BEING a minister is a considerable step up from being an MSP or MP; and even from being an opposition spokesperson. It’s a quantum increase in workload. Moreover, whilst politicians are in the public eye, ministers become public property. The job is 24/7 and your life’s no longer your own.
When first appointed Justice Secretary I recall speaking to a friend who had been a Labour minister. I explained how I couldn’t read in the car as it made me sick. You will, she said, and she was right; needs must. So much time is spent on the road that down time in the car needs utilised. Like others, I overcame the qualms and worked in the back; and in due course made the similar comments to new colleagues voicing similar concerns. Media interest increases exponentially and likewise public recognition makes even socialising much harder. Whilst the public are almost invariably polite, a self-denying ordinance is still required.
However, in ministerial office as in politics, it is events that dictate. The most difficult are those over which you’ve had little influence or control. But when the ministerial music stops you’re publicly accountable; and for some, personally responsible. Politicians and the press tend to hunt in packs and like wolves when they sense a minister is blooded, they can pursue viciously. It’s cyclical and for most it passes, though for some it can prove terminal.
At the moment, it’s the Transport Minister Humza Yousaf who’s under pressure in Scotland. The recent debacle at Waverley was a serious of calamitous events entirely beyond his control. However, to his enormous credit he refused to hide. Indeed, he was very visible in seeking to use the restricted powers he has to both address the immediate problems and provide long-term solutions.
There are clear issues with ScotRail but the hypocrisy of the opposition is unbridled. The Tories demanded his head yet lay at the root of much of the trouble with John Major’s ludicrous privatisation – a folly which other nations have steered clear of. Labour berated him for not taking ScotRail back into public ownership, whilst they failed to provide the ability to do so when in power.
I’ve no doubt he’ll survive and flourish as a minister, though challenges lie ahead. Calls to freeze fares sound attractive until it’s considered that it will result in a reduction in investment that’s needed to improve the service. The real issue is that public transport needs significantly more investment and that cannot come from the fare box. It needs to come from taxation. Public transport doesn’t make money but it’s a social need.
The Scottish Transport Minister wasn’t responsible for the problems he answered for. Meanwhile, though, Westminster Brexiters are running the UK well and truly off the tracks. They helped engineer it and that’s where ministerial culpability lies.
Liam Fox as Trade Secretary has disappeared from view. Canada recently made it clear that the UK would be after the EU, the United States and China in trade deals. The days when Britain could dispatch gunboats down the Yangtze to ensure open access whether for opium or other products passed centuries ago. The global trading that he and his ilk promised in the EU referendum is failing to materialise, and the clock is ticking.
Boris Johnson’s licensed buffoonery may have played well to Tory and even London audiences but it’s going down like a lead balloon in diplomatic circles. I’ve seen that happen with Italian justice secretaries under Silvio Berlusconi. Politicians avoid them and officials shuffle their seats to move away from them. Whilst not as odious, he’s being politically shunned all the same and treated with disdain.
David Davis is likewise. The Chief Brexit Minister is going from one arranged meeting to another and whilst the door is opened, the agenda is closed. He’s no further forward now than when Brexit was but a dream nurtured by himself and a few others. The difference is that the tectonic plates have started shifting and alliances against the UK are being forged.
Theresa May has presided over all this, even if she was notionally a supporter of Remain. The Brexit means Brexit phrase is vacuous. Her faith in God no salvation to those of us who live on this earth. Sixty years ago, Britain failed to read the runes with the US and other countries. The Suez invasion followed and an equally ignominious retreat shortly thereafter; and Anthony Eden was soon to be gone as Prime Minister. When countries said the UK would be at the back of the queue they meant it.
It’s not Humza Yousaf’s record which needs examined but the Brexiters’. Where’s the ministerial accountability and responsibility from them?
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