The upside of a new cross-party appointments process would be distance from the government of the day. The downside is the danger of boiling it down to a lowest common denominator.
The odd thing about this author and his Guardian friends is that they cannot understand movement. Though they think of themselves as progressive, they are in many ways deeply reactionary.
The may do so by concentrating on “the unsexy stuff that people care about”, which include dog mess, potholes and parking.
As Graham Stringer, a Labour MP, told GB News: “I find effectively civil servants sacking a minister, which is what has happened, quietly disturbing because one of the great myths in our political life is that we have a non-political civil service”.
The sad truth is that if the Confederation of British Industry did not exist, we would have to invent it.
Still less are civil servants paid to do so rather than getting on with the job – which taxpayers fund.
If politicians come to believe that the civil service is preoccupied with speaking truth to power at the expense of doing its job, Francis Maude-type solutions will be imposed, regardless of which party is in power.
Johnson’s deadline for ending petrol and diesel car sales was always over-optimistic. In our darkening international environment, it is an act of ludicrous folly.
His laudable focus on immediate priorities cannot forever excuse failing to address the big strategic challenges facing Britain.
“I made the decision I made for reasons that were personal to me – there was a fundamental difference of economic policy… What happened thereafter was not my doing.”
Jolyon Maugham’s latest crusade – to make barristers pass political judgement on prospective clients – is a step in a very bad direction; Sir Keir Starmer’s recent appointment of Sue Gray was another.
He was the most formidable Chancellor of the Twentieth Century and a titan of the modern Conservative Party – voting for Sunak and endorsing his approach in last summer’s Tory leadership election.,
But end by repeating that it is unfair for constituents in any seat, whatever the circumstances may be, to have a by-election forced on them by as few as one in ten of their number.
When British politics falls into the hands of trendy university graduates, the working class looks to untrendy leaders – Thatcher, Johnson – for salvation.
The longer this process takes, the more it will hang over the general election. Far better to enact reforms this year than let this issue drag on.