By Isle of Wight Observer
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Northern lass Angela was vocally critical of rule-breaking Tories, particularly poor old Boris and the Downing Street lockdown party. It wasn’t her gender or red hair that sealed her fate; as a Minister, she had to dot every i and cross every t – but didn’t. Karma caught up with her, eventually. Depending on your politics, hers was either a simple mistake or she’s a cheat who had to resign. Every politician should know they’re far more likely to go for personal failings rather than policy failures. Arguably, Ange’ should’ve gone for failing to build enough new homes.
Yvette should have gone for failing to have any impact on immigration. The war on Ukraine continues apace, and there’s no sign of peace in Gaza. Arguably, David Lammy’s short reign as Foreign Secretary was an abject failure. Under pressure, Chancellor Rachel Reeves hasn’t impressed anyone. The nation’s finances are shocking; some pundits predict complete collapse, maybe an IMF rescue. Wouldn’t it be great if Keir Starmer called an election saying: “We’ve had over a year, and things are evidently worse than under the useless Tories.” The opinion polls suggest many people believe that.
Even when they’ve made a total Horlicks of the department they’ve run, Ministers usually get reshuffled. They arrive in their new Whitehall offices fresh-faced with virtually no experience whatsoever. Oh, how those senior civil servants must snigger. This always makes me think of ‘Yes Minister.’ Our politicians are mostly under the control of Sir Humphrey and the Whitehall blob when it’s supposed to be the other way around. I wonder how many Ministers or even Council Leaders have the strength of character to tell their civil servants or officers what the plan is? Whatever thoughts and ideas they arrive with – they’re soon put in their place.
Last week’s reshuffle is great evidence that the current PM hasn’t a clue. Will the French listen to Yvette now that she’s Foreign Secretary, not Home Secretary? I think not. Sir Keir has made so many mistakes he too deserves to lose his job. He won’t, of course – not unless the left seizes control of the party, using the new deputy leader as cover. That contest has the potential to tear the party apart; it’s already exposed Labour’s divisions. It’s frustrated MPs who are evidently in rebellious mood, as are the membership. Labour loved pointing out the mess made by the other lot. Now in office, they’re doing exactly what the witless Tories did – while pretending all is well and it’s a work in progress.
Last week’s reshuffle occurred only because one gobby northern woman bought herself a second home seaside flat. The Government spends and borrows hundreds of billions of pounds. Until 14 days ago, the Prime Minister was happy to pretend things were going gang-busters. Then we discovered Ms Rayner had fiddled the taxman, and it was all change.
When Gordon Brown’s government was on the ropes, in desperation, he said we needed a “government of all the talents”. Sadly, he couldn’t find much of it and recalled Peter Mandelson who’d already been forced to resign twice under Tony Blair. Mandy and Brown reportedly hated each other. Astonishingly, creepy Peter made another comeback, this time as Starmer’s ‘man in Washington’. He’s always been a wrong ’un who fawned over the super-rich. He adored Epstein, even after he knew he was a convicted paedophile. We now know he believed Epstein’s conviction was wrongful and should have been challenged. Just days after the Rayner crisis, Keir defended another close colleague who was forced to sack hours later!
Previous Tory governments had similar problems. There seems little hope for better government. If I were a younger man, I’d probably head overseas for a bit.