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| Pique rather than piety pushed Iain Duncan Smith over the edge | Pique rather than piety pushed Iain Duncan Smith over the edge |
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| So the Quiet Man has finally stormed from the cabinet, spitting nails and scorning a government that has (he alleges) laid itself open to the charge that its fiscal programme was “distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest”. While Iain Duncan Smith does not appear to object to the proposed changes in disabled benefits per se, he very much minded their inclusion in a budget “that benefits higher earning taxpayers”. And so, regarding it all as “a compromise too far”, he resigned. | So the Quiet Man has finally stormed from the cabinet, spitting nails and scorning a government that has (he alleges) laid itself open to the charge that its fiscal programme was “distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest”. While Iain Duncan Smith does not appear to object to the proposed changes in disabled benefits per se, he very much minded their inclusion in a budget “that benefits higher earning taxpayers”. And so, regarding it all as “a compromise too far”, he resigned. |
| This, at least, is the authorised version as it will appear in the gospel of St Iain. The truth, needless to say, was more nuanced and much messier. Though it is always risky to identify the precise, proximate cause of a resignation, the straw on the groaning camel’s back does appear to have been Duncan Smith’s discovery on Friday that the reforms to the personal independence payment system for the disabled – reforms that he had been instructed to defend – were now being kicked into the “long grass”. The former work and pensions secretary is undoubtedly a man of principle, but it was pique rather than piety that pushed him over the edge on Friday. | This, at least, is the authorised version as it will appear in the gospel of St Iain. The truth, needless to say, was more nuanced and much messier. Though it is always risky to identify the precise, proximate cause of a resignation, the straw on the groaning camel’s back does appear to have been Duncan Smith’s discovery on Friday that the reforms to the personal independence payment system for the disabled – reforms that he had been instructed to defend – were now being kicked into the “long grass”. The former work and pensions secretary is undoubtedly a man of principle, but it was pique rather than piety that pushed him over the edge on Friday. |
| As for the camel’s back, it had been subjected to repeated strains for almost six years by a turf war between Duncan Smith and George Osborne. As far back as the Conservative conference in 2010, Duncan Smith was caught completely unawares by the chancellor’s plan to remove child benefit from those who pay the higher tax rate of 40%. As I revealed in my book on the coalition, IDS spoke furiously to the prime minister on that occasion: “I thought we were a team … If we are going to do this … you know, we have to work as a team!” Once Duncan Smith had said his piece, Cameron agreed to talk to Osborne, who has occasionally expressed a degree of admiration for Duncan Smith’s integrity. But the tensions between him and the chancellor were never fully resolved. | As for the camel’s back, it had been subjected to repeated strains for almost six years by a turf war between Duncan Smith and George Osborne. As far back as the Conservative conference in 2010, Duncan Smith was caught completely unawares by the chancellor’s plan to remove child benefit from those who pay the higher tax rate of 40%. As I revealed in my book on the coalition, IDS spoke furiously to the prime minister on that occasion: “I thought we were a team … If we are going to do this … you know, we have to work as a team!” Once Duncan Smith had said his piece, Cameron agreed to talk to Osborne, who has occasionally expressed a degree of admiration for Duncan Smith’s integrity. But the tensions between him and the chancellor were never fully resolved. |
| Osborne regarded Duncan Smith as “just not clever enough” and was dismayed by his opposition to the welfare cuts that he regarded as central to his deficit reduction programme. A former party leader who had once employed Cameron and Osborne to help him prepare for PMQs, he found the chancellor impossibly high-handed and feared that he regarded DWP as no more than an annex to the Treasury. | Osborne regarded Duncan Smith as “just not clever enough” and was dismayed by his opposition to the welfare cuts that he regarded as central to his deficit reduction programme. A former party leader who had once employed Cameron and Osborne to help him prepare for PMQs, he found the chancellor impossibly high-handed and feared that he regarded DWP as no more than an annex to the Treasury. |
| Beneath the turf war surged a genuine doctrinal difference. Osborne – not surprisingly – wanted to bring the £192bn welfare budget under control. But Duncan Smith’s objective was never primarily fiscal. As a firm believer that social justice should be high on his party’s inventory of priorities, he wanted to save people and families more than he wanted to save money. In the end, either he or Osborne would have to go. The surprise is only that this did not happen sooner. | Beneath the turf war surged a genuine doctrinal difference. Osborne – not surprisingly – wanted to bring the £192bn welfare budget under control. But Duncan Smith’s objective was never primarily fiscal. As a firm believer that social justice should be high on his party’s inventory of priorities, he wanted to save people and families more than he wanted to save money. In the end, either he or Osborne would have to go. The surprise is only that this did not happen sooner. |
| I called my book In It Together, echoing Cameron’s favourite slogan. It encapsulated his longstanding claim that the Conservatives in the coalition (and now governing alone) were one nation Tories, committed to protect the most vulnerable and to make the strong responsible for safeguarding the weak. On Friday, Duncan Smith ended his resignation letter in a white-knuckle rage with the tart suggestion that “the balance of the cuts you have insisted upon” was no longer consistent with this principle, and a crisply sarcastic invitation to the prime minster to ask himself “if enough has been done to ensure ‘we are all in this together’.” What he meant was: you are all a bunch of penny-pinching accountants with trust funds who are so busy fretting about targets and returning to surplus that you have forgotten the impact of your measures upon the lives of ordinary people. | |
| Related: Iain Duncan Smith quit due to Treasury refusal to consider pensioner cuts | Related: Iain Duncan Smith quit due to Treasury refusal to consider pensioner cuts |
| By appointing Stephen Crabb, a noted compassionate Conservative, as Duncan Smith’s replacement, Cameron has at least signalled he is not blase about the popular perception of Tory motives. Conservatives forget at their peril how greedy and indifferent to poverty they are generally assumed to be. | |
| Addressing that perception is the work of generations, not years. The task will long outlast Duncan Smith, Cameron, Osborne and Boris Johnson. But – for now – it has deepened the splits within the Tory party, already divided from top to toe by the prospective EU referendum. When you have a working majority of only 17, every whisper of disunity matters. | Addressing that perception is the work of generations, not years. The task will long outlast Duncan Smith, Cameron, Osborne and Boris Johnson. But – for now – it has deepened the splits within the Tory party, already divided from top to toe by the prospective EU referendum. When you have a working majority of only 17, every whisper of disunity matters. |
| As a champion of Brexit who has been an outspoken critic of Cameron’s diplomacy, Duncan Smith was always unlikely to survive a post-referendum reshuffle (assuming the remainers triumphed on 23 June). Instead, he has taken control of his destiny and left government at a time and in a manner of his own choosing. | As a champion of Brexit who has been an outspoken critic of Cameron’s diplomacy, Duncan Smith was always unlikely to survive a post-referendum reshuffle (assuming the remainers triumphed on 23 June). Instead, he has taken control of his destiny and left government at a time and in a manner of his own choosing. |
| In and of itself, this episode may swing few votes the way of the leave camp. But a month after Boris declared himself in favour of Britain’s departure, it is once again the Brexiteers who have the initiative, the energy, the sheer bloody audacity. This is what matters most about the Quiet Man’s resignation. And it is this, rather than welfare reform, that should be giving Cameron sleepless nights. | In and of itself, this episode may swing few votes the way of the leave camp. But a month after Boris declared himself in favour of Britain’s departure, it is once again the Brexiteers who have the initiative, the energy, the sheer bloody audacity. This is what matters most about the Quiet Man’s resignation. And it is this, rather than welfare reform, that should be giving Cameron sleepless nights. |