Thursday 11 August 2022

Will Liz Have A Tenth Of Her Courage?

I fear the answer's 'No'...
'The truth is some battles have to be fought and won,' Mrs Badenoch wrote in The Sunday Times. On becoming equalities minister in 2020, she wanted to meet campaigners on both sides of the debate. But officials said it would be 'inappropriate' to speak to Miss Bell, who was given puberty-blocking drugs at 16.

And did Kemi meekly bow to their superior wisdom? Reader, thankfully, she did not: 

Mrs Badenoch overruled the advice to hear 'harrowing' testimony from the ex-patient. On her piece for the Sunday Times, Mrs Badenoch wrote: 'The Whitehall machine often becomes the voice of interest groups in government rather than government's voice to interest groups,' the former Tory leadership contender wrote in the Sunday Times.

'Often'..? Try 'All the time'... 

'This stems from a sincere, yet naive, belief that you can appease special interests with platitudes. The truth is some battles have to be fought and won.
'This requires strengthening a civil service that is terrified of controversy and recalibrating it towards policy and away from posturing on issues it believes as too 'contentious'.'

It's a Herculean task, but Kemi appears to have the steel to make it happen. Sadly, I can't say the same for Liz Truss. 

She insisted that not all civil servants are 'hostile' but went on: 'A small minority of activist officials are the tail wagging the dog, often to the dismay of their colleagues and the hand-wringing of far more senior officials.' She accused some mandarins of being 'too scared to challenge their own staff'.

Not 'too scared' at all, I suspect. Too much in agreement. 

6 comments:

Ian J said...

That woman will be a disaster for the country if she is elected by the apparently simple-minded conservative members

VoiceOfReason said...

The point is that Truss needs people like Braverman and Badenoch in her Cabinet, and they must take action. It isn't a one (wo)man show. The strength or otherwise of a PM is in the selection and support of Ministers.

Anonymous said...

@Ian J,

What's your alternative? Sunak? FFS. Starmer. FFFS

Sometimes you have to settle for the least worst..

Stonyground said...

"Sometimes you have to settle for the least worst.."

No, you don't, spoil the ballot. Make it absolutely clear that you are prepared to take the time to turn out to vote but there are no candidates that you are prepared to vote for. Do not give your approval to a party that you do not approve of and that does not represent your interests. Nothing will change if you keep voting the same worthless bastards back in.

James Higham said...

"Least bad" ... can't run two superlatives. I'll get m'coat.

JuliaM said...

"That woman will be a disaster for the country if she is elected ..."

'If'? It's 'when', without a doubt.

"The strength or otherwise of a PM is in the selection and support of Ministers."

We've seen how well Boris chose...

"Sometimes you have to settle for the least worst.."

Ugh! I couldn't hold my nose long enough to vote...

"Nothing will change if you keep voting the same worthless bastards back in."

THIS!