David Cameron shows his incompetence daily.
He's been a knee-jerk disaster on Libya.
Now he shows his own inability to manage. Unlike Cameron I've managed quite a lot of small businesses. And employed quite a lot of people. One thing I've learned from doing so is ratting on your won staff is not a good idea. I'm not sure I ever did it. I hope not. It seemed like the most obvious and most basis lesson of management. It undermines morale. It destroys trust. It creates conflict inside the business. It prevents delivery of product - whatever the aim is.
So this weekend Cameron ratted on this own staff - and quite massively so. He called them the 'enemies of enterprise'. He ratted on his own staff highlighting those he called:
• "The bureaucrats in government departments who concoct those ridiculous rules and regulations that make life impossible, particularly for small firms."
‚Ä¢ "The town hall officials who take for ever with those planning decisions that can be make or break for a business — and the investment and jobs that go with it."
• "The public sector procurement managers who think that the answer to everything is a big contract with a big business and who shut out millions of Britain's small- and medium-sized companies from a massive potential market."
Hang on: I run small businesses. I reckon the insurance renewal I have on my desk is a lot more onerous than any other admin burden I face a year. That or the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales annual return form I complete as an accountant. They're more burdensome than anything I can think the government asks of me. And both are private sector demands. Buy both have rules - rules I need to comply with to meet contractual obligations. Society imposes rules - and rightly so - meaning we have claims against government as well as obligations to it. The admin is the corollary of the benefit we get as small businesses from government. Trained people with health care supplied, with pensions supplied, with unemployment risk supplied and much, much more. That's why we have rules.
Then there's planning - NIMBYism is highest in Tory rural areas. And are we to abandon the green belt? Or the right to appeal? Is that what he's saying?
And let's be candid - most government contracts go to big business for a reason - that small business is not national and government is. And scale buys lowest price. Like it or not there are horses for courses. Small business may be able to serve councils - but national government - sorry, not nationally, not often, so these is simply a demand that the cost of public services be increased by abandoning economies of scale.
Canmeron shows three things by making his demand.
First he shows that his priority is ensuring tax revenues are captured for private benefit. I've blogged this before - but we're seeing it everywhere - and especially in the NHS - that Cameron's big idea is to pass the benefit of the public sector to private companies.
This shows the second part of his thinking. He believes private gain is more important than any community gain from commercial activity. So much for the Big Society - he is saying what he's for is Big Profit - at cost to society from poor regulation, a rampant right to demand assets without the right of appeal, and by granting contracts without demanding best value for money - an opportunity for cronyism and abuse if ever we saw one coming.
And finally it says that private ethics matter much more to this man than public ethics - he's saying the public good does not matter. The civil service is not perfect. It's inefficient on occasion. And annoying too. But it does uphold the public good. I think successfully, by and large. But Cameron sets out to undermine them and tell them what they're doing is of no value. We know where his heart lies as a result.
In the wrong place.
In the place where corruption follows.
In the place where exploitation is allowed, and condoned.
Where democracy recedes.
Where business is based on who you know.
That's Cameron's world.
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Is there anything you like about David Cameron?
@Alan Kennedy
Nothing I can think of
Why should I? A man who holds most in contempt has no likeable qualities
Locally, judging by his speeches, he has been very supportive of schools, the disabled and small businesses. Surely those qualities are likeable. He was extremely complimentary about the NHS staff following the birth of his recent staff – surely that act is likeable?
I like this!
“The civil service is not perfect. It’s inefficient on occasion.” On occasion?!
The MOD for one,do you mean?! Even Parliament criticized their performance-
Parliament’s Committee of Public Accounts criticised the “recklessness and irresponsibility” of defence ministry financial planners. Not forgetting the £22 light bulbs of course! Richard,I think suffer from selective reading!
David Cameron can’t do anything about the banks because over 50% of Tory government funding comes from banks.
But if those, who do not suffer the consequences of their actions, persist in ignoring principles and sacrifice integrity for political expediency and personal gain, then the UK will not survive.
@Brian
I made clear it has faults
But so has the private sector – enormous numbers of them
That’s human frailty
We make mistakes
So?
Are you free of them?
@Alan Kennedy
Hang on – he’s removing school support, letting it ipt our of democratic control, massively cutting support for the disabled, and small business has had vast ranges of services and support cut
And he’s privatising the NHS – destroying it
From what view point do you see the world?
Clearly from the far right
@ Richard Murphy — “And he’s privatising the NHS – destroying it”.
The British Medical Association has weighed in on the new Prime Minister David Cameron’s health care proposals.
The ALLERGISTS voted to scratch it, but the DERMATOLOGISTS advised not to make any rash moves. The GASTROENTEROLOGISTS had a a gut feeling about it and the NEUROLOGISTS thought the government had a lot of nerve.
The OBSTETRICIANS felt they were all labouring under a misconception, whereas he OPHTHALMOLOGISTS considered the idea short-sighted.
PATHOLOGISTS said; “over my dead body!” and the PAEDIATRICIANS said, “Oh, Grow up!” The PSYCHIATRISTS thought the whole idea was madness, while the RADIOLOGISTS could see right through it.
The SURGEONS were fed up with the cuts and decided to wash their hands of the whole thing. The ENT specialists didn’t swallow it, and just wouldn’t hear of it.
The PHARMACOLOGISTS thought it was a bitter pill to swallow and the PLASTIC SURGEONS said, “This puts a whole new face on the matter….”
The PODIATRISTS thought it was a step forward, but the UROLOGISTS were pee’d-off with the whole idea. The ANAESTHETISTS thought the whole idea was a gas, but the CARDIOLOGISTS didn’t have the heart to say no.
In the end, the PROCTOLOGISTS won out by declaring that, alas, they were facing disaster.
@Alan Kennedy
Alan, Cameron’s only enployment background is in PR; at it’s best, it’s called putting a positive spin on things, at it’s worst, lying. Before the election, he said he’d never do anything to the BBC. Now it’s been hit with a 6 year licence fee freeze.
Before the election he said there’d be no more NHS reorganisations – and now he wants to get rid of it.
Do you actually believe a word he says?
@Richard
In six weeks time I’m due to spend three days delivering a workshop to a small group of new Fast Stream entrants to the civil service. So I sat and watched Cameron’s performance with a particular interest. And I wondered whether I should start the event by reminding them that they are in fact ‘enemies of enterpise’, and therefore, by definition in the new world of the Tories, pretty damned worthless. Consequently we might all say ‘stuff you’ and spend three days making merry at taxpayers expense.
Of course, that will not happen, despite the snide remarks that show an utter lack of respect for the thousands of people who carry out the work of government day in, day out (many on crap pay).
But I have to say that when I ran this event a month before the election last year and we discussed possible outcomes from the election – and everyone agreed it would be tough – I never ever imagined (and I’m sure none of my students did) that their political masters – indeed their political master – would stoop this low. I just hope that, like you, many people who’ve actually managed organisations reagrdless of their political stripe will now realise that with this government anything goes.
Ps. Where are the LibDems yet again?!
Politicians should realise that in this era of managerial politics they need to be effective managers and sadly most of them are not. In the lunchtime news, the blame for the calamitous decision to send the SAS was being shifted to Hague who apparently is now insisting that further attempts will be made to liaise with the ‘rebels’ in Eastern Libya. This is despite the latters’ insistence that they do not want any foreign interfernce at this stage.
With regard to Cameron’s attack on the enemies of enterprise, perhaps he should visit the £350 million German investment in West Norfolk and the business incubator units near Ely, both of which were encouraged and supported by local authority economic develepment units.
My understanding of the MOD problems is that many of them stemmed from the grandiose wishlists of the military ( the phrase boys and toys spring to mind). Of course there are always inefficiences in large organisations and sound financial management is essential. However, you only have to read the letters in the financial section of the weekend newspapers to realise that the private sector (especially the banks ) is far from perfect and that customer care for them is often an alien concept.
Many excellent articles RM , unfortunately this was not one of them.
Cameron bashing may appeal to trendy lefties but it looks sterile to a lot of people. Please do not label any ande every criticism of your artices as being from the far right- it makes you look small- and I know you are not. Anyway I would contend there is much Government work that could be contracted to small companies, I have knowledge of the area.
David Blanchflower had a similar thing to say:
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/david-blanchflower/2011/03/public-sector-workers-business
@Stephen Griffiths
I refer you to David Blanchflower
I think I am entirely right this time
Cameron knows nothing about small business – and In definitely do
If that makes me look small, so be it
And given I think most Tories are from the fra right – reflecting the fact that being a moderate social democrat puts you on the left now – then that’s also right
Meeting Tory MPs as I do – mostly – and let’s be candid – ignorant, bigoted buffoons – reinforces the view
Ignoring the personalization of the subject,the private sector presumeably wastes it`s own or borrowed money,and may well suffer as profit is their motive.Public money is another matter entirely-and it puzzles me that whist trying to ensure that everyone rightfully pays the correct amount of tax,you seem not to care on how it is spent. From an ethical point of view,I`d have thought one should be concerned about the management of both equally-not your remit I know,but I`d have thought that it deserved a little more sympathetic reply.
@PSG
That was a good one.
I do agree with you Richard. The cardinal sin of management is to rat out your own staff. But not only that, he’s ratting out his own profession by selling off large amounts of the public sector to the private sector.
I don’t understand how the Direct Democracy supporters in the Conservative Party can even tolerate this, as they support the democratisation of the public sector, not the wholesale destruction of it.
The public sector may need to be smaller, yes. But the idea is to make that happen through efficiency savings (NOT cuts) by removing staff who either don’t perform or don’t do a significant role. Any minister or clerk or public sector worker capable of making decisions that affect the wider public must be able to be removed by the people and preferable appointed by the public too.
@Brian
The private sector also wastes my money – I think it’s called my pension fund
And since private pensions are becoming compulsory the standard is identical
And of course I care about how it is spent – and would like much enhanced accountability for it – not spurious detail on expenses etc but much better accounting
I just happen to think the standard is the same and at present government is likely to be at least as efficient as the private sector – who lost the money that caused the crisis from which gov’t has bailed us out