It came as no great surprise to anyone (and I would include the Health Secretary in that category) that it was revealed yesterday that both Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson think Matt Hancock ‘totally fucking hopeless'. Since the evidence is compelling it is hard to extend discussion on his merits, and demerits.
That is not, however, the end of the matter. The opinion was expressed near the beginning of this crisis. Hancock is still in post. At least 150,000 people have died. It is thought that maybe 40,000 more will do so as a result of the delta or Johnson variant, which was wilfully permitted to enter the country as a result of a desperate desire for a trade deal with India, where it originated. The helplessness is clearly not peculiar to Hancock in that case. His boss is very obviously as bad.
But worse, it would seem that Johnson is beyond help. That follows from having a prime ministerial system of government where almost absolute power rests in a person who it is increasingly apparent is wholly unfit to administer it.
With power comes responsibility. One requirement of power is to appraise past actions and to act on the conclusions reached. If Johnson had used that power appropriately he would have, based on his appraisal of Hancock, removed him from office. He had the power to do so. He did not. That means he embraces the hopelessness, and makes it his own.
Another requirement of power is to predict the future and to take best steps to mitigate risk. Johnson's actions on the delta variant are the clearest sign of his inability to do that. He knew the risks. He saw that other countries were locking down in the face of it. He did not for reasons of his own expediency. Tens of thousands of people will likely pay for that with their lives in the weeks and months to come. That is as criminal as the action of those of First World War generals ordering troops out of trenches day after day knowing many, if not most, would die as a result, with no gain resulting.
A third requirement of power is to lead. The feedback on Johnson is of his utter inability to do so. He cannot chair meetings. He cannot set an example. He is unpredictable, meaning he is impossible to follow. His approach, based on saying whatever he thinks necessary in the moment to secure a headline without consideration for the consequence tomorrow, makes policy almost impossible to predict, and ensures that consistency is simply absent from his work. And with this clearly being deep wired within him, he is helpless.
This leads to the conclusion that Johnson leads a government that is useless to the UK at present. It is incompetent from the top down. Those close to it know it. Those further from it can all too readily see the consequences. But the people of this country voted for it, and if Johnson as to be toppled by his own party - who are the only people with the ability to do that - then a tiny number of far right, old, racist and misogynistic members of the Conservative party would choose his successor. And we are told that, apparently, there is nothing that we can do about this.
Which is true whilst Labour maintains its tribalistic approach to politics that so arrogantly assumes that it alone has all the alternatives to the Tories in its possession, which is a claim so untrue that it puts them into a category little better than the Conservatives themselves.
The result is we get almost (I use the word with care, because I am not talking absolutes here) universally hopeless, helpless and useless politicians who fail to offer hope to the country. We can all nominate some exceptions. They do exist. But they are rare. And that must be because of systemic failings in our political system because I meet competent people with political opinions on a day to day basis, many of whom would more than ably rise to the challenges that government presents.
The question is then, are we able, helpful, and courageous enough to demand the change that will consign hopeless, helpless and useless politics to history?
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‘Hopeless, helpless and useless’ is basically what Tim Snyder is saying about ‘ inevitability politics’ in his book ‘The Road to UnFreedom’ – I offer this as a triangulation of course, in support of your blog.
Matt Hancock is the used car salesman of British politics – he’s not to be trusted at all. He’s much more dangerous than he looks – stupid? – I don’t think so – because he has a capacity to lie barefacedly (the ‘protective ring around care homes’ bollocks for example). He has lied for his party and his career.
In one sense though he was dealt a bad hand by his party. One thing I have not seen Johnson or Cummings do is rail against the severe gung ho and gleeful austerity of Osbourne and Cameron which according to the Sunday Times undermined our ability to deal with the pandemic. We were apparently the second best prepared nation for a pandemic in 2003.
I don’t see the Tories as incompetent any more. It’s even worse than that. These people are beyond incompetent and entered a more deadly realm of consciousness a long time ago. Frankly they just don’t care. To me their mens rea reeks of intentional negligence.
The verdict: Guilty.
Pilgrim, please! Osbourne bites the heads off bats. It’s Osborne who’s the nasty one.
Now, now that’s not fair Bill – Ozzie thought it was a fake bat and it wasn’t.
When George bit the head of the British economy he knew exactly that blood would be spilt and carried on regardless.
Bastard that he is.
Still is.
Why is it always people from the hard left, so convinced of their moral superiority, that spew forth hate and bile like this on the internet, twitter and in real life?
I am sure Dominic Cummings will be a little surprised to find himself described as a member of the hard left
Bit let me ask you a question. Last time you were here you were Andrew? Why it is that the far right change identities so often? Is it that they lack the courage of their convictions? Or is it that they know they utter falsehoods?
“I am sure Dominic Cummings will be a little surprised to find himself described as a member of the hard left”.
Maybe not. The Revolutionary Communist Party are at the heart of Comrade Boris’ government (unless Mirza has moved on).
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/01/why-johnsons-tories-fell-for-a-tiny-sect-of-libertarian-provocateurs-rcp
@Mike
This 17 year old article by George Monbiot. outlines how the Revolutionary Communist Party operated:
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/dec/09/highereducation.uk2
The may have RCP disbanded but it lives on in the form of Spiked and The Institute of Ideas. Their ideology, in as far as they had one, seemed to be a strange mixture of Leninist state capitalism and neo-liberalism although they claimed to be Marxist, indeed the only true Marxists. They also claimed to be pro free speech but would go to some lengths to shut up people who disagreed with them. As Monbiot’s particle outlines, they are entryists. It’s nearly a quarter of a century since i had any dealings with them but at one time when I was the branch secretary of a union they were trying to take over I had to deal with them on an almost daily basis. In this case they did not succeed, but as the Monbiot article and the follow article show, they were successful elsewhere:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jul/08/davidpallister.johnvidal1
The commonly told story about the RCP is that they swung from the extreme left to the extreme right. This may be true of one or two individuals in the organisation but as far as I am concerned those I had the most dealings with, principally Clare Fox, have never been on the left.
Why is it that people like you bother to come here at all?
Our comments here are based on observation and facts.
You choose ignore them.
Fine.
But do ignorance somewhere else eh?
This was in response to ‘Yvonne ‘ BTW.
“In the context of British politics “hard left” is a figment of the hard right’,s imagination. That group which constitutes anything approaching “hard left” occupies the furthest fringe if the left.
On the other hand, the “hard right” currently occupied the leadership of the Tory party and their benches in parliament.
Your transgender troll is presumably from that sector so far to the right that the government can be labelled ‘left’! A questionable contribution to the sum of human knowledge and clear evidence that persistent vegetative states are not confined to the obviously ill of health!
According to Wikipedia, she is still in post. Page was last edited on 15 June. So, presumably, up to date.
Cummings has a most interesting blog — which I visited today. One bit of it has a section called “Government procurement – ‘the horror, the horror’. It’s worth a read. One take away is that UK governments do very badly in emergencies, perhaps a function as RM’s article noted that the gov “It is incompetent from the top down”. Cummings noted:
“MPs constantly repeat the absurd SW1 mantra that ‘there’s no money’ while handing out a quarter of a TRILLION pounds every year on procurement and contracting. I engaged with this many times in the Department for Education 2010-14. The Whitehall procurement system is embedded in the dominant framework of EU law (the EU law is bad but UK officials have made it worse). It is complex, slow and wasteful. It hugely favours large established companies with powerful political connections – true corporate looters. The likes of Carillion and lawyers love it because they gain from the complexity, delays, and waste. It is horrific for SMEs to navigate and few can afford even to try to participate. The officials in charge of multi-billion processes are mostly mediocre, often appalling. In the MoD corruption adds to the problems.”
I did some research into the UK gov’ procurement system a few years back (for a G7 country). I met a senior bod from the cabinet office, charged with improving it and he said very much the same as the final sentence in the extract. I don’t like Cummings but on Gov procurement he is dead right. Furthermore, the problem extends to many/most western governments. My experience of reports that the European Commission pays for from outside contractors is that, at least in the areas I am expert, they are garbage, trash, verging on fraudulent. They are not even peer reviewed. They are so bad that I am minded to contact Olaf (EU Anti-Fraud Office) and make a complaint.
Given the above, I’d suggest that the “problem” with respect to many western govs and their administrations is a systemic one, systemic incompetence.
I agree
And this is an area where EU law really does not help
Basically it says cheap is good – even if fuelled by low wages, tax abuse or anything else
Why do some of the people who voted for Brexit and Johnson et al spew forth hate and bile about foreigners, the EU, coloured people ?