Thank less task that speaks volumes about a weak PM
THE CONVENTIONAL view is that Boris Johnson has the toughest job in Britain as Covid- 19, the recession and Brexit trade negotiations with the EU all coalesce.
I disagree. The hardest role in the country will fall to the poor person selected to speak for the Prime Minister at new televised briefings.
As Johnson tries to hire a female broadcaster – presumably to try to mask his own inability to address the Cabinet’s gender imbalance – you have to feel for the successful applicant when Ministers are incapable on agreeing the day of the week, or time of day, before having to make a U- turn.
Take this scenario. The ‘‘ face of government’’ is asked if the PM has full confidence in Education Secretary Gavin Williamson. They reply in the affirmative.
They’re then asked if they, themselves, would trust Williamson with their family’s education. Cue a moment of indecision and the new spokesperson becomes the story.
Or the chain of events if they’re asked, by way of example, about the compulsory wearing of face masks in public – and the Government indicating that it has no such plans before a trademark volteface. Why should the spokesperson – essentially an unelected civil servant – take the flak for the indecisiveness and obfsucation of their masters?
Or the reaction if the spokesperson is genuinely stumped by a question on the nuance of a complex policy, say pensions, and that they give a misleading example to hide their awkwardness and, in doing so, create more confusion? I could go on – but you get the drift.
As such, there’s only one reason why Johnson wants to make such an appointment – he wants to deflect attention away from his many unforced policy errors and avoid scrutiny.
Despite having a Commons majority of 80 seats after winning last December’s election, he finds himself with a party management issue, and a collective loss of confidence, in his ability to lead – even senior Tory MPs like Sir Charles Walker advised the PM this week to be “honest with the nation” ( the unspoken inference, intentional or otherwise, was that this had not been the case).
But appointing a TV spokesperson, when the country and Government have so many other pressing priorities, will only make matters worse.
And, as such, the time has come for the PM to start accepting responsibility for his actions as Prime Minister rather than leaving it to others through this shameless window dressing designed to mask his own failings. It won’t.
LOOK on the bright side – Chris Grayling, aka Failing Grayling, is no longer involved with oversight of the intelligence and security services. It draws a line under his latest political calamity.
Grayling had been lined up by Boris Johnson to head Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee as a ‘ reward for failure’.
Yet he managed to lose an election rigged in his favour after his fellow Tory, Dr Julian Lewis, launched a last minute coup and secured the chairmanship.
Now a piqued Grayling has resigned from the committee – proof, as I recorded at the time, that he had no interest, or expertise, in the security services in the first place. The worry is that he’s now potentially free for other job opportunities. Like Education Secretary.
HAVING lost loved ones to cancer in the past year, the only consolation is that they did not have to contend with Covid- 19 in addition to their treatment.
Yet my heart goes out to all those patients, and also their friends and family, now coping with two cruel conditions – cancer and coronavirus.
They are enduring a living nightmare, hence the well- intended call by Chris Bryant, a senior Labour MP, for a task force to be set up to help the NHS catch up with the backlog of cancer cases.
Yet Health and Social Care Matt Hancock’s response was disappointing. He suggested a “programme of restart is well under way” – treatment understandably had to be put on hold – and that “we are now halfway through recovering from that backlog on the latest figures”. Halfway? All the more reason for this process to be speeded up before any second wave of Covid- 19.
SIR Ed Davey spoke movingly, after his election as Lib Dem leader, about his family’s challenges caring for their disabled son John, the love of their lives.
Left bereft of support when Covid- 19 struck, I hope Sir Ed uses his personal experiences to become a genuine champion for carers – and the care sector. The country needs such an advocate. It might also give the ailing Lib Dems a new raison d’être if they can become the carers’ party.
DONCASTER MP Dame Rosie Winterton – the Deputy Speaker – was in an invidious position when Commons proceedings threatened to over- run during a debate on fishing. “Just a reminder that the more interventions there are, the less time there is for others who want to get in,” she told MPs.
Yet why shouldn’t backbenchers interject? After all, proceedings end prematurely on many other days and the last thing that Parliament needs is more MPs reading out pre- prepared speeches and not listening to others. They’re enough of them already.
FINALLY the BBC’s glee about the return of live cricket to its network for the first time in 21 years ignored the fact that the Corporation should never have taken its eye off the ball in the first place.
Yet many will have been put off by the commentary – as opposed to punditry – of Michael Vaughan who has still to learn the art of silence. Oh for the days for Tony Lewis and the late Richie Benaud, television’s true voices of summer.