Despite Parliament returning from recess, and what has seemed like a quiet Westminster, it’s not been an uneventful week. Dominated by Patrick Mercer’s resignation, Nigel Farage’s ‘will he, won’t he’ episode, the launch of the Conservative and Labour European/local election campaigns and Ed Miliband’s goading of the Prime Minister over his apparent reluctance to commit to a TV debate ahead of the 2015 General Election, there have been plenty of bread and circuses.
Mercer’s resignation
The PM’s old chum Patrick Mercer handed in his resignation on Tuesday evening, following a report by the standards committee prompted by the Panorama lobbying scandal back in June last year. Previously warm relations between Cameron and Mercer broke down during the Tories’ time in opposition when Mercer resigned as the party’s homeland security spokesman following comments on race in the Army, which Mr Cameron condemned as 'unacceptable'. Although Mercer’s old constituency in Newark is a Tory safe-seat, the upcoming by-election is already prompting speculation...
Farage’s ‘will he, won’t he’
Nigel Farage ruled himself out of standing in Newark, despite a brief flirtation with the idea. Farage stated that standing would be a ‘distraction’ (a welcome one for the Tories, Labour and the Lid Dems), a decision no doubt compounded by UKIP doing well in the polls. A 16,000 Tory majority seat seems out of UKIP’s reach – even at a time when all the allegations and smear thrown just don’t seem to stick to the ‘Teflon don’ (including the egg). Better luck next time Dave, Nick and Ed.
Ed’s goading
TV debates were back on the agenda in Westminster this week. Ed Miliband has called the PM “the single biggest obstacle to getting TV debates on at the next election.” Sources close to the Prime Minister have said that Cameron thought the debates at the last election dominated the campaign. It’s also likely the Conservatives would be reluctant to fully commit to TV debates to avoid the row over the involvement of - that man again - Nigel Farage.
Britain’s booming, a bit
GDP figures released this week show Britain’s economy has grown by 0.8%. This is the fifth consecutive period of GDP growth and the longest positive run since the financial crisis. Perhaps concerned that this might not be a subject the leader of the Opposition was keen to mention at PMQs on Wednesday, Cameron brought the news up three times, just in case.
Paxman’s goodbye
And finally, another resignation that the Prime Minister was perhaps slightly less concerned about is that of long-standing Newsnight frontman, Jeremy Paxman. After 25 years on Newsnight, Paxman says he’s looking forward to “going to bed at a reasonable time”. Similar to Mercer’s resignation, there are rumours that there may have been a difficult relationship developing between him and his boss Ian Katz, who came in as editor last year. Was Paxman’s refusal to join Kirsty Wark in a dance-along to Thriller last year the final nail in the coffin? Doubtful, but congratulations Laura Kuenssberg all the same!
Ros Trinick
Account Director, PLMR Ltd