Tom Richmond: Ministers deserve a break... but only in Britain

AFTER another relentless week of cuts, Ministerial thoughts are inevitably turning to holiday locations – and whether they should be sunning themselves in these austere times.

It's a difficult dilemma. After a helter-skelter election campaign that ended in deadlock, and then the formation just over two months ago of Britain's first coalition Government in 70 years, Ministers deserve a rest. Even their most ardent critics accept this – provided, of course, MPs pay for their own breaks. Yet there is a danger that they will be mocked, and heavily criticised, if they are seen sunbathing in an

exotic location – just like Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard, two under-performing footballers who received the full tabloid treatment after jetting off to foreign climes following England's World Cup humiliation.

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However, I've not got a problem with Cabinet ministers, and such like, putting their feet up while paid officials try to implement the cuts – a period of rest will, hopefully, lead to better decisions being made in the future rather than the imposition of ineffective policies signed off by exhausted politicians who do not know the time of day.

Nevertheless, they can avoid the public's wrath if they choose to follow David Cameron's example and holiday in Britain. The PM and his family, including his heavily pregnant wife Samantha, plan to relax in Cornwall.

There's nothing wrong with that – apart from the fact that the Prime Minister has yet to be won over by the spectacular, and enduring, charm of the Yorkshire coastline.

However, by supporting Britain's tourism industry, Ministers will be giving much-needed support to the UK leisure industry – and showing that families do not need to head to the airports in order to have a good time this summer.

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IT'S time that Peter Mandelson's diaries were placed in perspective. They are the former Business Secretary's pension – it is why he was pre-occupied with completing them rather than defending the 80m loan that he gave to Sheffield Forgemasters, and which has now been reversed by the coalition Government.

Mandelson also hopes their early publication means that they will

become essential summer reading for holidaying politicians, hence his desire to publish his own version of events before Tony Blair's memoirs come out this autumn and Gordon Brown's tome at some point in the future.

Yet Labour's former spin doctor has, inadvertently, boosted the new coalition Government's chances of survival. He has shown that Labour was, essentially, two separate entities under Blair and Brown. If Labour could survive in office for three terms under these chaotic circumstances, there's no reason why the Tories and Lib Dems cannot do likewise.

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After all, they seem closer, politically and philosophically, than the two Labour factions that held power for so long and actually proposed raising VAT – the very coalition Government policy that they have now opposed with such venom.

IT'S not just voters who were baffled by John Prescott. So, too, was Lord Mandelson who, after one meeting, had to phone Tony Blair and tell the PM: "What, on earth is going on? I had the weirdest meeting with Prescott."

Blair's reply: "Just play along."

A FINAL thought on the Peter Mandelson navel-gazing. Isn't it ironic that virtually every story about Government splits and disagreements over economic policy, and which were vehemently denied at the time by the likes of Mandelson and John Prescott, turned out to be true – if the former Business Secretary's recollection is to be believed?

DAVID Blunkett made an interesting observation when caught in a downpour while out walking in the Lake District. He said BBC radio's weather forecast was hopelessly inaccurate.

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The Sheffield MP and former Home Secretary went even further: "Perhaps the BBC could just get people to phone in regularly and save us all a great deal of money by scaling back the Met Office?" I agree, especially given the number of TV weather presenters who regard themselves as fashion props rather than accurate forecasters.

Yet there's little likelihood of Blunkett being granted his wish – the BBC has just signed a new five year contract with the Met Office. I also don't understand why the BBC appears exempt from the 25 per cent cuts that virtually every Government department is being compelled to make. Do you?

EAST Coast, the only train company run in the public sector, promises to run more trains from the region to London and Scotland. Yet, according to Network Rail, it has the poorest punctuality in the railway industry last month. What does this say about the public sector and its management?

JOHN Bercow, the "pipsqueak" Speaker, can be premature in cutting short MPs. but I liked his turn of phrase when he interrupted Rosie Winterton, the Doncaster Central MP, the other day when she preceded discussions about Commons business with a long political diatribe.

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He said Ms Winterton was "a dextrous performer" who had to "speedily move on to matters of current interest".

HAVING begun the World Cup final supporting the Dutch, Nick Clegg switched allegiances to Spain halfway through the match that was officiated, heroically, by Rotherham's Howard Webb. The Lib Dem leader says it had nothing to do with indecisiveness on his part. He says it was to do with Holland's foul play rather than domestic relations – Mrs Clegg is Spanish and an admirer of the winning team's goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

When this was apparently queried by David Cameron, Clegg is said to have replied: "We are accustomed to coalition politics here."