A very Privy Counsellor

As I noted in my post before Christmas, three Lib Dems, including Deputy Leader Simon Hughes, were made members of the Privy Council earlier this month. This is a great honour in politics, entitling members to call themselves "The Right Honourable" for the rest of their lives. Odd, then, that there has been no formal press notice announcing the fact, and it has gone unreported by the turkey-stuffed and sherry-sozzled mainstream press since I posted the discovery.

Today, however, Mr Hughes is in the news for his new appointment as the Government's 'Advocate for Access'. Nowhere does it seem to have been noted that this new position comes on top of his Privy Counsellorship . In fact, the formal letter from Number 10 is addressed to "Mr Simon Hughes MP", rather than, as it should have been, "The Rt. Hon. Simon Hughes MP". Why the shyness about his new honour?

Lib Dems - the Government's in-house Opposition?

The Daily Telegraph's sting operation has focussed attention on tensions within the coalition government, by revealing the less-than-startling fact that Liberal Democrat ministers don't agree with their Conservative colleagues on everything. For anyone who considers for a moment what a coalition is, that isn't really a surprise.

Vince Cable's comment on Rupert Murdoch was a serious matter because of the legal implications over the BSkyB case. But his "nuclear option" remark, which the Telegraph initially splashed on, was not actually surprising: "If they push me too far then I can walk out of the Government and bring the Government down and they know that" he said. That seems to me a perfectly accurate overall assessment of the position of the Liberal Democrats in government. Is that news?

In fact, Mr Cable's words could have described the position of many senior politicians in previous non-coalition governments. Gordon Brown's skirmishes with Tony Blair were underpinned by the implicit threat that Brown would resign and mount a challenge, whilst Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe explicitly threatened Margaret Thatcher with the prospect of their resignations over the Madrid Summit (and gained some concessions). When Howe eventually resigned, it did indeed trigger the downfall of her government.

All that is unusual about Cable's remarks, and those of his junior colleagues today, is the frankness they showed to complete strangers, who turned out to be journalists. The internal arguments they freely disclosed should remain internal, but it is no surprise that they are taking place. We know where Lib Dems stand on various issues, and where Conservatives stand. In areas not covered by the coalition agreement, they will of course have to argue their corner and reach a compromise.

The same is true in one-party governments, which are almost always coalitions of different strands of opinion. Every government includes ministers who represent a particular wing of the party, and who have a following amongst their backbenchers. They fight internal battles, and are often the most effective opposition a government faces. That reality has been formalised in the coalition and so should really not surprise us, even if the disclosures are embarrassing.

In other news, I notice that three Lib Dems - Alistair Carmichael, Simon Hughes and Don Foster - were made members of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council last week. This much-coveted privilege (entitling members to the title "The Right Honourable" for life) is usually reserved for Cabinet Ministers, a small number of senior Ministers of State, and the Leaders of the Opposition parties. But whilst Carmichael is a member of the Government as Deputy Chief Whip, Hughes and Foster are most certainly not. It is not unprecedented for backbenchers to be appointed to the Privy Council, but it is quite rare. We might conclude that these two Right Honourable gentlemen have been afforded status as Leaders of the Lib Dem opposition...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

If the snow wasn't festive enough (as well as highly inconvenient for those trying to get anywhere), I've had a very Christmassy weekend. On Saturday night I went to the Tudor Barn for the "Carols by Candlelight" event, and joined many local residents singing along with the Choir, which I noted included Labour Councillor and former Mayor Steve Offord, trying to look inconspicuous in the back row.

Then yesterday I trudged through the snow towards Eltham parish church, its bells ringing, for their carol service. Lots of local residents braved the elements to come along to both events, and it was a great way to start the final countdown to Christmas.

Rumours of blogging's death...

What a momentous week it has been for political commentary - first Harry Cole killed off his "Tory Bear" alter ego, then Iain Dale stunned his readers by announcing he is giving up his trailblazing Iain Dale's diary.

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Eh? Those who don't follow such things closely will wonder what the fuss is about, but the announcements are important in what they say about the state of what we now call the "blogosphere". The very existence of such a concept owes a great deal to Iain, who started his blog on 16 December 2003, when such things were still largely seen as the preserve of fringe groups and eccentrics. By taking the idea seriously, he helped make blogging an accepted source of news, opinion and commentary.

Tory Bear was a rather different beast - a baby Guido Fawkes, peddling rumours, spouting invective and being unashamedly biased and mischievous. It is therefore fitting that Harry Cole has now been adopted by Guido, and will be "News Editor" over at Order-order.com.

Their decisions to abandon their blogs have a common theme - both are still keen users of Twitter ('Tweeters' if you must), and have said they will continue to use it prolifically. The emergence of Twitter has followed a similar trajectory to that of blogging - firstly seen as a frivolous fringe activity, now a serious channel for news and debate, used not just by celebrities and their fans, but by leading opinion-formers and journalists (Steve Richards has written a very good piece about this).

I've certainly become addicted, and my musings on Twitter have reached more people and involved me in more debates than this blog ever has. For that reason, I've focussed more and more on Twitter, and blogged less and less. I know this has been the pattern for many others - as Harry Cole put it on Tuesday "Twitter killed the blogosphere star".

I think that's overstating it - blogging still has a place, as whatever the immediacy and interactivity of Twitter, you can't develop much of an argument in 140 characters. The best bloggers now use Twitter to direct people to their blogs, and when they break an exclusive story the audience for it can become very large, very quickly.

In Greenwich, and London generally, we are lucky in having some great bloggers and Tweeters who frequently beat the local press to significant local stories, and regularly post interesting commentary. This week's developments, by focussing attention on the blogosphere, have made me appreciate it all the more, and to look at my own rather paltry efforts. In the New Year I will be shaking up my blogging activity, so watch this space...