Yes Gordon, that will sort it...

Gorodn Brown is reported to be planning a 1 September Cabinet reshuffle, so he can hit Number 10 running when he returns from his holiday and the Beijing Olympics. Apparently Gordon Brown thinks that his fortunes will be turned around by injecting fresh, young talent such as Jim Murphy, the Europe Minister, and Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister into Cabinet positions - I can feel the buzz on the streets already, can't you? This buzz is no doubt being helped by rumours that Gordon Brown might move out of the Cabinet such incredibly high profile figures as Des Browne, the part-time Defence Secretary, Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, and even Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary. I am feeling re-energised, are you? The icing on the cake is that Gordon Brown may be contemplating moving Alistair Darling to the Foreign Office in a job swap with David Miliband - rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic is a phrase that comes to mind.

Poor Gordon, being Prime Minister must have seemed such a wonderful proposition. If he wasn't such an awful fraud I'd almost feel sorry for him.

I am shocked

Well in fact I have rarely been less shocked that when I read this headline in The Sunday Times - "Des Browne misled MPs on Nimrod".

Wow, what a shock - go read the article but here is the meat:

"DES BROWNE, the defence secretary, appears to have misled MPs when he told them an independent report had ruled that the RAF's Nimrod aircraft were safe to fly...

Briefing MPs on the results of the board of inquiry into the loss of the aircraft, Browne insisted the RAF's fleet of Nimrod aircraft were now safe.

"QinetiQ has conducted an independent investigation into the fuel system and confirmed that, in light of the measures taken since the crash, the fuel system is safe to operate," said Browne.

Under the MoD's own rules, for an aircraft to be safe the risk must have been "reduced to a level that is Alarp [as low as reasonably practicable] and broadly acceptable or tolerable".

The QinetiQ report said that only half this condition was in place — while the risk associated with the aircraft was tolerable, "the level of risk present to the fuel system is not Alarp"."

Liar, fool or politician (part 3)

I blogged earlier today about Des Browne's confused answer to Liam Fox regarding whether troops in Kuwait would get the extra allowance so recently announced. Now I read at Iain Dale that "Well I'm told that the MoD has reached panic stations over this and they don't know how they are going to extricate Dessy from the mire that he has created for himself. They even arranged a meeting with the Treasury who were expected to cough up the extra dosh. I suspect we can all imagine the Treasury's response." The House of Lords debate today has muddied the waters still further - "Lord Astor of Hever: ... Two days ago in the other place, my honourable friend the shadow Defence Secretary raised concerns that personnel serving in Kuwait on Operation TELIC are not entitled to the operational bonus. The Secretary of State said that this was not true, yet a Written Answer sent last December to the Member for the Forest of Dean stated: “The specified qualifying locations for the operational allowance are the geographical boundaries of Iraq”.—[Official Report, Commons, 12/12/06; col. 933W.] Can the Minister clear up this confusion? Are all personnel serving in Kuwait and the Gulf entitled, like their American counterparts, to the operational bonus? If not, are Her Majesty’s Government looking at ways in which this could be rectified?
Lord Drayson: My Lords, I should point out that we have not specified the location of the support troops that we have in the region down to a particular country, so I cannot comment on the location of troops in Kuwait or other places, but I shall certainly be able to look further into the noble Lord’s point on the definition of the operational bonus. I will write to him and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House."

Is there a book on which of Gordon's cabinet ministers will be the first to have to resign?

Liar, fool or politician? (part 2)

Thanks to Iain Dale we can see that Des Browne the woeful Defence Secretary has been at it again. He was asked by Dr Liam Fox why members of the armed forces stationed in Kuwait, 30 miles from Basra, would not receive the extra allowance so recently announced by this government. Des Browne replied that "it is not true". Dr Fox then said " I am delighted that those operational bonuses will apply, because those issues have been raised with us by members of the armed forces so that they can get clarification from the Government. If it is clear that we will get such clarification, I will be delighted—and so will they be." Lovely, all clear to everyone?

Well not really, it appears "In a written answer to Mark Harper on 12 December 2006, the then Defence Minister Derek Twigg said: "The specified qualifying locations for the operational allowance are the geographical boundaries of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans..."" So not members of the armed forces in Kuwait.

Iain Dale continues "I have made enquiries with the Ministry of Defence and it seems Des Browne's reply has caused a minor storm among civil servants there along the lines of "what the **** did he think he was saying?" They confirm that troops in Kuwait DO NOT qualify for the Operational Allowance, unlike those serving in the US Army."
Now I am confused, why did Des Browne say what he said? Was he lying? Surely not, he is a cabinet minister in a government that is "whiter than white". Was he misinformed by his civil servants? If so I await his apology on their behalf.
In fact whatever the reason that he appears to have mislead the House, I await his apology.