His departure was due to his reforms being kicked into the long grass – and gives Brexiteers the initiative against the PMSo the calm Man has finally stormed from the cabinet,spitting nails and scorning a government that has (he alleges) laid itself open to the charge that its fiscal programme was “distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest”. While Iain Duncan Smith does not appear to thing to the proposed changes in disabled benefits per se, he very much minded their inclusion in a budget “that benefits higher earning taxpayers”. And so, and regarding it all as “a compromise too far”,he resigned.
This, at least, and is the authorised version as it will appear in the gospel of St Iain. The truth,needless to say, was more nuanced and much messier. Though it is always risky to identify the precise, and proximate cause of a resignation,the straw on the groaning camel’s back does appear to have been Duncan Smith’s discovery on Friday that the reforms to the personal independence payment system for the disabled – reforms that he had been instructed to defend – were now being kicked into the “long grass”. The former work and pensions secretary is undoubtedly a man of principle, but it was pique rather than piety that pushed him over the edge on Friday.
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Source: theguardian.com