Hunstanton beach was windswept, a bit cold and beautiful this afternoon. Fresh air was blasted into my family's bodies. The dog loved it.
And one of the conversations was a variation on the theme of 'who should be leading the left?' The variation was that my wife and I dropped the requirement that an ideal cabinet should be made up of those in parliament. Who, we mused had the necessary talent from wherever they came? A few rules were made. The people we chose had to be able communicators as well as being capable. And we tried to form a cabinet. We did not get far.
Any suggestions?
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Will Hutto
Andy Haldane
Andrew Tyree
Margaret Hodge
I like
I’d put in a word for Gina Miller as a woman of great principle. (I know she also has the money to be able to have them.) What about Home Secretary?
Caroline Lucas is also worthy of office. So is Mhairi Black.
Funnily enough no men seem to come to mind…
Accept all them!
Mhairi Black – really ? On what basis – I doubt that a flourishing UK is high on her agenda. The SNP are a broad church and once they get what they want no one knows what they will be.
George Monbiot
Sadiq Khan
Paul Mason
Gary Lineker
JK Rowling
Kate Hoey
Tim Montgomerie
Yanis Varoufakis
Niall Ferguson
Andrew Rawnsley
Isabel Hardman
Ann Pettifor
Fraser Nelson
Owen Jones
Keir Starmer
Tim Farron
Kate Hoey?
Really?
Actually, I’d question many on that list
Surely a wind-up, especially with the likes of Ferguson and Montgomerie on there?
Not to mention the Spectator-ites of various stripes.
Indeed. Most of that lot are merely the monkeys belonging the present organ grinders.
There shouldn’t be any pro-Brexit people on the list such as Kate Hoey, Ferguson etc.
The dishonest manipulating the ignorant have no place.
Only Khan and Starmer cut the mustard from that list. The rest either do not have the stature and presence required or will simply turn off voters.
Sorry, but Kate Hoey, Tim Montgomerie, Niall Ferguson, Isabel Hardman and Fraser Nelson wouldn’t be on my list.
I’d probably add Debbie Abrahams, Norman Lamb, Sarah Wollaston and Richard J Evans, if you really want a historian.
I think a pre-requisite for leading the left should be that the names mentioned are actually on the left… of that list, only Monbiot, Mason, Varoufakis, Pettifor and Jones actually qualify (plus maybe Lineker and Rowling)…
I agree
Niall Ferguson a lefty ? Spitting my tea out here!!
PM: Michelle Obama
CoEx: Ann Pettifor
Fin Sec: Richard Murphy
Home Sec: Helen Clark (the NZ one)
Foreign Sec: Gary Lineker
Defence: Crispin Blunt
Lord Chan/Justice: Keir Starmer
Health: Sarah Wollaston
Education: Caroline Lucas
Transport: “Captain Deltic” (Roger Ford)
Local Gov: Jo Lovelock (Leader, Reading BC)
Defra: Diane Abbott
Industry: Will Hutton
Scotland: Ruth Davidson
Wales: Mhairi Black
NI: James Brokenshire
CSciAdv: Jim Al-Khalili
Crispin Blunt? Really?
I’d question quite a number of others too
And I guess I should have excluded myself
The way we do politics has to be rethought. As for knowledgeable, responsible and honest citizens to run offices of state I have some names:
Sir Paul Nurse FRS – Health or Education
Caroline Lucas – Environment or even PM, Minister for Women and Equalities
Dame Carol Robinson – Minister for Women and Equalities
Margaret Hodge
Yanis Varoufakis – Chancellor
Will Hutton, Paul Mason or maybe Mark Blyth Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Mhairi Black
Gary Lineker or Tanni Grey-Thompson – Sport or even media
Leanne Wood
Michael Mansfield – Attorney General
Len McCluskey
Shami Chakrabarti
Stephen Hawking
Much as I dislike him I’d put forward Sir Alex Ferguson
Steve Keen.
A scientist would be good too, so I’d have Prof Brian Cox.
@Sue Three outstanding UK scientists with social consciousness, on my list.
And Ha-Joon Chang.
Chang – seconded – as Chancellor.
Mary Beard
Sarah Mullally
Mattew Pennycook
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Oh, and Tania Barron for Education
I would nominate Melissa Benn for Education Secretary. She would continue the pioneering work of her mother and might be able to redeem the family name after that dreadful Commons speech by her brother Hilary.
Fantasy cabinet. To fulfil the dream, you need to win seats in Parliament. And the lists shown here are largely of people unelectable. So it is nice to dream, but not a strategy for victory. And that indeed is Corbyn’s failure: he can dream of social justice and talk all he likes about the dream. But he cannot offer any way of winning power. He doesn’t even give the message that he wants to win power. So the talk of social justice and saving the NHS and sorting out social care etc will remain just that: talk. Talk is cheap.
Ideas are vital
I am currently composing my list, complete with positions. When I am done I will set it out in a blog post linking back to this one, with explanations/ justifications for all my choices.
I have produced as complete a list as I can manage, together as promised with explanations and/ or justifications for each choice: http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2017/02/26/a-dream-cabinet/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+org%2FlWWh+%28Tax+Research+UK+2%29
Thanks Thomas
Neil Wilson (Modern Money Matters)
if we so badly need a new type of politics why not Sortition.
Richard,
So far I’d have Caroline Russell, Sian Berry, Caroline Lucas, Tom Chance, Heidi Alexander (Health Sec; great on batting for the NHS), Sadiq Khan, maybe Andy Burnham if he becomes a bit less authoritarian, Caroline Pidgeon, Christian Wolmar, Prem Sikka, John Christensen, William Keegan (Observer editor) and yourself!
If I can think of any more I’ll let you know. As to who fills what role, you or other readers may decide.