk to him or be photographed with him. 

At our City Circle City Future events, David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson are treated by many of our guests as the rock stars of contemporary British politics. People want to meet them, talk to them, get their autographs, and be photographed with them. 

Somehow I do not think that either Gordon Brown or Alistair Darling ever get such a reception, nor indeed their heirs apparent.