tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post3816091880384826430..comments2024-03-18T19:21:49.666+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Tory Cynicism and the Work Capability AssessmentPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-30730036300479416202016-10-03T12:16:29.086+01:002016-10-03T12:16:29.086+01:00«Iain Duncan Smith's letters cadenced his crue...«Iain Duncan Smith's letters cadenced his cruelty with evangelism and zealotry»<br /><br />This is a really unfair presentation to IDS. Yes, he is very much on the right; even Norman Tebbit, who left him his constituency, said of him «If you think I'm right-wing, you should meet this guy».<br /><br />However, he resigned from government because of benefit cuts, while the New Labour MPs did not oppose them, and at the same time he attacked the government as waging class war against the poor and sick, putting him considerably to the left of a large part of the New Labour PLP.<br /><br />There is another couple of stories about him that show what has really been happening:<br /><br />«If indeed IDS is speaking the truth, and we know that our self-serving friend has form for a fib or two, then he was actively being overruled by Dave.»<br />«misery is fine as long as it remains politically expedient.»<br /><br />As to this Vince Cable reported:<br /><br />www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/05/vince-cable-tories-collectively-could-be-appalling<br />«Some of the greatest pressure came on IDS at the Department for Work and Pensions, whose poor, disabled, unemployed and otherwise vulnerable clients were seen as easy targets for cuts. IDS was a significant figure, and a fundamentally decent man, but he spent much of his time fighting off pubescent advisers and Treasury officials with cruel ideas for saving money.»<br /><br />The force behind the «cruel ideas» was George Osborne according to Nick Clegg:<br /><br />www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/02/nick-clegg-george-osborne-cut-welfare-poorest-boost-tory-popularity<br />«"Welfare for Osborne was just a bottomless pit of savings, and it didn’t really matter what the human consequences were, because focus groups had shown that the voters they wanted to appeal to were very anti-welfare, and therefore there was almost no limit to those anti-welfare prejudices,"»<br /><br />And that attitude seems shared by people like Rachel Reeves and other New Labour people who want to represent only the southern «aspirational voters who shop at John Lewis and Waitrose».<br />Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-23050289597218900262016-10-02T19:55:54.185+01:002016-10-02T19:55:54.185+01:00The £30 cuts for the majority on ESA are still goi...The £30 cuts for the majority on ESA are still going through, but it is about creating an image of the One Nation Tory, it is working to an extent as people are buying into itjim mcleannoreply@blogger.com