By Lori Inglis-Hall
The resignation of Iain Duncan Smith as Work and Pensions Secretary sent shockwaves through Westminster and the political media. In a world in which every little manoeuvre is stage-managed, focused-grouped, and leaked to a friendly journalist, Iain Duncan Smith achieved the unthinkable – a surprise and pointedly damaging exit from Government. But there was another response to his departure, felt amongst the ranks of those who fought for social justice and the vulnerable, those who had endured a torturous work capability assessment, or had their benefits docked for a minor infringement; those who had suffered grotesque injustice at the hands of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), and that was relief.
He was gone. The quiet man, a harbinger of doom for those on the breadline, was gone. And, as it turned out, we’d got him completely wrong. We’d had him pegged as the punisher of the poor, a man who barely blinked as the names of deceased benefit claimants’ found ‘fit to work’ was put to him.
But no, turns out this self-proclaimed ‘champion of social justice’ was an aspiring Robin Hood behind the scenes, arguing for a reduction in pension benefits to lessen the burden placed on the disabled and young low-income families, and finally unable to tolerate further cuts to the welfare state as the Chancellor lobbed benefit after benefit to higher rate tax payers. Yes, he is a true man of the people; Iain Duncan Smith, we barely knew ye. One things for sure, his resignation had absolutely nothing to do with his loathing for George Osborne and his desire to throw his lot in with Boris and the Brexit crowd. Nope. Nothing.
Anti-Osborne Backbenchers were up in arms at Duncan Smith’s shabby treatment, the proposed disability benefit cuts were shelved; relief remained. Enter the Rt Honourable Stephen Crabb, the newly appointed Minister for Work and Pensions, a rank and file career politician on the up. No one panicked, even when the media raked up some highly dubious episodes from Crabb’s relatively short political career, mainly because no one had really heard of him. The point was, he wasn’t Iain Duncan Smith. It was all going to be ok.
But with reports of renewed cuts and further attacks on the vulnerable, Real Media takes a look at Stephen Crabb MP; his background, his career so far, and what the future potentially holds. Crabb might not be Iain Duncan Smith, but could he be worse?
Stephen Crabb; the man and his politics
Stephen Crabb is one of those political quirks – a working class Tory. He grew up in a single parent family, raised by his mother on a council estate in Haverfordwest. It was not an easy childhood – when Crabb was eight his mother fled an abusive relationship with his father and the family relied on benefits to survive, which Crabb described as ‘a genuine safety net at a time of crisis’.
It was these difficult formative years which shaped Crabb’s views on the welfare state. Crabb told The Spectator:
‘The most powerful thing to me, looking back, is the way that my mother went through a crisis in her life and became welfare dependent… She started working just a few hours each week, increasing her hours and then moving to a position where with extra training she was able to move into full-time work, become a car owner, and reach full economic independence… [this is] absolutely the model of how the welfare system should work’.
So far, so perfect Tory idealism. In fact, Crabb’s family story is the epitome of the Conservative ideal – a single mother who fell on hard times and managed to pull herself out of welfare dependency and into work, and even managed to send her son to university. This is the only sort of benefit tale which Middle England can tolerate. And, in terms of a Conservative Party hoping to take a bite into Labour heartlands, it gets even better. For there’s not a whiff of Oxbridge elitism about Crabb – he studied politics at Bristol where he achieved a first class degree. So far, so future Conservative leadership candidate.
In 2005 Crabb was elected as MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, taking the seat from Labour. He started on a familiar Parliamentary path, with spots on Select Committees, through to the Whips Office, before he was rewarded for his party loyalty (more on that in a moment) with his first Ministerial position at the Wales Office in 2012.
Crabb’s voting record speaks volumes in terms of his political aspirations. He has voted against his party on precisely one issue, when he voted to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords. He has never voted against his party in the current Parliament and if there’s one thing we know Osborne respects, its loyalty.
Remember the relief at Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation? Stephen Crabb’s voting record suggests it may be misplaced, because wherever Duncan Smith went, Crabb happily followed. Crabb voted for the bedroom tax. He’s consistently voted for cuts to benefits. He has consistently voted against spending public money to create guaranteed jobs for the young long term unemployed.
Crabb might be the ideal Tory ‘benefits to success’ story, but his belief that everyone can work their way out of benefits dependency belongs back in Thatcher’s Britain. Crabb believes in aspiration; that benefits should be a ‘ladder out’ of poverty. Simply put, the system’s reliance on in-work benefits topping up low wages means it just doesn’t work like that anymore.
His background may be startlingly different to Iain Duncan Smith’s and the majority of the Cabinet, but when it comes to policy, Crabb is very much on the same page.
Expenses
Stephen Crabb is well-thought of in his party, and his background is something of a coup for a Tory leadership hoping to eat into Labour’s working class support base. Yet Crabb’s record as an MP is far from unblemished.
Back in 2009 Crabb was caught up in the expenses scandal when the Telegraph revealed he had claimed £8000 to renovate his London flat before selling it and pocketing a large profit.
Crabb then ‘flipped’ his second home allowance from his London flat to a family home he was buying in Wales. All within the rules, of course.
But it got worse. Crabb then designated his main home as a room rented from fellow Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski. Crabb claimed he was advised to ‘flip’ the properties by the now defunct Commons Fees Office, because he’d ‘hardly spent anything’. Crabb claimed £67,633 in second home expenses between 2005 and 2009, and has always denied any wrongdoing.
Crabb on Homosexuality
It gets murkier. Crabb has faced severe criticism for his links to a ‘gay cure’ group. In the 90’s, Crabb interned for Christian Action Research Education (CARE), an advocacy group which argues against pro-LGBT equality legislation and has sponsored events promoting ‘gay cure’ therapy.
In 2010, Crabb took on interns from the campaign group in his parliamentary office.
Crabb, a practising Christian, has denied advocating so-called ‘gay cure’ therapy, but his record in the House of Commons hardly marks him out as a advocate for LGBT rights. He voted against the Equality Act (sexual orientation) regulations, and against same sex marriage.
The Department for Work and Pensions and the future
Crabb might be the ‘anyone but Iain Duncan Smith’ Minister, but all signs point to a welfare policy which will carry on as before, just without ‘Social Justice Champion’ Duncan Smith arguing for the vulnerable behind the scenes.
Crabb may have been raised on benefits, but his voting record suggests he is more than willing to toe the party line when it comes to the welfare state. Unlike the sometimes unlikeable Iain Duncan Smith, Crabb is well thought of by the Conservative Leadership. And he’s loyal, a ‘yes man’, who has voted with his party without fail during the current Parliament.
In his first appearance before the Work and Pensions Committee, Crabb signalled his intention to continue with the Government’s planned Employment and Support Allowance cuts, arguing that he could see ‘no reason’ to change the Government’s approach:
“There is no reason to change policies that are changing things for the better for those who have least in our society.”
The cuts will see claimants lose £30 a week, despite disability charities arguing that the changes will actually make it harder for claimants to find work.
Crabb also refused to step in and reverse changes to the state pension which will disproportionately affect women, who are set to lose thousands of pounds due to a change in the state pension age. Crabb rejected calls for a transitional change.
There may be a different man in office, but it seems very little has changed. Universal Credit, that behemoth of a political exercise, is still going ahead, despite research showing that benefit recipients will be worse off and less likely to work their way out of benefit dependency.
Crabb may have promised no further welfare cuts, but even if Osborne and co survive the EU referendum the vulnerable are not likely to receive respite from IDS’ legacy during Stephen Crabb’s appointment.
