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This lady's not for turning

Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 4:59 pm
by David Johnson
Can't say that about DVD Dave and Ozzie Osborne, can we? Apparently, there is to be a U-turn on the pasty tax and a reduction of the VAT to be added onto static caravans from 20% to 5% in the last Ozzie budget. They'll be dancing in Truro and in the Greggs boardroom as we speak. There have been a few other U-turns. Mind, I personally see it as a sign of Cameron's strength. Err, or maybe not.

2010: August
A plan to remove free milk for under-fives is ditched amid fears it would hark back to the "Thatcher milk snatcher" episode of the 1970s. The universities minister, David Willetts, was speaking about the plan on live television when Cameron announced the volte face.

November
Cameron removes a photographer, Andrew Parsons, and a camerawoman, Nicky Woodhouse, from the public payroll after criticism of the appointment of so-called "vanity staff" to the civil service.December

Then the education secretary, Michael Gove, has to backtrack over the abolition of dedicated funding for school sports following a backlash from pupils and sports stars, and make a partial U-turn on plans to cut a ?13m grant to the Book Trust for free books for children amid accusations that he was behaving like Scrooge "at his worst".

2011: February
The government abandons plans to flog off the nation's forests.

May

The government U-turns on enshrining into law the "military covenant" between country and armed forces just three months after the then defence secretary, Liam Fox, ruled it out.

June
Cameron agrees "substantive" changes to the health and social care bill after endorsing the main recommendations of an independent panel of experts. He said admitting not getting it right first time was a sign of strength.

That month, Kenneth Clarke, the justice secretary is forced to abandon plans to increase the sentence discount for guilty pleas following an outcry from the Daily Mail, which caused jitters in Downing Street.


October
Clarke announces mandatory jail sentences for 16 and 17-year-olds who threaten others with knives, a day after telling MPs that judges should have discretion over sentencing.

November
The government extends NHS targets amid concerns at the backlog waiting for treatment.

2012
January
There is anger among Eurosceptic Tory MPs about the Prime Minister's U-turn over allowing the signatories of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union to use the institutions of the European Union to enforce it

April
David Cameron has given a strong hint that he is ready to water down a controversial cap on tax relief for charitable giving, saying he was ready to listen to critics and take time to "get it right".

May
Government forced into U-turn on Royal Navy fighter jets. Ministry of Defence is to revert to Labour's original plan ? dismissed by Cameron as 'more expensive and less capable'