GOVERNMENT BY CONSENT

Yesterday I highlighted Blair’s contempt for the media and his manipulation of spin to keep him of the front pages. It would appear that his contempt for what served as news also applied to his cabinet colleagues. Lord Butler, Cabinet Secretary under Labour, revealed yesterday at the Guardian Hay Festival that in the first eight months of Tony’s government, the cabinet only made one decision; Blair and his unelected cohorts deciding most things. Since then, things had declined steadily to the point where certain cabinet sub committees did not even meet and full meetings were called merely to rubber stamp decisions that had already been made in other arenas.

A quick perusal of post 1960’s PM’s shows that Blair is the worst offender when it comes to ruling by cabinet consent. Harold Wilson, with the likes of Tony Benn, Michael Foot and Tony Crossland constantly challenging him, had no choice but to listen to his ministries. Ted Heath did the same, some say to much as in the end he took account of to many views and did little in the way of action. Even the countries most talked about modern PM, Margaret Thatcher, had the ability to listen whilst looking at you with disdain.

So what of then of Gordon Brown, government by consent or more of the same? For a man described as a “Stalinist” and who suffers from personality defects, the “more of the same” appears the best bet!