Following Andrew
Mitchell’s appalling comments last week, the latest in a long line of
ministerial cock-ups from this coalition, I ask why are these ministers not
being sacked?
As one of his local constituents, and having had the
pleasure of meeting him, I can say with a degree of authority that Andrew
Mitchell is not a pleasant person. The Chief Whip’s comments to an unlucky
policeman last week therefore came as no surprise to me. What was surprising
however is that he is still in a job. We may argue about what exactly he said, but
there is no denying that Mitchell effectively broke the law by abusing a
policeman, and could have certainly been arrested. Furthermore, the classist
tone of his comments, labelling the policeman a ‘pleb’ were not only offensive
and unacceptable, they revealed what lies beneath the ‘all in this together’
veneer of the Tory Party. Such a slip will have no doubt infuriated Number 10.
However, despite outrage from the public, the Police Federation, the
opposition, and I’m sure, from David Cameron, Andrew Mitchell appears to have
weathered the storm and remains in a job.
This is a common trend in this government. Minister after
minister has cocked up, faced intense media pressure, yet remained where they
are. Admittedly, there have been a few exceptions such as Liam Fox, Chris Huhne
and David Laws. However, the Liam Fox and Adam Werritty affair exposed the kind
of sleaze, nepotism and corruption that no minister could survive. Similarly,
the suspicion that Huhne lied over his speeding points and the impending court
case would have forced anyone out. And finally, David Laws’ demotion due to his
fraudulent expenses was only short lived.
Others like Theresa May, however, have weathered
considerable pressure to resign. Her incompetence
in the border agency pilot scheme affair and her fumbling over the deportation
of Abu Hamza demonstrated serious shortcomings, which appear to have been
overlooked. Similar ineptitude was demonstrated back in July 2010 when Michael
Gove was forced to apologise to both the Commons and council leaders due to
errors on the Building Schools for the Future programme list. He too, remained
in his position. Finally, one can almost feel sorry for Andrew Lansley and the
torrid time his NHS reforms have endured. Constant U-turns and a rolling out of
‘listening’ exercises decimated both his initial policy and confidence in him,
yet, until the recent reshuffle, he remained in his role.
Such policy failures have also been accompanied by
buffoonish comments, which too have been overlooked. Whatever is said, it seems
that a rushed apology and claims that they were misunderstood is enough to save
a minister’s skin. The most notable of these slip-ups saw Ken Clarke declare to
Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Radio 5 Live that there are different categories of
rape which are not all as serious as each other. There were also the remarkable
comments from Vince Cable who ‘declared war’ on Rupert Murdoch. Although we may
agree with his sentiment, it was certainly not appropriate for the business
secretary to display such tribalism. He showed a clear disregard for the
impartiality he was expected to demonstrate in his quasi-judicial role
regarding the BSkyB bid. Admittedly he was stripped of all his powers regarding
media policy, but he remained in his cabinet position nevertheless.
The man that replaced him in the BSkyB deliberations,
however, demonstrated the worst behaviour of any minister in this government
still in a job. Jeremy Hunt and the undeniable sleaze that surrounded him, his
advisor Adam Smith (who was actually forced to quit), and their contact with
James Murdoch was a sickening episode which made Vince Cable look impartial!
Again however, Jeremy Hunt remained in his job.
So why have the coalition’s ministers escaped the chop on so
many occasions? One can suggest a series of explanations. Firstly, there is a
worrying lack of talent on the Conservative and Lib Dem backbenches, a dearth of people that
could step into the ministerial breach. The fact that Ken Clarke was brought
back in the first place suggests this, along with the failure of some new Tory
faces like Baroness Warsi. Secondly, one could put it down to a weak PM, an
interpretation I’m sure all of us in the Labour Party would suggest, and one
supported by Cameron’s persistent failure to control his own backbenchers.
Thirdly however, these ministerial great escapes are also down to a weak
opposition. For example, Gove’s errors over the BFfS programme were made during
the Labour Leadership campaign so the preoccupied opposition struggled to place
him under substantial pressure. Ed Miliband also made concerted attempts to put
pressure on Ken Clarke, and Jeremy Hunt, demanding that both of them resign,
but to no avail.
Perhaps an even more worrying explanation however is that
the country just doesn’t care. Ministers can stay in their jobs whatever the
mistake made, as the public have become so disenchanted with party politics
that their votes will not change either way. As “politicians are all the same”,
the public simply believe that the replacement will not be much better. If this
is the reason then there are several fundamental issues that need solving to
increase public trust in politicians, and re-engage the public in electoral
politics or change our system to allow other, growingly popular forms of
political action to be recognised, like protests.
More fundamental, general causes for the greater durability
of ministers like this appear more plausible, as the decline in individual
ministerial responsibility is not new. It is a trend that has gathered pace
over previous decades. Ministerial great escapes were rare in early post-war
British politics. For example, in 1954 the Agriculture minister Thomas Duggle
resigned over the mistakes of his civil servants. Later, in 1967, then
Chancellor James Callaghan resigned after the pound was devalued. However, for
the same policy failure in the 1990’s Tory Chancellor Norman Lamont was not
forced to resign over Black Wednesday. Labour, in government and opposition in
recent years also appeared more lenient. Ed Balls as Education secretary in the
last government passed the buck on the failed marking of SATS, and over the
appalling treatment of Baby P. To give just another example whilst we have been
in opposition, Diane Abbott was also lucky to stay in her job after her foolish
comments over how white people like to “Divide and Rule”.
Therefore, although the coalition’s ministers appear to have
been particularly lucky, individual ministerial responsibility has been declining
for decades. The cause of this therefore is likely to be a long term shift in
the type of character’s in politics and public expectations of politicians (although
one could certainly suggest that some of the more specific reasons suggested
have contributed in this government). This long term decline in standards and
expectations needs to be halted. There needs to be a far firmer set of
boundaries that ministers must adhere to and that we can all understand. These
would remove the current grey areas which allow a minister like Andrew Mitchell
or Jeremy Hunt to escape an impending demotion. In short, as a general public
we need to halt ministerial complacency and expect a far higher standard of
behaviour and competence from those in charge.
Joe Collin
No comments:
Post a Comment