This week something happened which is without precedent in my 40 years of parliamentary experience. On an issue of acute public importance where there had already been a parliamentary debate revealing a total cross-party consensus solidly opposed to government policy, a departmental minister then refused to see a delegation to discuss the matter further and [...]
Posts under ‘Whitehall’
See you in the chamber! Ministers snub Atos campaigners’ delegation
Mar 15th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.
This is what Jeremy Hunt thinks of the NHS
Sep 6th, 2012 by Lucy Reese.I was in a meeting this morning when the news of the latest Cabinet reshuffle (excuse me if I think that sounds like public schoolboy slang for something rather sinister) was announced. So forgive me if I am a little late to the general outrage over the appointment of Jeremy Hunt. Please excuse me if [...]
Reshuffles show Westminster in its awful naked self
Sep 6th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.What is so depressing about reshuffles is that politicians see it – as do the journalists who slavishly report it – as all about themselves, their careers, their prospects , their GPT (Got Political Talent), regardless of what might be the consequential impacts on the British people. The Prime Minister’s office issues a press notice [...]
A shuffle to the right
Sep 5th, 2012 by Darrell Goodliffe.Today, politics came back with a bang. David Cameron unveiled his first significant reshuffle since taking power after a weekend of damp squib policy announcements. In the most central area for the government, the economy, it was very much a case of plus ca change. George Osborne, unsurprisingly, remained in place, as did Vince Cable [...]
FSA takes on City chancers – oh yeah! and only 6 years too late
Aug 15th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Wow! “We need to have a low tolerance for firms that consistently bump along the bottom”. With a warning like that from the new head of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA, Tracey McDermott, the Big Five banks must be……………….laughing all the way to the bank. We’ve heard all this sort of thing before: mistakes [...]
Freedom of information: Blair’s hostility shows how important it is
Aug 1st, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Blair’s failure to co-operate with the Parliamentary select committee investigating the effectiveness of the Freedom of Infomation Act (FOI) shows just how important it is and why it now needs to be strengthened and extended. What he’s afraid of is, of course, how much more it will reveal of the unsavoury background to his autocratic [...]
Labour must challenge the canard: public sector bad, private sector good
Jul 18th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Nothing shows more starkly the relentless grip on the public consciousness (and above all the politicians) that the corporate sector has secured than the absurd fixation with outsourcing. It is automatically assumed to be more efficient, more innovative, more dynamic. Sometimes it is, sometimes it all ends in tears and the State has to pick [...]
Government drive for privatisation shows private sector not fit for purpose
Jul 16th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.It is a delicious paradox that the one persistent theme in the Coalition’s ideology is privatising everything in the public sector that moves, yet nothing has exposed the inadequacies and incompetences of privatisation so ruthlessly as the Government’s enthusiasm for it. The highlight at the moment is the Olympics security fiasco caused by mismanagement at [...]
Are there ‘sweetheart’ deals between HMRC and big business?
Jun 9th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.The victimisation of Osita Mba is upsetting. He is a revenue solicitor at HMRC who worked on the Goldman Sachs case where the latter fought for 5 years in the courts to avoid a tax liability. But when they finally lost, Dave Hartnett, the Revenue permanent secretary, reached a private deal with them in December [...]
Is Parliament fit for purpose?
Jan 21st, 2012 by Michael Meacher.A month ago the Government was defeated in a vote on the floor of the House of Commons on a very important issue – the question of the level of the EU budget. The Government whips strained every muscle they could to avoid defeat, but having been decisively defeated, the Government simply ignored the vote. [...]
