The prime minister's chief of staff Tom Scholar is leaving Downing Street to be replaced by the man who was Tony Blair's principal private secretary, Jeremy Heywood.
The move is an effort to strengthen the organisation of No 10 which has been criticised for poor organisation and slow decision making ever since Mr Brown became prime minister. Mr Heywood will now be the senior civil servant inside No 10 working alongside another recent appointment Stephen Carter, the ex-boss of Ofcom, who was recently appointed as the PM's senior political adviser.
Mr Scholar is returning to the Treasury to carry out an important job as managing director, international issues and finance. That means that he will be in charge of domestic and global markets and institutions, taking responsibility for efforts to secure greater co-ordination between international institutions and governments to prevent another crisis like that caused by the credit crunch.
Mr Heywood was head of domestic policy and strategy for Mr Brown and so now moves from the cabinet office to No 10.
(This is a corrected version of my earlier entry).
Tony Blair regarded ID cards as an election winner. He pledged that legislation to make them compulsory would form a . Under Gordon Brown it now looks clear that will be no such pledge.
Any decision on compulsory ID cards could be delayed until after 2020 even if ministers stay committed to the scheme and there is no change in government and technological problems, concerns about cost and shifting public attitudes don't cause yet more delays.
The home secretary was due to publish a timetable for introducing ID cards any week now. The Tories have now obtained what appears to be a leaked version of that timetable. It shows that although the first ID cards will be issued according to the old timetable (2008 for foreign nationals and 2009 for British citizens) the issuing of significant numbers of ID cards will be delayed from 2010 to 2012. This, in turn, delays any decision on compulsion.
Most people will be issued with ID cards when they apply for what are called "second generation passports" (ie those which carry our fingerprints). It is the introduction of these which looks set to be delayed until 2012. Ministers have promised a fresh vote in Parliament on whether to make ID cards compulsory and stated that that vote would only take place once voluntary take up was complete.
Since 80% of us have passports and since they have to be renewed every 10 years you can calculate that 80% of the British public would have an ID card within 10 years of these fingerprint passports being introduced ie 2022. Now, of course, it's possible that the advantages of having such a document may persuade some to apply earlier than necessary so that figure might be reached. Senior Home Office sources tell me it will be at least seven or eight years before compulsion is an issue - ie 2015 or later. In other words, if ministers can help it, it will not be an issue at the next election but, at the earliest, the one after that.
Ministers may well insist that this is nothing to do with politics and simply a reflection of a new assessment of the readiness of the systems for implementing ID cards. That is only a part of the story. Those EU countries in the are preparing to introduce fingerprint passports in 2009. Britain originally planned to go along with that timetable. It is a political decision not to do so which could save ministers money and Labour votes.
A recent for the Telegraph showed for the first time more voters against ID cards than in favour (48% against versus 43% in favour). When the ID scheme was first proposed by the Government in 2003, YouGov found 78% supported it and just 15% were opposed. There can be little doubt that this has followed the .
Do not assume, however, that this means that ID cards are being abandoned completely. Ministers say that Tony Blair sold ID cards as good in themselves whereas Gordon Brown wants to stress the problems for which they may be a solution eg illegal immigration, terrorism and checking the identity of public servants in sensitive posts. He may be content to introduce the scheme slowly and at a lower cost believing that the public will slowly come to accept the need and the value of documents which confirm their identity.
PS: This is not the first time ID cards have been delayed. In 2004 the then Home Secretary David Blunkett stated that "within three years (ie 2007) I hope that we'll have started implementing it". They still have not. He went on to say that "within seven years (ie 2011) we'd start to move towards a position where people would have generally, across the whole population, have got an ID card. At that point we've agreed that we'll present a report to Parliament on how it's working, the objectives of compulsion and at that point we'll have a vote in both Houses of Parliament."
(Source: Breakfast with Frost - 25 April 2004)
The ID Cards Bill was delayed by the 2005 election which meant the Act setting up ID cards was not passed until 2006. The Strategic Action Plan published that year stated that:
- from 2008 the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) will issue biometric identification to foreign nationals (it still will).
- from 2009 the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) will issue ID cards for British citizens (it still will).
And:
- from 2010 IPS will issue significant volumes of ID cards alongside British passports (that is what looks set to change).
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