Lib Dem pensions minister licks the Tory arse in the Guardian

[Hopeless Romantic]

You don't often hear a politician admit he's changed his mind. And, to be fair to Steve Webb, the Lib Dem pensions minister, he did not renounce any of his party's policies or ideas when he spoke to me in his office at the department for work and pensions yesterday.

But he did admit that being in coalition with the Conservatives had made him "think a bit harder about some of kneejerk reactions to things". We spoke at length about pensions, but some of his most interesting comments were about party politics and the way he has "clicked" with his new boss, the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith. Here are the highlights:

• Webb said that being in coalition had made him rethink some of his political ideas. "Working with the Conservatives has perhaps made me question, not fundamental things about my values, but some of my kneejerk reactions," he said. As an example, he said his Tory ministerial colleagues had persuaded him to think more positively about the progressive case for housing benefit reform.

• He said there was "considerable potential" for cutting the number of people claiming out of work benefits. "One of the challenges to people like me, who are instinctively on the centre-left of the political spectrum, is when you encounter people who clearly could work and are not doing so," he said. "I don't think it's a progressive thing to just say 'never mind'."

• He said it would be wrong to assume that being in coalition would inevitably be "electorally damaging" to the Lib Dems. "In a seat like mine, where 90% of the vote is either Conservative or Lib Dem, it might go down well," he said.

• He described the coalition as "a partnership of equals". The coalition document was "demonstrably a two-party document", he said. "It's not a Conservative document with a few Lib Dem cherries."

• He said the future of winter fuel payments was being considered as part of the comprehensive spending review.

• And he said it was good for people in public life to talk about faith.

The question about faith was prompted by the fact that Webb is well known at Westminster as an active Christian. He's also a serious social policy wonk.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/17/steve-webb-conservatives-kneejerk-reactions

[non sociopath skin]

1. Sounds like a lot of self-delusion going on here.

Let's hope the voters aren't similarily deluded.

The Skin