Member News
By Sam Macrory - 11th January 2010
A huge parliamentary press corps assembled for the launch of Demos’ character inquiry this morning, but the admirable think tank will accept that it was the personnel involved rather than the topic of discussion that had Westminster’s hacks in attendance.
David Cameron gave the keynote speech to support the inquiry, but it was the appearance of Labour backbencher and former welfare minister Frank Field alongside the Conservative leader that created a stir.
Some suggest Field, who was praised heavily by Cameron for being prepared to “say the unsayable” on welfare reform, might be tempted to defect. I doubt that he is – for one, the people of his constituency in Birkhenhead would hardly allow it, and Field stressed his presence at the Demos launch was solely because “I have been working on this area for a decade”.
Another theory, and one more plausible, is that Field is the Tory pick for the speakership if a successful coup against the still mistrusted John Bercow could be mounted in the wake of a successful Tory general election campaign.
Either way, the appearance of a much-respected – if largely solo-operating – Labour MP on a platform with David Cameron will infuriate Downing Street, much as it did when Kate Hoey became a commissioner for sport for Tory mayor Boris Johnson.
It is unlikely that Cameron can use the Field card again – and unlikely too that Field will be keen on any more shared photo shoots – but Field’s appearance, and his assessment that “more of the same” would not end poverty, is a definite point-scored for the Conservative leader.
As for content, there was a smattering of revelations. On the way that advertisers and the children’s market target children, Cameron warned that “we don't want to resort to regulation…..but we will make it clear that if business doesn't exercise some corporate responsibility, we will not be afraid to impose it.”
Cameron also refused to rule out cuts for the Sure Start scheme, but insisted that the Tories were determined to refocus it on early intervention and give it the same independence enjoyed by the academy programme.
The most important line of his speech though, was the agreement with the Demos thinking that the key to a child’s life chances is “not the wealth of their upbringing but the warmth of their parenting.” Cameron admitted it was “tricky territory.”
Labour strategists will tonight be wondering how best to exploit his positioning.
As the morning’s event closed with Cameron and Field facing questions from the floor, a huge cacophony of construction work broke out in the building next door. Perhaps Labour’s newly formed election strategy pays for professional distraction as well?
Sam Macrory writes for The House Magazine.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd