A month ago I wrote about Nanny's chums on Harrow's Tory council banning ice cream vans.
I dropped David Cameron a note about it, pointing out that the actions of local councils such as this may well damage the chances of the Tories winning the next election.
Here is the response from Cameron's Orifice, received today (after the local elections of the other week).
It seems that Cameron feels that he has no authority over the actions of local councils. Strange that, given that he was so happy to ride the crest of the publicity wave following the Tories "reasonable" showing in the local elections.
Either they are the same party or they are not, they can't have it both ways!
"Dear Ken,
Thank you for your recent e-mail.
I am very sorry for the long delay in this reply. As you might understand, David Cameron has received an unusually large number of e-mails recently, and I am afraid it has taken longer than normal to reply to everyone.
We're grateful to you for bringing this matter to our attention. However, your local council has been democratically elected and you should take this matter up with them as David Cameron cannot interfere with local decision making.
Thank you, once again, for taking the time and trouble to get in touch.
Yours sincerely,
XXXXXX
Office of David Cameron MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA"
Here's David Cameron's email to tell him what you think: camerond@parliament.uk
Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.
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Nice of them to sign it with a whole lot of kisses though. You must feel very loved!
ReplyDeleteI'm very much on you side overall and agree with Cameron that he shouldn't interfere with a local decision. Not much point in devolving power if the Centre is going to jump in and interfere with anything it doesn't agree with.
ReplyDeleteIt's up to the good people of Harrow to sort this out.
It is not the elected councillors that are at fault; It is the "Officers" of the council that are.....They operate way beyond their power and often, it appears to me, that many officers employed by Conservative councils go out of their way to make conservative councils look daft.......The elected councillors need to take power back from these officers and make Conservative councils look good again.
ReplyDeleteCommon Purpose at work?
http://www.bordercountiesadvertizer.co.uk/news/Ice-cream-ban-at-memorial.5389112.jp
ReplyDeleteSeen this one yet?
Pah! A fine display of sloping shoulders! I've emailed David and will inform you of his reply, if and when it arrives..
ReplyDeleteThis is the dilemma of devolution. You can't have it both ways.
ReplyDeleteI can remember - just - the far-off days when local government was 'non-political'. After WW2 Labour started organising locally a while before the Conservatives got round to it: where I lived, in Yorkshire, the Council was run by supposedly unpolitical ratepayers' associations. The officials had less power then, and the councillors considerably more. Hence, they were more attentive to the voters' wishes.
The Tory Party can't have it both ways.
ReplyDeleteIf they use the "success" in the local elections for boosting their general elction chances, then they have to take the flack when a local council does something stupid.
It has been mentioned many times on this site that it is the unelected officers who are to blame, not the councillors.
Fair enough, then the Tories need to come up with a clear plan to show how the power will be removed from the unelected, and placed back in the hands of the local electorate.
The answer from Cameron was effectively "it's none of my concern".
If that really is his attitude, then we must make it his concern and remind him that his success at the forthccoming general election is far from guaranteed.
This may be off-topic, and I know the warmth with which contributors to this site hold HMRC to their bosoms, however ...
ReplyDeleteI'm currently treading treacle with HMRC, trying to get a tax refund. It seems like they've run out of money.
I'm reminded of that YouTube video of Daniel Hannan telling Gordon Brown in the European Parliament: “Prime Minister. You have run out of our money!”. He didn't seem too worried at the time, judging by that endearing grin across his face.
HMRC probably asked him:
“But Glorious Leader! What shall we do if someone asks for their money back?”.
“Oh you'll think of something. You always do. Just say you're investigating them, and can't post the cheque until the investigation is complete”.
So that's their line. It wouldn't surprise me if there's been a huge increase in the number of HMRC scam investigations since the country ran out of money.
They don't want to work on the basis of sending the cheque first and then taking it back if their investigation concludes I'm a criminal. It suits them to assume guilt first and innocence by exception.
You can still get a dog to do a "Mr Whippy" for free.
ReplyDeleteUnless Cameron comes down hard on those Tory run councils to sort out those who come up with this kind of nonsense, I rather fear the nightmare scenario that the Brown-Mandelson axis may sneak back in at the next general election.
ReplyDelete