- The Observer, Sunday 15 February 2009
The architect of the government's controversial welfare reforms, David Freud, has defected to the Tories in an embarrassing blow for Gordon Brown.
Conservative sources said David Cameron intended to put Freud forward for a peerage, then give him a frontbench post as a shadow welfare minister. The move is a coup for the Tories, harnessing not only Freud's expertise on the welfare system, but also his knowledge of the City - as a former investment banker - to beef up policy-making on the recession.
Freud formally handed his resignation to James Purnell, the welfare secretary to whom he works as an unpaid adviser, yesterday and his departure will be regarded as a vote of no confidence in Labour's execution of the planned reforms, which would see private firms employed to help find claimants work. The government has hit resistance from Labour MPs over the proposals and demands for higher fees from private-sector firms bidding for the contracts.
"David and George [Osborne] have been talking to him a lot about the economy, but also obviously about welfare reform: this was something they were both keen to do," said a senior Tory source. "He will be on the team."
Freud will serve under the shadow secretary for work and pensions, Theresa May, who also advocates welfare privatisation. First hired by Tony Blair, he is known to have fallen out with Gordon Brown and may provide the Tories with embarrassing ammunition against the prime minister.
A source close to Purnell said he "wishes David Freud well" and was relaxed about his departure. Labour will, however, try to exploit differences between Freud and the Tories, such as the former's support for requiring single parents to seek work when their children reach seven, an idea opposed by the Tories.
The defection follows a difficult week for Cameron, overshadowed by a spat between the London mayor, Boris Johnson, and the Commons home affairs select committee investigating the arrest of a Tory frontbencher in connection with alleged Home Office leaks. The committee has accused Johnson of giving inconsistent accounts of his conversations with Cameron about the arrest of Damian Green, to which Johnson was alerted by police in advance.
Johnson was under fresh pressure last night as Tory MPs warned that inquiries into the affair were descending into what one called "yet another Boris Johnson travelling roadshow", with the mayor apparently unable to avoid attracting attention.
The Tories want to focus on Commons speaker Michael Martin's failure to stop police searching Green's parliamentary office. However, Johnson's clashes with committee chairman Keith Vaz, whom he apparently accused of conducting "fucking smear tactics" on behalf of the Labour party, have dominated the headlines. Labour committee members are threatening to call on Cameron to give evidence to clarify the situation.
Sources close to Cameron insisted that the leader was relaxed about what one aide called "this sideshow". But privately there has been exasperation at the episode, which has not helped rising tensions between the leader's office and City Hall.
Cameron is understood to have also privately warned Johnson that his campaign for an airport in the Thames estuary instead of expanding Heathrow could threaten Tory prospects in nearby marginal seats critical to the next election.
Cameron has consistently declined to support the plan, but there are fears that message will be lost in a campaign. Labour MPs in north Kent are already capitalising on local fears of noise and disruption from a new airport.
