Cameron-Clegg Coalition Government- A Civil Partnership

Cameron-Clegg Coalition Government:
A Very Civil Partnership

Dr. Mozammel Haque

The UK’s 2010 General Elections ended with the first hung Parliament in 36 years. Labour Party suffered a heavy defeat, losing at least 86 seats including big names, such as Jacqui Smith and Charles Clarke. But Labour fared less badly in the capital than nationally. The Conservatives won the most seats on 6th of May, 2010 elections, but not enough to secure an overall Commons majority. No single party could rule alone securely.

First Hung Parliament in 36 years
The Labour Party suffered a heavy defeat, ended up with just 261 MPs. The Conservatives made record gains of 92-plus seats and won 307 seats. They needed 326 seats for an overall majority. David Cameron did not get an outright majority but he did win the right to govern; the Lib-Dems fell short of their aspirations but won the right to a share of government. Lib-Dems won 57 seats. David Cameron’s failure to secure a majority and Gordon Brown’s drubbing – worse even than Michael Foot’s in 1983 – left the Liberal Democrat as kingmaker.

A historic deal between David Cameron and Nick Clegg was hammered out after a few days of negotiations and a very Civil Partnership – Conservatives-Liberal Democrats – was announced by David Cameron from the doorsteps of 10 Downing Street on 12th of May, 2010.

Tory-Liberal Democrats Coalition
Britain enters an era of ‘new politics’ after the formation of Clegg-Cameron Coalition government accommodating and making concessions of various issues. It is a marriage of convenience but both of the leaders are united for a strong and stable government.

The important feature of Britain’s new coalition government is that it represents the will of the people more closely than any of the mooted alternatives. After waiting 60 years for a Liberal to be in cabinet, five come along at once, plus ministerial jobs across all departments. Not only that, but a deputy Prime Minister from the third party. Both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister are young of the same age at 43 and both studied in fee-paying public school.

Women in Parliament
The Tories have 48 female MPs, up from 18, Liberal Democrats have seven female MPs, compared with nine before the election, and Labour now has 81, a marginal increase. Overall, the percentage of women MPs in the present Parliament increased from 19.5% to 22% at this election. The Lib-Dems have an appalling record: a 100% all-white parliamentary party with just seven female MPs – and even fewer female candidates than at the last two elections.

Cameron-Clegg Coalition Cabinet
As the head of the much larger party in the new coalition, Mr. David Cameron has kept the top jobs around the top table for the Conservatives: George Osborne as Chancellor; William Hague as Foreign Secretary; Michael Gove as Education Secretary; Liam Fox as Defence Secretary; Kenneth Clarke as Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor; Theresa May as Home Secretary and Iain Duncan Smith as Work & Pensions Secretary.

On the other hand, the Liberal Democrats got five cabinet seats for the first time since the steam age. They are: Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister; Vince Cable as Business Secretary; Chris Huhne as Climate Change and Environment Secretary; Danny Alexander as Scottish Secretary and David Laws as Chief Secretary to The Treasury.

Besides those, there are followings in the cabinet: i) Andrew Lansley as Health Secretary; ii) Eric Pickles as Communities and Local Government Secretary; iii) Andrew Mitchell as International Development; iv) Philip Hammond as Transport; v) Caroline Spelman as Environment; vi) Owen Paterson as Northern Ireland; vii) Cheryl Gillan as Wales Secretary; viii) Jeremy Hunt as Culture & Media Secretary; ix) Lord Strathclyde as Leader Of The Lords and x) Baroness Sayeeda Warsi without portfolio.

Four women were appointed to the cabinet on 12th of May out of 23 cabinet members, such as Theresa May, Home Secretary, Caroline Spelman as Environment Secretary and Cheryl Gillan as Welsh Secretary. The fourth woman, Lady Warsi, is the only minority ethnic cabinet member and has been given the role of minister without portfolio and will be Conservative party chair. She is the first Muslim woman to serve in the cabinet.

Important features of Cameron Coalition Cabinet
There are some special features of the new Cameron Coalition Cabinet. Firstly, at 43 years, David Cameron, the Prime Minister and the leader of the Conservative Party is the youngest Prime Minister in almost 200 years. The last was Lord Liverpool who became Prime Minister when he was 42 years old.

Secondly, the new chancellor is the youngest Chancellor for more than a century. At 38 years, George Osborne became the youngest Chancellor since Winston Churchill’s father in 1886.

Thirdly, most of the Cabinet members are male and private school and Oxbridge-educated. Prime Minister himself Old Etonian. The most senior posts – leader, deputy leader and chancellor – are former public schoolboys. Out of 16 cabinet ministers, nine including Mr. Cameron, attended fee-paying schools, while 11 went to either Oxford or Cambridge Universities, said Labour veteran Margaret Beckett. Of the cabinet, 59% are privately educated and 69% went to Oxbridge. Leading Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s ex-spin doctor calls it the “new Eton-Westminster-St. Paul’s government.”

Fourthly, in the 23-strong male-dominated cabinet, there are only four Female Secretaries.

First Muslim woman in Cabinet
Fifthly, there is only one member of the cabinet from the ethnic minority community. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi is the only member of the Cabinet who represents both the ethnic minority community, Muslim community. She is the first Muslim Female to sit at the top table, in the Cabinet. She is unpaid, unelected and a “Minister without portfolio”. She is also the only non-white member of the cabinet. Baroness Warsi is also the first Muslim woman to become the Conservative Party Chair.

Women in Cabinet
Despite increase in female MPs at this election, new politics consists overwhelmingly of men in suits. As Mr. Cameron appointed the Cabinet members for the Conservative-Liberal Democrats Coalition women are notable by their absence. There were only four women at the top table.

From a total of 29 attending cabinet, there were just four women. There are four women in the new coalition cabinet, including the home secretary, Theresa May. All the women in the cabinet are Tories, observed Katharine Viner in The Guardian on 12 May 2010.

This is in contrast to the previous governments, both the Government under Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Gordon Brown’s first cabinet in June 2007 had five women and a further four with the right to attend. The number of women in his final cabinet was down to four in his June 2009 reshuffle. Just before the formation of the present cabinet of the Cameron Coalition government, the former Labour government had three female Secretaries - Harriet Harman, leader of the House of Commons and equality spokeswoman, Tessa Jowell, Cabinet Office Minister and Yvette Cooper, work and pensions Secretary.

This is also in contrast to the days of ‘Blair’s babes’ in the old cabinet of 1997, which included five women: Margaret Becket, Mo Mowlam, Clare Short, Harriet Harman and Ann Taylor.

Compared to other countries, Britain’s performance in this area is ‘dismal’, as the following statistic shows: Women in European cabinets: Spain 53%, Germany 37%, France 33%, Neth 33%, Italy 27%, Greece 26%, Belgium 23%, Portugal 13%, it was reported in the Telegraph.

Fewer than one in five of Cameron's ministers are women compared with 53% of Spain's cabinet, 50% of Sweden's and 38% of Germany's, according to the Centre for Women and Democracy.

Historic Tory-Lib-Dems Policy Agreement
Seven closely-typed A4 pages contain the historic agreement that underpins the Cameron-Clegg era of coalition politics. The document has 11-sub-headings covering the key policy areas that were addressed in the five days of discussions between the Conservatives and Lib-Dems. The key paragraphs include spending tax, Trident missiles, banking reform, immigration, health and education.

The main provisions of the Tory-Liberal Democrats agreement are all there – the scrapping of the £4.5billion Pounds ID card and the national identity register, the abolition of the £350million Children’s ContactPoint database and the outlawing of fingerprinting of children in schools without parental permission.

There are proposals for fixed five-year term parliament; to raise the number of votes to win a no-confidence vote to 55 per cent of MPs (from 50 per cent plus one at present); to raise the income tax threshold to £10, 000 pounds over the coming years; abolish child benefit for the middle classes; likelihood of VAT going up to 20 per cent and an annual cap on immigration from outside the EU.
London
16 May 2010

British Muslims and UK's 2010 General Elections

UK’s 2010 General Elections
and British Muslim

Dr. Mozammel Haque

UK’s 2010 General elections is a milestone in Britain’s Muslim politics. A number of histories are made in this election. Firstly, British Muslim Members of the House of Commons has been doubled after the 2010 General Elections; first-ever British Muslim woman is elected to the British Parliament; the Conservatives have gained Muslim to be elected in this election and first-ever British-Bangladeshi is elected to enter the House of Commons.

Muslim MPs doubled in 2010 elections
Firstly, the number of British Muslim Members of the House of Commons has been doubled. Eight Muslims are elected to the British Parliament in this 2010 election – six from the Labour Party and two from the Conservatives. Out of the six Labour MPs, there are three males and three females. Sadiq Khan, the former Minister of Transport, is re-elected as Labour candidate from the Tooting Constituency with a majority of 2,524 votes and Khalid Mahmood is re-elected as Labour candidate from Birmingham Perry Bar for the second time, increasing his majority to more than 11,908 votes. In Glasgow Central, Anas Sarwar won the election by increasing Labour’s majority to almost 16,000. He replaced his father, Mohammad Sarwar, who stepped down at this election. Mohammad Sarwar was the Britain’s first Muslim MP in 1979.

First British Muslim woman MP
Secondly, for the first-time British Muslim woman is elected to the House of Commons in this election. Three Muslim women are elected - Yasmin Qureshi, Shabana Mahmood and Rushanara Ali. Barrister Yasmin Qureshi (47) is elected from Bolton South East where Labour had a comfortable majority of over 10,000 votes from retiring MP Brian Iddon, but by a reduced majority of more than 8,600. She was born in Gujarat, moved to Britain in 1972 when she was nine and qualified as a Barrister in 1985. She has worked in the Government Legal Services and the Crown Prosecution Service. She was the Head of the Criminal Legal Section of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and later the Director of the Department of Judicial Administration in Kosovo.

Barrister Shabana Mahmood (29) is elected from Birmingham Ladywood. She increased the majority of outgoing former International Development Secretary Clare Short from under 7,000 votes to more than 10,000 in Birmingham Ladywood in Central England. Shabana’s father, Mahmood Ahmed, is chairman of Birmingham Labour Party. Birmingham Ladywood has a Muslim population of nearly 30 per cent.

Rushanara Ali, 35-year old Oxford University graduate, won with a huge majority of 11,000 votes defeating Abjol Miah of Respect Party to the third place in Bethnal Green & Bow Constituency. Ajmal Masroor from the Liberal Democrats in second place. Ali, born in Bangladesh in 1975, moved to the East End of London, United Kingdom with her family at the age of 7 and attended Mulberry School and Tower Hamlets College.

Robert Booth wrote in The Guardian, ”The number of successful black and minority ethnic candidates rose from 16 in 2005 to 27, a rise of two for Labour and nine for the Conservatives. Three Labour candidates, Shabana Mahmood in Birmingham Ladywood, Rushanara Ali in Bethnal Green and Bow, and Yasmin Qureshi in Bolton South East, became Britain’s first female Muslim MPs, with majorities of more than 8,000.” He also wrote, ”With 11 seats still to count yesterday afternoon, Labour had elected 79 female MPs -31% of its total – and the percentage of women in the house rose to 21% from 19.5% in 2005.”

“Female representation in the UK Parliament has long been shameful: after the 2005 election women made up just 19% of all MPs, number 73 in the global league table, behind Norway, South Africa, Austria and Rwanda,” wrote Kira Cochrane in The Guardian on Saturday.

First Conservatives Muslim MP
Thirdly, for the first time the Conservatives have gained their Muslim MP entered into the House of Commons. The First Muslim Conservatives to be elected was Sajid Javid who retained Bromsgrove with an increased majority of more than 11,000 in Bromsgrove, Central England. Another Conservatives Rehman Chisti won by more than 8,500 votes in newly-created Gillingham and Rainham in south-east England. Nadhim Zahawi, the chief executive of online market research agency, YouGov, also became the first Iraqi Kurd to become UK MP by successfully defeating the Conservatives’ 10,000-plus majority in Strafford, Central England.

First British Bangladesh-born Muslim MP
Fourthly, for the first time British-Bangladeshi is elected to the House of Commons. Rushanara Ali, born in Bangladesh, regained the Labour seat in Bethnal Green & Bow constituency. All the Parliamentary candidates in this constituency were from the British-Bangladeshi background and there was a tough three-prong contest between Labour candidate, Rushanara Ali, Respect Party candidate, Abjol Miah and Liberal Democrat candidate, Ajmal Masroor. Ali won the election defeating Abjol Miah of the Respect Party by a majority of 11,000 votes. Though a daughter of a manual worker, she is the first in her family to go to university. She is graduate of Oxford University studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford. An ambitious young Labour activist who was listed by The Guardian as one of the most powerful Muslim women in Britain, Rushanara Ali claimed back the once Labour stronghold of Bethnal Green & Bow at the election.

May 6 elections were marked by a swing from Labour to the Conservatives which resulted in one of the two Muslim ministers, Shahid Malik losing his parliamentary seat for Dewsbury in northern England by just over 1,500 votes.

In 2010 UK General election, there were 89 Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) of Asian origin compared with 68 in 2005. More than 80 Muslim candidates stood in Britain’s general elections out of which 16 were Muslim female candidates. These 16 Muslim female candidates were selected by different political parties. Labour has four Muslim female candidates; Conservatives six and Liberal Democrats four Muslim female candidates. Only one Muslim female contest election outside these three main parties is Salma Yaqoob who represented the anti-war Respect Party.

Muslim progression in political participation
Muslim has made a great progression in political participation in Britain. In 1992 General Elections, there were 11 Muslim PPCs, 4 from the Conservatives, 1 from Liberal Democrats and 6 from Other but none was elected. In 1997, there were 24 Muslim PPCs, 3 from Labour, 6 from the Conservatives, 4 from Liberal Democrats and 11 from Other but only 1 was elected from Labour, the first Muslim male, Mohammad Sarwar from Glasgow Central, elected into British Parliament in 1997 election as Labour MP. In 2001 general elections, there were 53 Muslim PPCs, 7 from Labour, 8 from the Conservatives, 11 from Liberal Democrats and 27 from Other but only 2 were elected from Labour; Mohammad Sarwar was re-elected and Khalid Mahmood was elected from Birmingham Perry Bar in 2001 election. In 2005 General Elections, there were 79 Muslim PPCs, 13 from Labour, 16 from the Conservatives, 21 from Liberal Democrats and 29 from Other but 4 were elected from Labour. Mohammad Sarwar re-elected, Khalid Mahmood re-elected, Shahid Malik from Dewsbury and Sadiq Khan from Tooting were elected as Labour MPs in 2005 election.

Anti-war Respect Party failed to win a single seat
Another feature of this election is that all the candidates of the anti-war Party, Respect Party - George Galloway, Abjol Miah and Salma Yaqoob, failed to win the election from the constituency - Poplar & Limehouse, Bethnal Green & Bow and Birmingham Hall Green respectively. Writing about Salma Yaqoob, Afua Hirsch observed in The Guardian on Saturday, “One of the highest profile minority casualties was the Respect party’s leader, Salma Yaqoob, who was standing in Birmingham Hall Green and had been described in the Asian press as the most respected Muslim female politician in Britain. Yaqoob came second to the sitting MP, Labour’s Roger Godsiff, following what her campaign manager claimed was a smear campaign against her.”

“Yaqoob would have been the first hijab-wearing MP, and her defeat by Labour is one of the most high profile minority failures,” observed Hirsch.

Humiliating defeat of BNP in Barking
Another feature of this election is that the far-right political party, British Nationalist Party (BNP), suffered a humiliating defeat in Barking as Labour stormed to victory with an increased vote. Labour MP Margaret Hodge fought off the far-Right party’s leader Nick Griffin, in what she described as the “toughest battle of my life”. Mrs. Hodge held on to her seat with 24,628 votes and the BNP in third place with 6,623 votes. Labour MP Margaret Hodge fought off the far-Right party’s leader Nick Griffin, in what she described as the “toughest battle of my life”. Even the BNP failed to make any breakthrough in council elections, losing seats in Stoke, Leeds, Sandwell and Epping Forest. The far-right organisation lost all 12 of its councillors in its supposed stronghold of Barking and Dagenham.

Labour’s victorious candidate, Margaret Hodge, who increased her majority said, as quoted by Mathew Taylor in The Guardian, “The people in Britain, we in Barking have not just beaten but we have smashed the extreme right,” she told her supporters and added, “The lesson from Barking to the BNP is clear: Get out and stay out, you’re not wanted here and your vile politics have no place in British democracy. Pack your bags and go!”

The 2010 General Election ended with the first hung parliament in 36 years. The Conservatives needed 326 seats for an overall majority but aim to govern as a minority government. Labour suffered a heavy defeat, losing at least 86 seats including big names, such as Jacqui Smith and Charles Clarke. But Labour fared less badly in the capital than nationally.

First Muslim woman in
Cameron-Clegg Coalition Cabinet
Cameron-Clegg Coalition government was formed and David Cameron, the Prime Minister, announced the appointment of his Cabinet in which, for the first time, there is only one member of the cabinet from the ethnic minority community. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi is the only member of the Cabinet who represents both the ethnic minority community, Muslim community. She is unpaid, unelected and a “Minister without portfolio”. Baroness Warsi is the firsts in so many respects: the first Muslim Female to sit at the top table, in the Cabinet; the first non-white member of the Cabinet and the first Muslim woman to become the Conservative Party Chair.