The week in politics: Another week, another U-turn
Coalition U-turns are now arriving with such regularity they may as well start publishing an advance timetable.
By Alex Stevenson Follow @alex__stevenson
Last week it was the NHS reforms. This week, the government decided to ditch its proposal for increasing sentencing discounts to 50%. Poor old Ken Clarke, who had tried desperately to try to find a way around the prime minister's objections, was doomed to failure. Both he and David Cameron tried their hardest to argue that this wasn't a shabby, miserable retreat. It was a sign of strength, not weakness, we were told. After witnessing the watering-down, many people may struggle to agree.
There is a real possibility that the coalition, having had a year to establish its initial proposals, now faces multiple climbdowns because its internal processes aren't working very well. Whether it's Iain Duncan Smith clinging on to raising the retirement age for women, the coalition's broader plans to tackle public sector pensions, or its plans to introduce more free schools, there's a real sense ministers across Whitehall need to be more worried than they might have thought to push their agendas through. Watch this space to find out what next week's U-turn will be.
While the Westminster world has been focusing in on the coalition's inability to hold the policy line, events on the world stage have been impinging on parliament, too. As we reported on Monday, diplomatic efforts at the UN are set to intensify once again in a bid to secure a draft resolution on Syria, where violence has escalated. Afghanistan saw a major shift on Wednesday night, when Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of 30,000 troops in a move many suspected was putting political priorities above military needs. The Greek crisis just seems to be getting worse and worse; Thursday saw 14 Tory backbenchers write to a national newspaper to bolster up the PM's eurosceptic line.
And let's not forget Libya, which we've discovered will cost the British government £260 million for the UK military's first six months of involvement. The heads of the three services have now all warned that continuing the operation there is going to strain the miiltary's resources come the autumn. Cameron has responded with open scorn for their views: "you do the fighting, I'll do the talking", he told them in his Downing Street press conference on Tuesday, before slapping them down once more during PMQs. Ed Miliband called his approach "crass and heavy-handed". It's certainly more of a clunking fist than even Gordon Brown managed against his own discontented top brass.
Elsewhere, the SNP got worked up after being called "neo-fascist" by the Scottish affairs committee chair; Fifa's vice president Jack Warner escaped further investigation by resigning his post; and parliament's ultimate protester, Brian Haw, passed away after ten years acting as MPs' conscience from his patch of pavement in Parliament Square.
