Michael Moore in tapegate doo-doo now

The Daily Telegraph tapes story is rolling on with many twists and turns. Here's the latest Scottish angle, concerning Michael Moore, filed for the Daily Record:

Lib Dem Scottish Secretary Michael Moore is the latest government minister to blow the lid off the cosy image of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition

Talking to undercover Daily Telegraph reporters Moore has described the nightmare of introducing policies that he has no belief in

Moore said the coalition decision to cut Child Benefit for higher-rate taxpayers is "blatantly not a consistent and fair thing to do"

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk MP Moore also admitted the increase in tuition fees for English students to a maximum £9,000 was “a car crash”.
He described the Lib Dem u-turn on student fees as "the biggest, ugliest, most horrific thing in all of this..., a train wreck"

Moore was also quoted as saying the coalition had "marginalised" the Conservative right wing, who, he said, "hate us with a passion - and I can't say it's unreciprocated".

He insisted that Lib Dem ministers "remain passionately Liberal Democrat"and said some Conservative ministers were "on a different planet" .

He said fellow Scot Defence Secretary Liam Fox "probably couldn't stay in the same situation for very long" if they were discussing a wide range of policies.

Moore is one of a string of Lib Dem Ministers taped in their constituency surgeries by undercover reporters criticising coalition policy.

The candid confessions, led by Business Secretary Vince Cable, exposed the sham of co-operation that Tory leader David Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg present in public.

Moore told undercover reporters he was tortured by the decision to increase student fees despite an election promise not to.

He said: "I signed a pledge that promised not to do this. I've just done the worst crime a politician can commit, the reason most folk distrust us as a breed. I've had to break a pledge and very, very publicly." Moore said the move was "deeply damaging" to Lib Dems.

The comments were published after a dramatic day that saw Business Secretary Vince Cable humiliated and stripped of some ministerial responsibilities after he told the same undercover reporter he had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch over the media tycoon's bid to take over BSkyB.

Cable left David Cameron and Nick Clegg furious after he bragged to a blond female reporter that he could bring the Government down by using the "nuclear option" of resigning if Conservative colleagues pushed him too hard.

Cable kept his job but was stripped of the responsibility of judging on the News Corporation bid to take over BSkyB.

Sacking him would have destabilised the coalition but keeping him left Tory backbenchers thinking Cameron had no authority as Prime Minister.

Labour described him as a lame duck Minister who should walk the plank.

Other Lib Dem Ministers fell for the same trick as reporters posed as constituents.
Business Minister Ed Davey said he was "gobsmacked" by the decision to cut Child Benefit, and Pensions Minister Steve Webb said he had written to Chancellor George Osborne seeking changes to the policy.

The Child Benefit cut which will hit couples where one partner earns just over the £42,000 higher-rate threshold but not those with two partners earning just below that level.

Nick Clegg's Last Christmas post

Nick Clegg's Christmas message to students.
From these clever people at Designiscentral for the STUC's "There is a better way" campaign.



Ah, the cuts, this only shows half-frame. Click through below for a better view
http://www.thereisabetterway.org/cleggs-last-christmas

AP flash on Charles and Camilla

Student protesters attack car containing Prince Charles and his wife Camilla
LONDON (AP) - Angry protesters in London have attacked a car containing Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
An Associated Press photographer saw demonstrators kick the car in Regent Street, in the heart of London's shopping district. The car then drove off.
The prince's office had no immediate comment.
Protesters angry at a huge tuition fee hike are fighting with police and smashing windows in London.

How the Scot LibDem MPs voted on tuition fees

This is the picture of how Scottish Lib Dem MPs voted in the tuition fees debate, according to PA.

Against
Menzies Campbell
Mike Crockart
Charles Kennedy
Alan Reid

For
Danny Alexander
Alistair Carmichael
Jo Swinson
Malcolm Bruce
Michael Moore

Abstain
John Thurso

Absent
Robert Smith

Wikileaks reignite Megrahi controversy

The Wikileaks revelations have lapped up onto Scottish shores again tonight with the claim that Libya's Colonel Gaddafi threatened the UK with "thuggish" reprisals if the Lockerbie bomber was not released from Greenock jail.

The leaked cables from the US Ambassador in the UK in 2009, show that Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was privately “shocked” by the fierce American reaction to the release of the Abdul Basset al-Megrahi, leaked US documents reveal.

The latest Wikileaks cables, private dispatches from US diplomats in the UK in 2008, show that the SNP ministers found themselves “out of their depth” when the release of Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds created a firestorm of protest in the United States.

The US view is clearly that the UK government played the SNP into releasing Megrahi, leaving Salmond empty handed and feeling the heat of US outrage. Salmond expresses himself shocked and claims that the SNP "played straight" over the release of Megrahi and did not expect the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton or the former head of the FBI to condemn him.

The latest revelations came as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London on an international arrest warrant in relation to allegations of rape in Sweden.

Megrahi, who continues to live with his family in Tripoli, returned to a Saltire-waving hero's welcome that sparked protests from the US government and families of the victims of the downed Pan Am flight 103.

The US Consol in Edinburgh at the time wrote to Washington: "The Scottish government severely underestimated both US government and UK public reaction to its decision … Alex Salmond has privately indicated that he was 'shocked'."

The revelations come as a sharp reminder to the SNP of the fury they faced when Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill decided to release Megrahi, who is suffering from prostrate cancer, on compassionate grounds.

The Wikileaks cable reveal the UK government feared an even harsher reaction by Libya against UK interests if the convicted Lockerbie bomber died in jail.

According to the Guardian the message US diplomats received from Jack Straw, then justice minister, was that although Megrahi might survive up to five years Salmond and the SNP were nonetheless inclined to release him.

A cable states: "Megrahi could have as long as five years to live but the average life expectancy of someone of his age with his condition is 18 months to two years. Doctors are not sure where he is on the time scale."The Libyans have not yet made a formal application for compassionate release … but HMG believes that the Scottish may be inclined to grant the request, when it comes, based on conversations between … Alex Salmond and UK justice secretary Jack Straw.

The Americans concluded that UK Justice Minister Jack Straw succeeded in manoeuvring MacAskill into granting a "compassionate release" to a storm of protest in August 2009 and that the British ambassador in Lybia expressed “relief” at the outcome. I'm sure some cable somewhere will reveal that Jack Straw privately expressed a wry smile.

Firewalk with me, Clegg tells his MPs

The Lib Dem MPs are meeting right now to discuss their position on increasing tuition fees for students in England.

Outside committee room 11 in the Commons we've just been given a briefing on what Nick Clegg told the meeting at the beginning.

He said he would have preferred if the Lib Dems had "walked through the fire together" on Thursday's vote but he now accepts that this will not happen.

He said he was proud of the "great strength" the Lib Dems had shown under pressure in recent weeks and that there was no animosity despite strongly held opinions.

The meeting goes on for another two hours, we expect, and the outcome will probably be the same as it was at the beginning, with those determined to vote against doing so. Maybe some of the abstentions will be persuaded that if they're going to take pelters anyway then they might as well do so standing by their leader.

Others may have read the detail of the YouGov poll on voting attitudes to the Lib Dems and the tuition fees issue.

Candidates standing for the Scottish parliament next May will be punished at the polls if their Westminster MPs vote for higher tuition fees in England, according to a new opinion poll.

The YouGov poll found that people voted Liberal Democrat in the General Election, 49% would be less likely to back them again in the Scottish Elections should they back an increase in fees.

Eleven Scottish Lib Dem MPs are under pressure not to back the Tories by voting for a rise in tuition fees on Thursday.

Students are furious that Lib Dem MPs signed a pledge against student fees during the election but could now go back on their word.

Treasury Minister and Inverness MP Danny Alexander is backing party leader Nick Clegg in voting for fees. But former leaders Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy have voiced opposition. Edinburgh West MP Mike Crockart is considering resigning as a parliamentary secretary in protest over the issue. Others may abstain from the vote in an attempt at party unity.

The poll also revealed good news for Scottish Liberal Democrat candidates. Should their fellow MPs vote against higher tuition fees, with 47% of those undecided voters stating they would be more likely to vote Lib Dem in the Scottish election.

The poll, commissioned by NUS Scotland and UCU Scotland, also found that overall 52% of people oppose the government’s plans to raise tuition fees, with only a third supporting the proposals and that 60% of Scots who voted Liberal Democrat in the General Elections oppose the increase in fees;

Liam Burns, President of NUS Scotland, said the fees increase would mean over £40,000 of debt for any Scottish students wanting to study in England and a drastic reduction in public spending on university teaching salaries which would slash the Scottish Government’s current budget.

He said: "The proposed changes to loan arrangements will strip tens of millions from the student support budget in Scotland which we already know is inadequate, and higher fees elsewhere will fuel calls for English students who vote in Scotland to pay much higher fees to avoid a cross border flow of ‘fee refugees’. These proposals are bad news for Scotland.”

Lib Dem Highland meltdown over tuition fees

There is no formal pairing system operating in the Commons - when two opposing MPs arrange to miss a whipped vote to negate their absence. But if Inverness airport is shut by snow for the next few days then we might be granted one in the crucial tuition fees debate this Thursday.

Imagine the scene in the VIP cabin in departures at Dalcross this morning as Danny Alexander (Treasury, for) and Charles Kennedy (Lib Dem, against) wait patiently for their delayed London flight to be called.

The two Highland MPs, with neighbouring constituencies, represent the fight for the soul of the Lib Democrats, a battle of power against principle. Kennedy, with a Highland Liberal tradition behind him, has said he'd find it hard to support the move to triple tuition fees in England, after signing an election pledge not to do so.

Alexander, who would be admired in Brussels for his technocratic passion, has no real political heritage to fall back on here and can only be driven further into the embrace of the coalition by this week's events.

Stop press: enough speculating. It's coming through that Michael Crockart, the new Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West, has threatened to resign as unpaid parliamentary private secretary to Michael Moore in protest over the tuition fees vote.

It looks like the Lib Dem whips, headed by Alastair Carmichael from Orkney and Shetland, are putting the screws on MPs, to vote loyally or resign. Crockart has said that he will have no option but to resign in that case. It's a long time until Thursday though.

Interesting how the whole Lib Dem fight over tuition fees is being played out against a Scottish backdrop. Kennedy and Alexander, Crockart and Carmichael, not forgetting Menzie Campbell and Michael Moore - all finding themselves on opposing sides. Can't work out which side are the Covenanters yet.


Footnote: I don't usually post anonymous comment or respond, it's so much bolder to put your name to a strongly held opinion. But someone has posted: "Higher Education is a devolved issue. This is a solely English issue. What business is it of these interfering Scots? They should keep their noses (especially those with bright red ones) out of it!"

There are implications for Scotland in the tuition fees vote in that the Browne review recommended to cut two-thirds of the teaching grant paid by the Treasury to English universities once they start charging fees. This, Labour argue, could have a knock-on effect in Scotland, via the Barnett Formula, to the tune of £400 million.

Obviously there are the effects of student refugees seeking sanctuary from higher fees in the south putting pressure on places in Scotland. There is also the academic and financial standing of Scottish universities, which will not have the same level of student fees pouring in. Unless, that is, they introduce fees too, as Vince Cable recommended. I was right, don't respond to anonymous comment, you'll spend all day on it.