Well, we've tried. We really have. We liked the cut of Cameron's job during the election campaign, we regretted that he had to get into bed with the Muppet Clegg, we've continued to pour almost as much scorn on Labour in opposition as we did when they were in power.
We've made allowances for him, we've seized on every sensible utterance from No.10 (and there have been some, you know), we've positively idolised that little creep Gove Minor (he should never have got his remove, being a suck and a frightful bounder, yaroo!).
We've seen good where frankly there was very little, we've explained to Mrs.GOS until we're blue in the face that Plan A was inevitable and that it was working, that we've kept our Triple A Rating, that the FTSE is staging a modest come-back (more of a creep-back, really), that we are still the seventh largest manufacturing nation in the world so everything's going well etc.....
We've made allowances by the truck-load whenever that old loony Cable went off on one, we've sat back and muttered “hear, hear!” in a restrained and civilised fashion whenever IDS or William Hague were being the voice of sweet reason, we've applauded whenever Eric Pickles seemed to be playing the rôle of down-to-earth man-in-the-street, we turned a blind eye when they caused the panic over petrol supplies, and through it all we've followed the rest of the world and just ignored the Invisible Man Clegg and his tiny little non-party ...
But no more. We just can't hack it any more.
They've gone too far now.
As James Slack wrote yesterday ...
“Labour governments had a truly chilling disregard for this country’s ancient, hard-won freedoms.”
(Sorry to butt in so soon, but ... oh hell, hear hear! Didn't they just? In spades, and how, not half! Bastards!)
”The DNA of more than a million innocent people was stored on a vast official database. Town Halls were given James Bond-style powers to spy on people suspected of putting their rubbish bins out on the wrong day. Plans were drawn up to hold terror suspects without charge for 90 days.
Indeed, it was the desire to reduce the intrusive, liberty-sapping powers amassed by the State which helped drive voters into the arms of the Lib Dems and the Conservatives — after both parties railed passionately in Opposition against the worst excesses of what must surely have been the most authoritarian Labour government in history.
As a result, hopes were extremely high when, in 2010, the two parties were forced into government together, and included in their Coalition agreement a promise to ‘implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties . . . and roll back state intrusion.’
True, the Coalition took swift action to scrap the planned ID cards database — posing for countless photo-opportunities along the way. They also curbed the use of the police’s draconian power to stop and search people without any reasonable grounds for suspicion.
But, in far too many other areas of grave importance, the injustice continues. Our brutal, lop-sided extradition laws remain unreformed. Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker who Nick Clegg personally pledged to save, has not been freed from the mental torture of extradition proceedings brought by the U.S. The State’s power to march into people’s homes has not been properly checked.
Indeed, in some respects Coalition ministers are making matters worse. The Mail has been campaigning against their Kafka-esque proposals for secret justice that would allow some civil cases and — terrifyingly — inquests into police shootings and military deaths to be held in secret.
Now ministers are disinterring plans, first put forward by Labour, to give public bodies sweeping new powers to snoop on the phone calls, emails, texts and website activity of everyone in the UK. Under new plans, GCHQ would be able to track the communications of everyone in the UK. Internet firms will be required to store the details of your every internet click of a mouse or visit to Facebook or eBay.
Police, the security services and GCHQ will then be able to trawl through details of who you were speaking to or dealing with, to check for any evidence of wrongdoing. They will not be able to see the actual content but — if they are satisfied you may be acting suspiciously — can seek a warrant from ministers to do so.
The enormous scale of this spying operation is unprecedented in Britain and will involve the collection of millions of pieces of personal information. The internet visits alone will allow the authorities to build a picture of who they think you are, without you ever knowing.
Inevitably, this raises many, many disturbing questions – not just over the huge cost, estimated at £200 million a year, of asking internet companies to log this data. What happens when information is wrongly logged — linking an innocent man to, say, a terrorist?
The Office of the Information Commissioner says: ‘Intelligence can be used to put people on no-fly lists, limit incomes or for asset grabs by Government agencies.’ It’s not an exaggeration to say lives could be wrecked.
There must also be serious concerns about what the internet companies, having been paid by the State to store this goldmine of information, will choose to do with it. Won’t they be tempted to exploit it themselves or, worse, sell the information to the highest bidder? The Government will promise there will be safeguards, and stiff penalties for misuse — but if, inevitably, the law is broken, the consequences for an individual could be devastating.
Ministers say there are good reasons for the proposals, which extend the scope of the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (which made provisions for covert surveillance and access to communications records by public bodies). Currently, the authorities can access when and where a phone call was made or text message or email sent.
But they argue that the world is a less safe place and that technology has moved on — with terrorists and other criminals now using the internet phone service Skype to hatch their plots. They also use social networking sites to exchange information. It is vital, ministers say, that the law is brought up to date if we do not wish to find ourselves one step behind our enemies, who do not care one jot about civil liberties.
But, while many will see the validity in these arguments, the fact remains that in opposition both the Lib Dems and Conservatives could see all too clearly the perils of mass State surveillance of our internet use. When Labour first suggested the idea, LibDem spokesman Chris Huhne said: ‘It is not that easy to separate the bare details of a call from its content. What if a top business person is ringing Alcoholics Anonymous or a politician’s partner is arranging to hire a porn video (but that could never happen, could it - GOS)? There has to be a careful balance between investigative powers and the right to privacy.’
Then Tory shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: ‘The big problem is that the Government has built a culture of surveillance which goes far beyond counter terrorism and serious crime. Too many parts of government have too many powers to snoop on innocent people and that’s really got to change.’
And now? The LibDems and Tories seems to think it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. This is despite the fact that, even before the new interception programme is introduced, we are already one of the spied upon nations on the planet, with three million snooping operations carried out under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act in the last decade.
To most people, however, it’s the Coalition’s rank hypocrisy which will be considered most deplorable. All politicians, once they achieve office, and come under the influence of the Whitehall machine, are captured to some extent. But this is a Coalition government in which both sides were supposed to wish to roll-back the Orwellian powers of the Surveillance State.
Yet here we stand, two years later, staring down the barrel of two very alarming proposals to monitor our use of the internet, and separately, introduce secret courts.
The Coalition’s secret justice green paper would allow inquests involving matters of national security — such as the police gunning a man down in the street or his car — to be held in secret if the details could prove embarrassing to the State. It will, therefore, be possible for someone to die in so-called ‘civilised’ Britain without anyone — not least relatives — knowing how and why.
Equally shameful is the way nothing has yet been done to reform the unbalanced UK/U.S. Extradition Treaty — despite both the Lib Dems and the Tories promising to act. The failure by Nick Clegg in particular to end the mental torture of Gary McKinnon shows in a single sorry episode why the word of politicians cannot be trusted.
All Coalition governments, by their nature, are forced into shoddy compromises and doing things one side or the other doesn’t particularly like. But civil liberties seemed the one subject, apart from reducing the public spending deficit, upon which the current pantomime horse administration could agree.
That makes the betrayal even worse.”
This all led us to wonder just how many other things Cameron has done that we didn't expect when we elected him. Let's see ...
• Before the election, Cameron promised not to raise VAT, not to cut child benefit and not to cut tax credits for low earners. He said that “VAT is a more regressive tax than income tax or council tax”. Yeah, right. He has since claimed that the unexpected size of the budget deficit has made it impossible to keep that promise. So why was the deficit so unexpected? Couldn't he have found out just how much money Labour has pissed up the wall? If he didn't know all the facts, why did he take the job on? (No, don't answer that, silly question)
• The coalition promised: “We will guarantee that health spending increases in real terms in each year of the parliament.” Cameron's words were "I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS." In fact spending on the NHS, after inflation, fell last year. Treasury figures show the NHS spent £102bn from April 2010-April 2011, almost all of which took place when the coalition took power. This marked a £750m real-term fall from the previous year, something Mr Cameron repeatedly promised would not happen.
• On the other hand the Conservative government is borrowing even more than the previous Labour government. A fall in tax receipts got the new fiscal year off to a disappointing start with public sector net borrowing hitting £7.7bn compared with £5.3bn in April last year. I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS.
• The Lib Dems opposed increases in university tuition fees before the election. In fact, all 57 LibDem MPs signed a pledge to vote against any increases. When push came to shove however, they supported the government. Now Clegg says "It's one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do – to own up to pledging things I now feel I cannot deliver."
• Cameron promised to give energy regulators more power, but failed to act last summer when Scottish Power announced a £175-a-year price hike. Labour were able to crow that the PM had “sat on his hands while gas and electricity soared”.
• Then there's the armed forces. We have no carriers, we have no VTOL planes, they've phased out one of the world's most successful (and British) planes, the Harrier. Yet in May 2010 Cameron was saying that any cabinet minister who proposed front line cuts would “be sent straight back to their department to go away and think again”. In opposition, the Conservatives said that the army was too small, and called for the restoration of three army battalions. As Shadow Defence Secretary, Liam Fox promised “A bigger army for a safer Britain”. The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review announced that the size of the army would be reduced by around 7,000.
As Shadow Defence Secretary, Liam Fox stated that any cuts to the Royal Navy would be “a betrayal of our heritage and downright irresponsible in a dangerous age”. Once in power they reduced the Royal Navy’s surface fleet from 23 to 19.
• In their manifesto, the Liberal Democrats pledged to pay for an extra 3,000 police on the beat. In fact the 2010 Spending Review announced cuts of 20 per cent to central Government police funding by 2014-15. Greater Manchester Police immediately announced plans to cut 1,387 officer posts by 2014-15 and West Midlands Police said it expects to make about 2,500 job cuts including 1,000 officers. More recently, plans have been announced to privatise some police functions.
• Cameron praised the Future Jobs Fund as a “good scheme” and the Conservatives said they had “no plans to change existing Future Jobs Fund commitments”. The Liberal Democrats also pledged to keep the Future Jobs Fund, saying "We have no plans to change or reduce existing government commitments to the Future Jobs Fund. We believe that more help is needed for young people, not less". The Government has now scrapped the rollout of the Future Jobs Fund.
• In 2010 Cameron said. "We’ve looked at Educational Maintenance Allowances and we haven’t announced any plan to get rid of them". Michael Gove said, "Ed Balls keeps saying that we are committed to scrapping the EMA. I have never said this. We won't." Even after the election, Education Minister Nick Gibb said that “The Government are committed to maintaining the education maintenance allowance”. Later that year the Government announced that they are ending Educational Maintenance Allowances. (Personally we always thought EMAs were a bloody silly idea, but ... a promise is a promise, right? Unless you're a politician, of course)
• Conservative party spokesman in 2010: “No family with an income below £40,000 will lose tax credits.” Following the 2010 Budget it became clear that from 2012, families with a joint income of just £30,000 will get no tax credits at all, and families earning £25,000 will see their tax credits cut. In addition, the 2010 Spending Review announced changes to the rules around eligibility for working tax credits which mean married couples on low incomes with children will only get the working tax credit if they work 24 hours rather than the current 16 hours a week between them.
• In the final Leaders' Debate before the election, Nick Clegg said "We should say no bonuses whatsoever for the directors of banks at board level". Yes, Nick, you should have. But you didn't.
• In January 2010, David Cameron told the Sun newspaper, “we will increase the number of midwives by 3,000”. In November the same year Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said, "We've now had a meeting with Andrew Lansley the Secretary of State for Health and they are clearly not prepared to fulfil that commitment." A Conservative Party spokesman said there would be no increase in the number of midwife posts.
• In March 2010 David Cameron said “I wouldn’t change Child Benefit, I wouldn’t means test it, I don’t think that is a good idea”. In the 2012 Budget George Osborne announced that Child Benefit would be, in effect, means tested.
• The Conservative manifesto pledged to “stop the forced closure of A&E and maternity wards”. Since the election, no service reconfiguration schemes involving closures of A&E or maternity units have been refused. A number of decisions have been made to close local A&E and maternity services since May 2010, including at Newark Hospital, the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital at Welwyn Garden City, and Rochdale Infirmary. South London Healthcare NHS Trust announced that it would temporarily close the A&E at Queen Mary's Sidcup over Christmas 2010
• Before the General Election, David Cameron spoke of his anger about high marginal tax rates for people moving off benefits into work. The Conservative Party’s manifesto pledged to take action on this. The June 2010 Budget actually increased the number of people facing high marginal deduction rates. It left an extra 20,000 taking home 10p or less in every additional pound they earned, 30,000 people taking home 30p or less, and 40,000 taking home 40p or less.
• In 2008 Cameron said that “it should be clear that if you carry a knife on the streets of our country and you are caught, you should go to prison”. The Coalition Government’s 2010 Green Paper on sentencing said they would develop “a new community-based intervention” to “help to ensure that offenders who are caught in possession of a knife will face consequences”.
• In their manifesto, the Liberal Democrats promised to cut rail fares each year. Enough said, we think.
• Page 8 of the Conservative Party Manifesto said “The Child Trust Fund will be retained for the poorest third of families and families with disabled children”. In a May 2010 Treasury press release they announced that they were scrapping the Child Trust Fund entirely.
• Quite apart from its funding, before the election the Conservatives repeatedly promised “no more top down reorganisations” of the NHS. David Cameron said that "With the Conservatives there will be no more of the tiresome, meddlesome, top-down re-structures that have dominated the last decade of the NHS." This was reiterated in the Coalition agreement. In fact the Government intended the most drastic restructuring in the history of the NHS. Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts will be abolished, and commissioning responsibilities will be transferred to GPs. Dr Clare Gerada, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, has said, "I think it is the end of the NHS as we currently know it".
• "You can read my lips. That is a promise from my heart." Thus David Cameron sought to reassure voters that he would "look after ... the elderly, frail, poor and needy" and protect pensioners' benefits, having condemned what he said were Gordon Brown's lies. It was an unfortunate phrase to use - George Bush Senior was the first to say "read my lips". The rest of the sentence was "no new taxes". It helped him win the presidency in 1988. He went on to raise taxes to reduce the deficit and "read my lips" became shorthand for broken political promises.
• February 2011 found Armed Forces minister Nick Harvey vehemently denying a claim that the Government had broken a promise to troops. He insisted suggestions the military covenant was not being written into law were unfair, and said soldiers, sailors and airmen should not feel betrayed by the Lib-Con coalition. Chris Simpkins, head of the Royal British Legion, complained of a U-turn by David Cameron over the covenant - the state's responsibilities to its Armed Forces - which the Prime Minister pledged would be rewritten and enshrined in law.
• In the run-up to the election David Cameron pledged that MPs would be given a free vote on whether or not to repeal Labour’s controversial hunting ban, which he described as a ‘bad piece of legislation’. The pledge was included in the coalition agreement with the Liberal Democrats. We're still waiting.
• During the election David Cameron promised a 'bonfire of the Quangos'. In fact thousands more bureaucrats have been recruited. At least 4,500 civil servants were taken on in the government's first year by Government departments and quangos – three times the number that had been handed compulsory redundancy notices. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact and the Committee on Climate Change were among the quangos which had been busy recruiting. These are, of course, in most people's minds the three quangos we could best do without.
• One promise was broken almost before it had been given, because it was obvious rubbish right from the start. More fool us for taking it seriously. Cameron's "no ifs, no buts" promise to reduce immigration to tens of thousands quickly lay in tatters. It was revealed that immigration rose by 21% over the first year of the government. The number of people coming to the UK for more than a year, less the number leaving, hit 239,000, the second highest annual figure on record and the fourth highest figure for any 12-month period since records began. Analysts and campaigners said it would make it "more difficult than ever" for the Government to fulfil its pledge to cut net migration to the tens of thousands by 2015.
• Before the election Cameron pledged to return “power back to the people” and restore public faith in Britain's “shattered” political system if he won on 6th May 2010. How restored does your faith feel now, in this government's third year? In 2009 they had promised a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, with David Cameron saying “We are the only major party to have consistently said that it is up to the British people to decide on our future in Europe”; in 2010, the Liberal Democrats promised a referendum on EU membership, saying “The European Union has evolved significantly since the last public vote on membership over thirty years ago. Liberal Democrats therefore remain committed to an in/out referendum”.
Last October there was a vote in the House of Commons on a referendum. The Tory/LibDem government opposed the idea, used their whip, and the vote was heavily defeated. Most Tory and LibDem MPs supported the government. So it's not just the leaders who break their promises when they can see an advantage, it's the whole crooked, self-seeking pack of them.
There were newspaper headlines the other day saying that ALL THREE party leaders are, according to polls, enjoying the lowest level of public approval in the history of public approval (or polls, or politics, we know it was the history of something or other). This is hardly a surprise, of course. We've all known for many years that the Labour Party is made up of a mixture of cynical career politicians who don't care which party they're in so long as they're in one; power-mad loonies like Harriet Harman who sincerely believe that because they are right about everything and everyone else is wrong, everybody ought to do what they say; and limp-wristed intellectuals like the Millipedes who don't really believe in anything but enjoy the crack.
Similarly we all recognise the LibDems for what they are – yep, you've guessed it, limp-wristed intellectuals who don't really believe in anything but enjoy the crack. The only difference between them and Milliband is that they've never had to worry overmuch about having to put their ideas into practice once they were in power, because they knew they were never going to be in power.
But the Tories, now ... well, we have to admit that they had us fooled. Oh sure, we've always known they were bastards. We've always known that what they were really interested in was a few years in politics, lots of useful international jet-set contacts and a few seats on various boards to see them through their twilight years. But we did think they might at least do something about Europe and the hunting ... I mean, they're Tories, for God's sake ...
So, where does all this leave us? Who the hell can we vote for next time, assuming that the EU hasn't by then banned internal elections in member states?
George Galloway? UKIP? Where the hell are the Monster Raving Loony Party when we need 'em?
The GOS was once nearly hit on the head with a microphone stand by Screaming Lord Sutch. Looking back, it seems like a high point in British politics. I mean, Clegg, Millipede and Cameron don't look as though could even lift a microphone stand, leave alone whirl it round their heads.
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