Amol Rajan: Cabinet change just to win votes is so patronising

Has this reshuffle increased competence in key departments? Looking at the biggest casualties, maybe not
Moving on: William Hague went because he realises he’ll never be Prime Minister (Picture: Getty)
Amol Rajan17 July 2014
WEST END FINAL

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Once upon a time, in a land not that far away, our politicians thought they needed to be men and women of standing and experience to be elected to Parliament. Perhaps they would be captains of industry, or have served with distinction in the Armed Forces, or be great minds. Today Westminster is besieged by the opposite sentiment: the feeling that, to get elected, you must be an Ordinary Joe.

Last week a very senior Labour figure explained this to me. We have to prove to the electorate that we are walking together with them, rather than away from them, he said. We have to show we are made of the same values, so that they think we are on their side. We have to connect.

I pointed out that this can backfire, like when Ed Miliband is pictured eating a bacon sandwich or holding a copy of The Sun. But since the expenses scandal, MPs are paranoid about being seen as out of touch.

This habit of mind is an unmitigated disaster, and found a full and frank expression in this week’s Cabinet reshuffle, which is best understood as the cult of normal made flesh. It put tokenism and obedience to focus-group research before the national interest. Of course Conservatives will argue that they believe the national interest is best defended by securing re-election, and this reshuffle can help to deliver that. I believe voters want effective government, for which competence is a key quality. Has this reshuffle increased competence in key departments? Looking at the two biggest casualties, perhaps not.

William Hague went because he realises he’ll never be Prime Minister, he doesn’t want another big job, and would rather write books and be extremely rich. Philip Hammond, the new Foreign Secretary, is exceptionally capable. But you cannot underestimate the tremors his view of the EU has caused in King Charles Street, where I used to work.

Michael Gove went for a mixture of unreported, private reasons; because Tory polling suggested he was toxic; and because — in what may have been a tactical error — Nick Clegg warned Mr Cameron that the Lib-Dems would target him. He was a radical, brave, antagonistic, usually right Education Secretary whose work was far from done. His demotion is bizarre.

If he is so toxic, why he is going to be doing plenty more broadcast work before the election? And given the Tories’ history of appointing strong party chairmen — Cecil Parkinson, Norman Tebbit, Chris Patten — why wasn’t he made chairman? Even if he has been told he can be Home Secretary after the election, Gove should come back to journalism.

The claim that Nicky Morgan, Liz Truss and Esther McVey have been appointed on merit is a bald lie. Morgan is responsible for equality in Britain but disapproves of gay marriage. Her appointment means that — unforgivably — every minister in the Department for Education was privately educated, which I guess is equality of sorts.

Everybody knows that we have a crisis of representation in this country. The reputation of Parliament has never been lower. But injecting cynicism, cowardice and tokenism, at the expense of competence and merit, will harm rather than help solve that problem. It is immature, myopic and very patronising.

Amol Rajan is editor of The Independent. Twitter: @amolrajan

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