Andrew Blick is the author of People who Live in the Dark: The History of the Special Adviser in British Politics (Politicos, 2004 ) and How to Go to War (Politicos, 2005).

Recent articles

Andrew Blick (London, Democratic Audit): Is there a 'mental Berlin Wall' that separates unease about democratic issues such as 'executive dominance of Parliament, the unreformed House of Lords, the obsolete parliamentary election system, 42 days and the data-base state' from concern over the existence of 'local government that is neither "local" nor "government."'?

That at any rate is the view of Stuart Weir, Director of Democratic Audit, who led the discussion at Wednesday's CAOS (Combining All Our Strengths) seminar for civil society organisations.  Stuart described  domination by Whitehall managerialism, a complexity of structures and the financial and constitutional weakness of local government to ask, "Is democratic accountability at local level possible?  Is there space for genuine participation, and if so, is it confined to a very low level at which government is willing to tolerate ordinary people getting involved?' 

As it happens, the seminar coincided with a white paper on community engagement that illustrates how uneasy Whitehall is about any ideas that might break the managerial mould.

Andrew Blick reviews A Question of Honour: Inside New Labour and the true story of the cash for peerages scandal by Lord Micahel Levy.

(Lord Michael Levy, A Question of Honour, Simon and Schuster, 2008, 320pp)

Late in 1973, a record called ‘My Coo-Ca-Choo' entered the UK singles charts. It was credited to the glam-rock singer Alvin Stardust; but customers who thought it was Stardust singing on the recording were being had. The voice belonged to Peter Shelley, a musician with a small share in label which released it, Magnet. The main man behind Magnet was Michael Levy. He excuses the stunt on the grounds that it was ‘fairly standard industry practice at the time.'

This book is the latest in a string of insider accounts of the Blair inner circle. It charts the progress of Levy from a humble background, becoming a chartered account, then music business magnate and finally Peer, and tennis playing partner to and ‘Personal Envoy to the Middle East' for Tony Blair. Most famously Levy was chief fund raiser to Blair, popularly known as ‘Lord cashpoint'. This memoir covers familiar ground such as the internal tensions at No.10 and disputes between Blair and Gordon Brown, adding some interesting anecdotes.

Though it deals with other issues, understandably the publishers have billed it as ‘the true story of the cash for peerages scandal'. Levy was at the centre of a police investigation which was triggered when the press learned that a number of individuals who had provided undeclared loans to the Labour Party to fight the 2005 General Election and had subsequently been proposed for peerages, which were queried by the House of Lords Appointments Commission in November 2005. After a complaint in March 2006, an inquiry began into whether an attempt had been made to confer peerages in contravention of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. The investigation was later broadened to include possible violation of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 and perversion of the course of justice. All three major parties were under investigation. Ultimately in 2007 the Crown Prosecution Service determined that it would not bring forward any criminal proceedings, but not before Levy was arrested twice (along with three others); 90 individuals were questioned including Blair; and immense and deserved negative publicity was generated about the way parties and senior politicians do business.

Andrew Blick (London, Democratic Audit): A new political term was coined Monday night - 'post-post-nationalism'. Its inventor, David Goodhart. Editor of Prospect, was giving a paper at another lively 'Combining All our Strengths' Rowntree seminar in Westminster on the 'English question'. When asked if he was really simply talking about nationalism, he insisted that he wasn’t – and if it was he would have saved himself the trouble and called it just that.

Goodhart’s basic thesis was that a 'post-post-nationalism' is necessary in the UK to replace the current 'fuzzy' concept of nationalism and create 'markers for a post-ethnic national citizenship that is also open to the world.' This project is particularly important to the liberal left, with the increased demands it wants to make on citizens, 'whether paying higher taxes or being more active citizens.' At this stage in history, the nation is a vital unit for collective action and 'without it we are sunk'. Given his benign attitude towards nationalism, the default establishment of a separate English state and Parliament that could follow Scottish independence is, in David Goodhart's view, nothing to fear, even for the Labour Party, which would simply have to work harder at winning English middle class support.

Andrew Blick (London, Democratic Audit): MPs hate being told that they spend too much time on breaks, but it needs saying. They are now on their Whitsun recess and all their work on scrutiny has come to an abrupt stop (though not the panicky cries and whispers of Labour members).

In case you were wondering, this is the Recess that comes between the Easter recess and the two-and-a-half months that they take off over summer. So they are probably working away in their constituencies and those in vulnerable seats are no doubt busy attempting to shore up their majorities. You could regard their time away from Westminster as the representative side of their responsibilities, only with the staff and other resources they get as MPs, it also weights the advantages of incumbency more heavily in their direction.

There is a bigger problem too. The balance of the work of MPs needs to be shifted firmly away from constituency campaigning towards the oversight of government policies and activities. Various recent reports – including one from the Hansard Society – have suggested that all MPs should serve on select committees to improve the quality of parliamentary scrutiny. Some MPs have risked incurring the anger of their colleagues by acknowledging the problem. Speaking about the long summer break, David Winnick recently told the Commons that it meant 'our main function of holding the Government to account in this Chamber does not take place for some 11 consecutive weeks. There are no oral questions, no statements and no debates...Select Committees can meet, but...few do.' As Leader of the House of Commons in October 2002, Robin Cook, told MPs 'It is not healthy for the elected representatives of the British people to be absent for three months at a stretch. Too much happens while we are away, and too many decisions necessarily have to be taken by Government in our absence'. At the time he managed to secure support for September sittings, but this part of the Cook legacy has since been lost. When the Modernisation Committee looked at the issue two years later, the convenience of members was uppermost in their minds and they ruled out an increase in total sitting time.

This is the second in a series of posts by Andrew Blick on the Constitutional Renewal Bill. You can read the first post here.

 
Andrew Blick (London, Democratic Audit): There is a crucial tension within the Governance of Britain programme. On the one hand it sets out to provide greater independence to the judiciary. On the other hand it proposes making the legal system more accountable to Parliament. On the strength of Tuesday's evidence session with the Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, this problem needs closer attention than it is currently receiving.

In theory everyone should take an interest in they way they are governed and their rights – but in practice they don’t. For this reason the important issues raised by the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill are much more likely to achieve traction when they engage a particular interest group. Yesterday’s session of the Joint Committee was well-attended, because it attracted the interest of the legal profession, which is to its credit consistently the most likely to become involved in constitutional matters. (The government consultation on judicial appointments received 34 responses, compared to a paltry 11 for treaties.)

Tim Dutton QC, Chairman of the Bar Council, and Andrew Holroyd, President of the Law Society, were questioned about the Renewal proposals for judicial appointments. Vital principles are at stake here and it is a shame that time was wasted by one committee member, a solicitor, demanding to know why more solicitors were not appointed judges; and another making a rambling speech about the need to appoint judges on a basis of merit, which the witnesses assured us was the position already.