It’s no surprise that the MOD was missing from George Osborne’s ‘nice list’ of departments behaving themselves over further cuts. Nor was it surprising to hear the Chancellor pouring water on this morning’s Telegraph story about IDS offering to serve up more cuts in order to protect Hammond’s department. Further cuts aren’t going to happen; not least in part due to the LibDems, especially in an election year. Guido is told any discussion has not happened recently. IDS may have enjoyed the Telegraph’s “not for the first time, Mr Duncan Smith has shown the way” leader, but it seems that is a far as it’s going to go. Fingers are being pointed at Hammond this morning for stirring things up. With this Telegraph leak,  suddenly last week’s manoeuvres speculation does not look quite so ridiculous…

See also: Daft Draft Hammond Plan

Forget Ed finally admitting on Daybreak that borrowing would be higher under Labour, there is only one story in town this morning: Iain Duncan Smith’s no nonsense dealing with rude Treasury officials. After Rachel Sylvester reported the “biting balls” comment in the Times, Team IDS have been stressing to the Mail that there was no biting involved. According to Tim Shipman they are “at pains to stress that he would be cutting, not biting”. Sadly Guido had already done the Photoshop…

IDS has told his local paper: “I have been unemployed twice in my life so I have already done this. I know what it is like to live on the breadline.” He says the petition “is a complete stunt which distracts attention from the welfare reforms which are much more important and which I have been working hard to get done.” The quiet man is turning up the volume.

The quiet man shouts them down…

Via BBC.

Is there a competition in the cabinet as to who can come up with the most amusing alter ego for Ed Balls? Vince Cable gave it a good go yesterday noting how Balls reminded him of Basil Fawlty saying “don’t mention the war”, but the clear winner is IDS:

“It was quite amusing to watch the shadow Chancellor run around. More and more he reminds me of the film “Toy Story”, and that rather angry Mr Potato Head who wanders around shouting, screaming and being very angry to absolutely no effect at all. Disaster, chaos, crisis, U-turns—I wonder what he does in his private life when anything goes wrong. He is certainly not much help to his wife I expect.”

Uncanny…

Explosive row on LBC earlier as IDS went head to head with their resident lefty James O’Brien over the workfare scheme.

“Never underestimate the determination of a quiet man”.

Or rather never underestimate the power of the last word…

A top DWP official has said that benefits cheats should be named and shamed by having their photos pinned to lamp-posts around the towns they live in. Terry Moran, IDS’ man in charge of implementing the universal credit, mooted the idea during a speech yesterday:

“If I had my way I would put their photograph on every lamp-post in the street where they live because it is a very distressing thing for genuinely disabled people to see the reputation of disabled people damaged in the way that is by those people. We have got to do something about it constructively.”

Tax avoiders are getting named and shamed, so fair is fair…

Via Telegraph