THE TORY/LIB Dem coalition has sought to re-establish its authority following the dramatic resignation of Liberal Democrat MP David Laws from his post as chief secretary to the treasury, which he had held for just 17 days.
Mr Laws, it emerged, had claimed House of Commons expenses for rent which he paid to a man with whom he has had a relationship since 2001.
Mr Laws insisted he had not declared that he and Mr James Lundie, an executive with Edelman Public Relations in London, were lovers because he had not wanted to reveal his sexuality, though House of Commons expenses rules, changed in 2006, forbade the claim for accommodation if an MP is living with a wife or partner.
Mr Laws disputes whether he and Mr Lundie qualify according to the rule.
Mr Laws’ loss from the government is a major blow, both because of his generally-accepted brilliance and because as an economically-conservative Liberal Democrat he had proved to be the key bridge between the two parties on the need for public spending cuts since the coalition was formed after the inconclusive general election.
His resignation was met with sympathy from all sides of the Commons, with leading Conservatives, such as justice secretary Ken Clarke and work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith predicting he could soon be back in a top-flight ministerial role.
However, former Labour culture secretary Ben Bradshaw, who is gay, was sharply criticised by colleagues after he posted a message on Twitter, “When is protecting your privacy a euphemism (sic) for being ashamed about who you are?” And later a second message, “Clegg statement re Law nonsense: why should anyone in Britain today feel ashamed because they are gay.”
Mr Laws has been replaced by Scottish secretary Danny Alexander, who is to be replaced in his role by Northern-Ireland born Michael Moore, who represents the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency for the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Laws had to be replaced by a Lib Dem colleague in the treasury post because there would otherwise be a danger that the Lib Dems could become “detached” from the cutbacks, more details of which will be announced next month by chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne in his emergency budget, said Ken Clarke.
“I think in the first three weeks the Government has now clearly demonstrated its commitment to getting on with tackling the deficit and debt. Even round the cabinet table it is obvious there is no [division] between Lib Dem opinions and Conservative opinions . . . Someone like Vince Cable has the same views as me, and Danny has the same views as George Osborne,” said Mr Clarke.
Mr Duncan-Smith said: “I didn’t know him that well before the coalition began, but I must say since working with him over the last three weeks or so my respect for him has grown enormously, I like him personally, he’s a thoroughly decent person, and also very effective. He’s very straight and very fair, I think for him it’s a personal tragedy, there’s no question. I am deeply sorry that he’s had to go, really deeply sorry. I think on balance he’s right, if you’ve got the toughest job in government trying to find the savings you can’t be beset by personal problems . . . ”
Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable cast doubt on whether Mr Laws needed to have resigned: “Well, he could have done because he hadn’t done anything wrong. And the mistake that was made, as David set out very clearly, was to protect privacy rather than for personal gain,” he said.