Referendum vote - Cameron could and should have seen it coming

There are arguments in both directions about whether David Cameron should have imposed a three line whip on Monday's vote on an In/Out referendum on Europe.  My view is that it was unnecessary once the Lib Dems and Labour said they would vote against but that is not the main issue here.

What strikes me is the inevitability of it.  The Government e-Petition site is a great way of opening up democracy but it would naturally gravitate towards the issues that people feel parliament is ignoring.  Europe, immigration and the death penalty are all issues which people tell me they feel strongly about but which no political party is willing to discuss.  What politicians see as settled consensus many voters see as a closed shop stitch up, as one friend of mine said ahead of the last council election "who do I vote for if I want speed humps removed?"

The second thing which was always going to cause difficulties was the reduction in the numbers of constituencies.  In a year or so's time many Conservative MPs will need to compete for selections to redrawn constituencies, when they do it will be seen as a huge disadvantage for them to say "I have called for changes to our relationship with Europe but the didn't vote for a referendum on the issue".

Both the e-Petitions and the reduction in constituencies are good ideas but they come with entirely foreseeable consequences.  The party leadership and parliamentary management team could have seen these coming and should have mitigated against them much earlier.

The resignation of Liam Fox

I am sad to say that this was looking increasingly inevitable and so it came to be.

It seems that Adam Werritty overplayed his friendship with the Secretary of State and in doing so brought about his downfall.  It has the kind of irony that is normally found in poems and plays but in this case has severely damaged the career of a very effective minister.

Despite what some of the more cynical observers may think, this is bad news for David Cameron and something he would have wished to avoid.  Ensuring that we have effective armed forces in the face of the financial car crash and policy vacuum left by the last government is a huge task and will need someone who has the courage to be decisive and holds genuine affection for the forces.

Liam should have been firmer with Adam and ensured that the blurring between personal and professional didn't happen but he leaves perhaps a question mark over some of his judgements but without one over his integrity.

Bexley leading the way on recycling

I'm pleased to say that, once again, Bexley council is leading the way on recycling with a community recycling incentive scheme, part funded by the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWaRB).

Bexley is the top of the pops when it comes to recycling rates (with Bromley not far behind) and it is clear that the council has no intention of resting on their laurels.  Working at a community level makes it easier to reward people living in flats and Bexley's new scheme is being launched in 2,000 flats in East Thamesmead.

Recycling from flats isn't easy but as this report from the London Assembly shows it shouldn't be used as an excuse for councils not to bother.  LWaRB has funded £5million of test projects like this across London so we should be seeing more innovative projects like this in the near future.

Boring conference and empty seats

Unfortunately the coverage of the party conference seems to focus on two points.  Firstly that it was a bit dull, a bit boring and that the hall wasn't full when David Cameron made his set piece speech.

Let's start with the accusations of being boring, last year the big message coming out of the conference was that the deficit needs to be closed and the economy sorted out.  This year the message was that the deficit needs to be closed and the economy sorted out.

While repeating the message may not be the most exciting thing it is essential that we aren't blown of course by the temptation to announce something new just for the sake of saying something new.

On the point about the empty seats for David Cameron's speech I think that a number of things conspired to suppress numbers.  Firstly this is a mid-term conference, many party members don't go to conference every year.  They tend to go to the conferences ahead of and immediately after general elections.  The decision to move our conferences to big cities has pushed up the total price considerably, combined with the squeeze on personal finances, a number of members are just priced out of the market.

Finally the timing of the PM's speech.  It was in the PM.  Despite recent efforts the membership of the party is still South heavy and Manchester is in the North.  For someone in London it is a good four hour trip home, for those from the South West or South coast you can add a couple of extra hours to that.  Staying for the PM's speech starting at 2.30PM would mean leaving Manchester at about 4.00PM and not getting home until well into the evening.

Having the leader's speech mid morning would make it much easier for people to stay and listen yet still get home with plenty of time to see children in the evening or get themselves sorted for work the next day.

This was never going to be a fireworks conference but a few unforced errors, increased costs and scheduling issues meant that we came out of it without much of a bounce.

Conservative Party Conference

Hopefully you would have seen my tweets from conference and I intend to write up my thoughts soon.  In the meantime here is a video of Boris's speech from yesterday morning.