John Major's call for a windfall tax on energy companies shot poison darts at Conservative policy. But he has wise words for David Cameron
Former prime minister John Major 'is one
of the few prominent Tories who really did grow up poor, and who made it without
forgetting where he came from.' Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
John
Major's call for a windfall tax on the energy companies levying
unjustifiably large increases in the price of gas and electricity is a
masterclass in the low art of the political attack. It's not a real suggestion
for energy policy, it's a way into the headlines – but beneath it are some
serious criticisms of what's happening to the party he used to lead.
The former prime minister's
proposal, forcefully
repeated afterwards for the cameras who were not allowed to record his speech to
parliamentary journalists, was – he claimed – a way of finding the money to
make sure no one had to choose between heating and eating this winter. It would
be a one-off levy to compensate the Treasury – the Treasury, rather than the
billpayers – if the chancellor found he was writing out a large cheque for cold
weather payments, for which most people claiming benefits are eligible
if there are seven consecutive days of below-zero temperatures . Quite
rightly, Labour rejected it as a sticking plaster solution, not a serious
proposal for tackling a dysfunctional market.
The coalition has made a
catastrophic series of bad calls on energy policy (but so did Labour), investing
too little in over-complex energy saving measures, dithering about new
technologies, thus deterring investors, before finally, this week, agreeing
a deal for new nuclear with the French and the Chinese that squeezes out British
participation while threatening the consumer with bills at double the
current level. Labour's proposal to tackle market reform is good, but not nearly
enough.
Major, though, was not
unduly troubled by the complexities of the energy market. He was more interested
in dealing with the people who, when he was PM, made sure that his own version
of one-nation post-Thatcherism was stillborn among too much of the wrong kind of
politics. Unable to redress the Thatcherite balance, he's now unhappy with a lot
of what his old party is up to, particularly the bits that his old enemies have
a hand in. No surprise then that Iain Duncan Smith, the leader of the
Eurosceptics who made Major's prime ministerial life so unbearable was warned
yesterday to be careful with his benefit changes for "... unless he is lucky
or a genius, which last time I looked was not true, he may get things
wrong."
But just because Major's
speech was craftily armed with poison darts for some old enemies doesn't mean
his criticisms aren't serious. There is a real fight going on over what kind of
Conservatism wants to win power for itself at the next election, and Major's was
a pitch against the nasty party he clearly feels has the upper hand. With the
idea of a windfall tax, he's thrown his hand in with Robert Halfon, the Harlow
Tory who's written a
series of articles on popular Conservativism for the influential website
ConservativeHome. His suggestions include, guess what, a proposal for windfall
taxes on utilities.
He's one of the few prominent Tories who really did grow up poor, and who made it without forgetting where he came from. He has a better claim than most to understanding what it's like to struggle with poverty and to cope with the kind of chaotic family life that too many of his colleagues attribute not to bad luck but to some kind of moral inadequacy. Downing Street dismissed the windfall tax. But David Cameron should listen carefully to his predecessor if he wants to make a serious case for power next time.
Guardian
