Government sees off truckers

Ministers hardened line against truckers

By BBC News Online political correspondent Nick Assinder

There can be no doubt that the government has handled the fuel protest with considerable skill.

In September, when the truckers brought the country to a virtual standstill, there was a whiff of panic in Downing Street.

Ministers appeared not to know how to react and whether the public really did support the protesters to the extent claimed.

When the dispute was called off and the 60-day deadline was imposed there were real fears that much worse could be on the way.

But when that deadline ran out on Tuesday, it appeared the protest had lost much of the public support and had virtually fizzled out.

There was some disruption, which may have only succeeded in alienating more voters, and ministers stood ready to hold yet more talks with the demonstrators.

But the predicted chaos failed to materialise. The protesters have been split and, to a large extent, isolated.

Brown chipped away support

And much of this has been down to the way that, once it got a grip of itself, the government handled the dispute.

It took two forms. First there was Chancellor Gordon Brown's carefully-crafted mini-budget; then there was the "spin".

Around the time of the Labour Party conference, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had clearly decided they were going to take on the truckers.

Picking a fight

There were even suggestions that, once they had decided public support for the protesters was fragile and could be chipped away further, the government was relishing a fight.

As former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher proved more than once, picking a fight with certain vested interests can do wonders for your public image.

And it appeared that, not for the first time, Mr Blair was ready to take a leaf out of Baroness Thatcher's book.

The language from ministers suddenly hardened with the insistence that, while the government would do what it could, it was not prepared to deny cash to pensioners, nurses and schools to buy off the farmers and truckers.

Propaganda war

Mr Brown then produced a package of measures that offered significant benefits to the protesters - through such things as road fund rebates and the "Brit disc" - while at the same time refusing the demands for large across the board cuts in petrol tax.

At the same time - and despite persistent claims ministers were not picking a fight or engaging in a propaganda war - Downing Street stoked up fears of what the protesters might do next.

While blaming the media for sparking panic, the spin doctors kept on talking about the threats that had been made to food supplies and the consequences further action could have on hospitals, schools and so on.

Home Secretary Jack Straw even made a Commons statement on the measures he was putting in place to save the country from imminent collapse.

And he published evidence of widespread intimidation during the previous dispute.

And the police appeared to have been given a nod and a wink to do whatever they deemed necessary to prevent widespread disruption.

It all worked a treat. Many members of the public believed Mr Brown had done enough to satisfy the protesters and that further action would be unjustified.

The protesters themselves split with many of the original members refusing to back the new action.

And when D-day arrived ministers hardened their language even further with Transport Minister Lord Macdonald even appearing to withdraw his invitation for further talks with the protesters.

The remaining protesters are insisting they still have public support and their campaign will continue with fresh action possible after Christmas.

But ministers must now be confident that this is one winter of discontent they have successfully headed off.