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Peter Oborne
Peter Oborne is the Daily Telegraph's chief political commentator.
This Coalition is proving to be a truly revolutionary regime
By Peter Oborne Politics Last updated: November 4th, 2010
Nick Clegg and David Cameron enter Number 10 in May (Photo: AP)
It is undeniably the case that the three great reforming governments of the 20th century registered their most significant achievements within just a few years of attaining office. Take the liberal premier Herbert Asquith, regarded as one of the finest peacetime prime ministers Britain has ever had. All of his enduring work was done between entering Downing Street in 1906 and the general election of 1910. Thereafter, he became bogged down by factional struggles and was often sozzled by drink. By the time he was driven out of office in 1916, he was a broken man.
Very much the same point can be made about our two great post-war governments. Even his ideological opponents have little choice but to accept that between 1945 and 1950, Labour’s Clem Attlee was supreme. He oversaw the creation of the National Health Service and the welfare state, and created a social and political settlement that continues to shape the world we live in. But by 1950, Attlee was drained; by 1951, he was out of Downing Street, never to return.
The same applies to Margaret Thatcher, so magnificent when she came to power 31 years ago. By 1984, all the vital work for which she is remembered – the taming of the unions, the mending of British finances, victory in the Falklands and the restoration of our national confidence and pride – was either completed or (as in the case of her privatisation programme) well under way. Indeed, it would probably be better for her subsequent reputation if she had quit office not long after her 1983 election victory.
Tony Blair proves the rule. New Labour had no programme when it secured power. As Blair ruefully acknowledges in his autobiography, he wasted his first term – and by then it was too late. He left office in 2007, having largely squandered the superlative opportunity with which he was presented by his landslide triumph 10 years before.
It is, of course, far too early to speak of the Cameron/Clegg Coalition in the same breath as those momentous Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher governments. However, in one essential respect, a comparison can already be made. The Tory and Lib Dem leaders have shown the same audacity and personal character as their great antecedents. The Coalition has set out with astonishing energy on its tremendous project: nothing less than the reshaping of British politics, the repair of our economy and the rebuilding of Clem Attlee’s now broken welfare state.
Scarcely a day passes without an important new speech or announcement that challenges conventional wisdom and takes Britain into a new direction. Let’s contemplate the events of this week alone. On Wednesday, Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, made an agenda-setting speech – and one that could not have been made by a front-line politician from any mainstream party for more than a quarter of a century.
Speaking to the Relate counselling charity, Mr Duncan Smith produced a blistering defence of marriage, making points that no Cabinet minister has dared to touch on since John Major’s ill-fated and deeply derided Backs to Basics initiative. He stated a simple fact that everybody has known, but few beyond a handful of think tanks (and this newspaper) have dared to articulate: that there is a powerful link between rising levels of crime and poverty and the collapse of marriage as an institution. “Lone-parent families,” as Mr Duncan Smith bravely said, “are more than twice as likely to live in poverty [as] two-parent families.” More disturbing still, he revealed that children from broken homes are nine times more likely to fall into a life of crime.
These facts, without which no serious understanding of the social problems that afflict modern Britain is possible, were regarded as heretical under Labour, and therefore suppressed. Indeed, Mr Duncan Smith revealed in one shocking aside that Labour ministers deliberately deleted all reference to marriage from their official forms, effectively abolishing it from the record.
Sadly, his speech contained no hard proposals to reaffirm the institution of marriage. Even so, it is wrong to understate its significance. Had his remarks been made only a year or two ago, there would have been uproar: Mr Duncan Smith would have been accused of bigotry and targeting single mothers. But his speech instead escaped without any serious challenge, or even criticism.
This silence shows how sharply the parameters of national debate have changed since the creation of the Coalition. Though there is no hard policy yet, Mr Duncan Smith is preparing the ground for a fundamentally change in Government policy towards the family that will take shape over the months to come. Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that this coming Monday, he will publish probably the most revolutionary document of any Cabinet minister over the next few years. His White Paper will set out in detail the Government’s plans to end the culture of welfare dependency which has done so much economic damage, and destroyed so many millions of lives.
There has also been change in Britain’s foreign policy. William Hague’s visit to Israel this week was certainly controversial. That is hardly surprising, because in a relatively short time the Foreign Secretary has moved the Tories from slavish support for the state of Israel, whatever the circumstances, to a readiness to engage seriously with the Palestinians as well.
But this shift, while of long-term significance, has been dwarfed by the most astonishing development of all: the apparent ending of the 20-year Tory civil war on Europe. Last weekend, David Cameron opened the way for a sharp increase in our budget contributions to Brussels, while giving the green light for a new treaty to save the eurozone. On Monday, he announced a new era of defence co-operation with France. The Prime Minister has developed an easy, relaxed and mature relationship with both President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel. Until very recently indeed, there would have been uproar had a Tory leader countenanced any of this. Last week, there was scarcely any reaction on Conservative benches. The spectre of Europe, which has engulfed the Tories since the assassination of Margaret Thatcher exactly 20 years ago, may have been laid to rest.
The Labour Party has no response to this. When Mr Duncan Smith spoke on marriage on Wednesday, its welfare spokesman, Douglas Alexander, was silent. Yvette Cooper, the shadow foreign secretary, has nothing serious to say about William Hague’s brave new Middle East policy, or David Cameron’s historic change of posture on Europe, beyond a mischievous and unsuccessful attempt to ferment trouble on the Tory Right.
Meanwhile, Ed Miliband’s response to Vince Cable’s announcement on university funding on Wednesday has been positively amoral. The Leader of the Opposition drafted Gordon Brown’s election manifesto, which endorsed the principle of tuition fees. Now he has changed sides, in a transparently cynical attempt to attract dissident Liberal MPs.
Once again, there is ample historical precedent for this Opposition incapacity. After their election defeats of 1906 and 1945, the Tories were intellectually bankrupt in the face of dazzling reform administrations, and so was Labour after 1979. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have changed the rules of public discourse. They have also just enjoyed their best week since the Coalition was launched.
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