Monday 24 February 2020
Ministerial revolving door spins yet again
In Boris Johnson’s recent cabinet reshuffle, the Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick, kept his job, but Esther McVey (“The Mouth of the Mersey”) got the sack as Housing and Planning Minister after barely six months in the job. Her replacement is Christopher Pincher, the MP for Tamworth since 2010 (prior to which the seat had been held by Labour). He last held a junior ministerial position in the Foreign Office and as a government whip. His precise ministerial responsibilities are still not stated on the MHCLG website.
If we were in the Crown Court, Hizonner (before passing sentence) would turn to Inspector Morse and ask him to read the antecedents, to which Morse would have to reply, “Nothing known, Your Honour.” I have never known a minister to have such a vague, or in fact non-existent, CV. I have only seen one press report in which he was vaguely stated to have been “an IT consultant”. MPs are rarely so reticent about their careers before entering parliament.
One thing that is certain is that he knows Sweet Fanny Adams about town and country planning, but since when has complete ignorance of the subject for which one has been given ministerial responsibility ever been seen as a disqualification?
I can’t recall how many Housing & Planning ministers there have been since 2010, but whatever the actual number may have been it has been far too many. Ministers can hardly master their departmental briefs before being moved on, which does not make for any continuity or consistency in policy making or in the delivery of those policies. It’s hardly surprising that the long-awaited Planning White Paper has been postponed yet again.
What a way to run a country!
© MARTIN H GOODALL
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A correspondent has written to me to follow up this post, and I thought what he wrote was worth sharing. However, as this was a private note, I am not publishing me correspondent's name.
ReplyDelete"Another excellent blog, if I may say.
There have been 10 Housing Ministers in 10 years (I’m sure you know this!). This article from leasehold knowledge sums the situation up quite nicely:
https://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/10-housing-ministers-in-10-years-all-you-need-to-know/
Feb 2020 – present Chris Pincher
July 2019 – Feb 2020 Esther McVey: Showed empathy to poorer leaseholders, er …
July 2018 – July 2019 Kit Malthouse: Disappointment, as knew something. Attended a cladding meeting; sorted a leasehold houses issue in constituency.
Jan 2018 – July 2018 Dominic Raab: Utterly silent.
Jun 2017 – Jan 2018 Alok Sharma: Silent.
July 2016 – June 2017 Gavin Barwell: The only significant one. Called out the compromised Leasehold Advisory Service. Backed boss Sajid Javid’s call for zero ground rents, banning leasehold houses and leasehold reform.
July 2014 – July 2016 Brandon Lewis: Developers’ chum.
Oct 2013 – July 2014 Kris Hopkins: Useless.
Sept 2012 – Oct 2013 Mark Prisk: Better. Knew something. Sacked.
May 2010 – Sept 2012 Grant Shapps: The worst. Said No problem in leasehold.
Keep up the good work!"
[I would stress that the candid assessments of the respective ministers' performance is neither my correspondent's own view nor mine, but is simply a quotation from LKP - the Leaseholder's Charity.]