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Duncan Smith attacks 'unfair' budget in first interview since resigning Duncan Smith attacks 'unfair' budget in first interview since resigning
(35 minutes later)
Iain Duncan Smith has revealed the scale of his unhappiness with the way David Cameron and George Osborne run Downing Street, saying their “arbitrary” attempts to cut welfare are damaging his party and the country. Iain Duncan Smith has revealed the scale of his unhappiness with the way David Cameron and George Osborne run Downing Street, saying their “arbitrary” attempts to cut welfare risk dividing society.
The senior Conservative, who dramatically resigned as work and pensions secretary on Friday, said the cuts to welfare for working people had “gone too far” to the extent the unfairness was in danger of dividing society. He described the chancellor’s budget last week as “deeply unfair”. The senior Conservative, who dramatically resigned as work and pensions secretary on Friday, said the cuts to welfare for working people had “gone too far” to the extent they were harming both the Conservatives and the country. In a forceful attack on the government’s austerity programme, he described the chancellor’s budget last week as “deeply unfair” and argued Osborne was trying to reduce the deficit in the wrong way.
“They are losing sight of the direction of travel they should be in,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show “They are losing sight of the direction of travel they should be in,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, adding: “It is in danger of drifting in a direction that divides society rather than unites it.”
, adding: “It is in danger of drifting in a direction that divide society rather than unites it.” He also suggested ministers were targeting benefits handed to working-age people rather than pensioners because “they don’t vote for us”.
Duncan Smith resigned on Friday, citing the cuts to disability benefits announced in Osborne’s budget as “a compromise too far” in a resignation letter that has sparked an internal war in the Conservative party.Duncan Smith resigned on Friday, citing the cuts to disability benefits announced in Osborne’s budget as “a compromise too far” in a resignation letter that has sparked an internal war in the Conservative party.
The former work and pensions secretary said his arguments with the Treasury and No 10 had led him to feel “isolated” and “semi-detached”, with the attempted cuts to tax credits, disability benefits and the new universal credit system making him increasingly depressed. On Sunday, he went even further in his criticisms of the Treasury and No 10, saying longstanding disputes over welfare had led him to feel “isolated” and “semi-detached”. He cited the post-election attempts to cuts to tax credits, disability benefits and the new universal credit system in order to stay inside the “arbitrary” welfare cap had made him increasingly depressed to the extent he had considered resigning last year.
While Downing Street has painted divisions over Europe as the reason for his resignation, Duncan Smith insisted that deep concerns over welfare cuts were the only motivation. While Downing Street has painted Duncan Smith’s desire to leave the EU as the reason behind his resignation, the former work and pensions secretary insisted that deep concerns over welfare cuts were the only motivation.
Asked whether it was part of an attempted coup on the current incumbents of Downing Street that could pave the way for a new leader, he said: “This is not personal ... I have no personal ambitions. If I never go back into government again, I will not cry about that. I came into this government because I cared about welfare reform.”Asked whether it was part of an attempted coup on the current incumbents of Downing Street that could pave the way for a new leader, he said: “This is not personal ... I have no personal ambitions. If I never go back into government again, I will not cry about that. I came into this government because I cared about welfare reform.”
Duncan Smith insisted he wanted the chancellor and prime minister to succeed, but added: “I am concerned this government I want to succeed is not able to do the things that it should because it is narrowly focused on getting the deficit down.”Duncan Smith insisted he wanted the chancellor and prime minister to succeed, but added: “I am concerned this government I want to succeed is not able to do the things that it should because it is narrowly focused on getting the deficit down.”
He did not deny reports in the Sunday papers that Cameron had called him a “shit” in an explosive telephone call on Friday night after the resignation.
Duncan Smith’s interview on the Andrew Marr Show pushed the Tory party even further into civil war, with ministers lining up on either side to support or attack him.
On the side of Downing Street, Amber Rudd, the energy secretary, told Sky News’s Murnaghan programme that she “resented the high moral tone” of Duncan Smith and found his resignation “upsetting and disappointing”.
Ros Altmann, the pensions minister, was more explicit that she thought her former boss’s motivations were to do with Europe, not the welfare budget.
“I really do think this is all about Europe because the department has supported the cuts. There is no doubt the DWP recognised welfare spending could not keep mushrooming and needed to be cut ... It is about the difficult relationships between certain personalities at the top of government.”
Earlier, she had launched a withering public attack on Duncan Smith, claiming he had tried to silence her. She said he had been “exceptionally difficult to work with” and was trying to inflict “maximum damage on the government”.
“As far as I could tell, he appeared to spend much of the last few months plotting over Europe and against the leadership of the party and it seemed to me he had been planning to find a reason to resign for a long time,” she said.
Stephen McPartland, a leading Tory tax credit rebel, was also extremely critical of Duncan Smith, telling LBC that the sanctification of the former party leader was “disgusting” and he had “never seen evidence of this conscience people are talking about” during meetings about welfare in the past.
On the other front, allies of Duncan Smith, many of them from the Eurosceptic camp, rallied round to praise his reputation as a great social reformer.
The disability minister, Justin Tomlinson, said: “Iain always conducted himself in a professional, dedicated and determined manner. He actively encouraged ministers and teams to engage, challenge and develop ideas. We were to be ourselves, our judgment backed as we worked as a team both for DWP and the government.”
Priti Patel, the employment minister, said she “fundamentally believed this is not about Europe” and claimed all meetings in the DWP’s ministerial team had been constructive.
She said Duncan Smith had spoken “very passionately and with great dignity” but also attempted a defence of the budget and insisted the Conservatives were still “modern and compassionate”.
Graham Brady, the chairman of the influential 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, weighed in behind Duncan Smith as well, saying it was “the worst thing you could do to impune people’s motives”.
“That is the thing I would just caution colleagues and advisers to reflect on the damage that can be done,” he told Pienaar’s Politics. He said such briefings would make it much hard to pull the party together again after the EU referendum.
Brady also said he thought there needed to be better consultation and discussions about policies within the Conservative party before they were announced.