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Norman Baker resigns as Home Office minister Norman Baker resigns as Home Office minister with parting shot at May
(about 2 hours later)
Norman Baker has quit as a Home Office minister, complaining that working under the home secretary, Theresa May, was like “walking through mud”. Coalition relations hit a new low on Monday night when the Liberal Democrat Norman Baker resigned as a Home Office minister after likening his experience working under Theresa May to “walking through mud”.
The Liberal Democrat MP accused the Tory cabinet minister of viewing her coalition colleagues as “a cuckoo in the nest rather than part of government”. In a sign of the loveless nature of the coalition in the final six months before the general election, Baker announced his resignation in an interview with the Independent apparently without notifying the home secretary.
His decision comes days after he became embroiled in a fresh disagreement over drugs policy and accused the Tories of suppressing a report which backed his case for a review of the current law. Nick Clegg, who will on Tuesday announce a replacement for Baker as minister for crime prevention with responsibility for drugs policy, alerted Downing Street earlier in the day.
“They have looked upon it as a Conservative department in a Conservative government, whereas in my view it’s a coalition department in a coalition government,” he told the Independent. Baker announced he had decided to stand down after a row over drugs policy with the home secretary showed there was little support for “rational evidence-based policy” in the Home Office. He had criticised May for sitting for three months on an official report which showed that tougher enforcement of drug laws does not lead to lower levels of drug use.
“That mindset has framed things, which means I have had to work very much harder to get things done even where they are what the home secretary agrees with and where it has been helpful for the government and the department. Lib Dem sources said the row over drugs policy was the final straw for Baker who had indicated to Clegg in August that he would like to stand down to concentrate on the general election fight in his Lewes constituency and on his musical career as the main lyricist and singer with the band the Reform Club.
“There comes a point when you don’t want to carry on walking through mud and you want to release yourself from that.” Baker, who likened his position as a Lib Dem Home Office minister to that of a hippy at an Iron Maiden concert, told the Independent of May and her advisers: “They have looked upon it as a Conservative department in a Conservative government, whereas in my view it’s a coalition department in a coalition government. That mindset has framed things, which means I have had to work very much harder to get things done even where they are what the home secretary agrees with and where it has been helpful for the government and the department. There comes a point when you don’t want to carry on walking through mud and you want to release yourself from that.”
Baker’s move to the Home Office from the Department for Transport in October last year was highly controversial as he had previously written a book claiming that David Kelly was murdered and the security services then staged a coverup. Clegg went out of his way to praise Baker who replaced the centre right Jeremy Browne as the Lib Dem Home Office minister last year in a bid by the deputy prime minister to give a harder edge to the coalition. Baker’s resignation – and Clegg’s support after a strongly worded attack on the home secretary’s style of management – shows how coalition relations will become frayed in the countdown to the general election in May.
But the Lib Dem leadership said they hoped it would “sharpen our campaigning edge” in a department where the two parties’ views were often at odds over issues of civil liberties. Baker said he was pleased to have spearheaded initiatives on female genital mutilation, antisocial behaviour and animal experiments. But he highlighted his frustration at the Home Office which contrasted, he said, with his time as a transport minister.
The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, expressed regret at the loss of “one of the most effective ministers” in the government but said he “fully” understood why he was stepping down. He said: “I regret that in the Home Office, the goodwill to work collegiately to take forward rational evidence-based policy has been in somewhat short supply.”
In his formal resignation letter to the party leader, Baker revealed that he had made clear in August that he was ready to quit - and pinned the blame squarely on his coalition colleagues. In the traditional letter of reply, Clegg expressed strong sympathy for Baker and said he hoped he would return to ministerial office after the election if the Lib Dems form another coalition government.
“You will recognise that it has been particularly challenging being the only Lib Dem in the Home Office, which I see a newspaper the other day likened to being the only hippy at an Iron Maiden concert,” he said. The deputy prime minister wrote: “Thank you for the brilliant job you have done ... You have proved yourself as one of the most effective ministers in government: always determined to deliver a more liberal agenda for Britain, by consensus where possible but by confronting vested interests whenever necessary.”
“Despite these challenges, I am pleased with what I have been able to achieve, not least to have been the first minister with responsibility for drugs to have put prejudice aside and published an evidence-based approach to this important issue, despite repeated Conservative efforts to block release.” Baker’s decision to resign with a strong parting shot at one of the most senior Tories in the cabinet will raise questions about the Lib Dems’ commitment to the coalition. But senior Lib Dem sources are adamant that the coalition will remain in place until the election because Clegg believes that one of the Lib Dems’ main arguments at the general election – that the party acted in the national interest by entering government at a time of fiscal crisis – is best illustrated by remaining in office for the full allotted five years.
He said he was also pleased to have spearheaded initiatives on female genital mutilation, antisocial behaviour and animal experiments. But the deputy prime minister is keen to highlight differences with the Tories as part of the Lib Dems’ differentiation strategy.
“However, in stark contrast to the Department for Transport, I regret that in the Home Office the goodwill to work collegiately to take forward rational evidence-based policy has been in somewhat short supply. Baker’s clashes with May over drugs policy prompted him last week to accuse the home secretary of having suppressed the government’s first evidence-based survey of international drugs laws.
“I have concluded, therefore, that for the time being at least, my time is better spent out of ministerial office.” The report said there was no evidence that tough enforcement of laws on personal possession has led to lower levels of drug use.
The part-time singer in a rock band also said he wanted more time to devote to “my family and my outside interests, including my music”. Baker hit back at the Tory response to the report which resulted in some sources accusing the Lib Dems of being soft on drugs. He told the Independent: “The phrase ‘soft on drugs’ is used. What is soft on drugs? I think being soft on drugs is pretending there isn’t a problem, and this is being sorted. If anyone is soft on drugs it’s my Conservative colleagues, because they are the ones who allow the process to go on whereby drug dealers continue to make money and people continue to get fined and carry on taking drugs.”
In reply, Clegg said his party colleague had done a “brilliant job”. The former minister praised May for her professionalism but said that she had never accepted him after he was appointed to the Home Office without any consultation with the home secretary.
“However complex the issues have been, or challenging the coalition relations have proved to be, you have handled the political relationships within government with great skill, always focusing on how to achieve liberal reform wherever you can,” he said. Baker said: “To be fair to the home secretary, I think she takes the view she has to keep a tight leash on everything otherwise she wouldn’t carry on as home secretary – she has been there four-and-a-half years. I think she is quite competent and professional, and I have a lot of respect for her professionally. I just think it’s a pity that she took the mindset that the Lib Dems had to be put up with, and we were almost a cuckoo in the nest rather than part of government.”
A Lib Dem spokesman said a replacement would be announced “in due course”.