LONDON (Dow Jones)-U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said there
were some policy mistakes in the coalition government's annual
budget announced in March that had to be corrected, but nobody
thinks his government lacks resolve and strength.
Last week the government took the highly unusual decision to
reverse three controversial budget tax measures involving
charities, hot-baked goods, and parked mobile homes, prompting
criticism that it is buckling under popular pressure and unable to
stick to its economic policy.
Although the policy u-turns will have a negligible effect on the
government's coffers and its tough austerity plan, observers say
they reflect badly on the coalition's credibility and are
particularly damaging to the reputation of the treasury chief,
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.
The policy reversals were also announced while parliament was in
recess and the British media was focused on an inquiry by Brian
Leveson--a government-appointed judge who is examining media
practices testimony at a judge-led inquiry into U.K. press
practices--giving the perception the government was trying to bury
bad news.
Cameron said that when a government has got something wrong it
faces a choice of whether to plough on regardless or listen to
criticism and make the appropriate changes--and it was right to
choose the latter.
"We have taken difficult decisions on the deficit...difficult
decisions of public-sector pay, reforming public-sector pensions,
standing up to public-sector strikes--nobody thinks this government
lacks resolve, strength and grit. It has all of those things, and
it also has the courage to say look if we have got something wrong
let's change it, let's not keep ploughing into the brick wall," he
said in a recorded interview with BBC television that was aired
Sunday.
Cameron also again defended his culture minister, Jeremy Hunt,
saying he acted fairly and wisely while overseeing the regulatory
process of News Corp.'s (NWS, NWS.AU, NWSA) bid for control of
British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (BSY.LN) last year.
The opposition Labour party has repeatedly called for Hunt to
resign after evidence surfaced during the Leveson inquiry that
indicated the minister was favorable to the bid. Hunt said last
week he was sympathetic to the bid, before he was assigned to
oversee regulatory administration of the deal, but he had set aside
those sympathies and had acted impartially during the process.
On Thursday, Cameron said he wouldn't be referring Hunt to be
investigated for breaching the ministerial code of conduct, saying
he acted properly while he was responsible for the BSkyB bid.
Asked whether Hunt would still be in his job at Christmas,
Cameron said the culture minister had a very important job to
do.
"We're about to welcome the world to the Olympics and I think
the preparations which he Department for Culture, Media and Sport
have overseen have been very, very good but there is still vital
work to do...to make sure those games are a success and Jeremy Hunt
is the right person to do that," he said.
News Corp.'s bid to take full control of BSkyB collapsed in July
after revelations of phone hacking at News Corp.'s U.K. tabloid,
The News of the World. Opponents of the BSkyB bid had said it would
put too much control of the media in the hands of the Murdoch
family company.
News Corp. owns a 39.1% stake in BSkyB. It also owns Dow Jones
Newswires, publisher of this newswire, and The Wall Street
Journal.
-By Nicholas Winning, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9498;
nick.winning@dowjones.com