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For all the ‘one nation’ rhetoric, none of our erstwhile leaders seem to understand how far government managerial failure is the cause of present woes. The evidence of the £1.2trillion debt and deficit is sufficient but now even today we learn that the Dept of Transport cannot do its sums properly or carry out proper process on rail franchising. There is this huge elephant in the room which most can see but pretend not to.
As I see it, quite simply, since WW2, ‘colonial’ administration has continued into the domestic interventionist period we now live in. Government cannot do FINANCIAL and GENERAL MANAGEMENT, and OPERATIONS. The necessary apparatus was never developed. The top Civil Service and particularly the Treasury have let the nation down. The ultimate responsibility for this lies with elected government. Trouble is, the word ‘management’ doesn’t win any votes. Yet, even if unspoken, we crave BETTER GOVERNMENT.
My MP Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt is unwilling to take a position on this but refers me to such as a speech by Rt Hon Francis Maude in 2010 saying ‘things must change’ addressed to the mandarins but in terms rather obsequiously afraid of offending.
I have been in correspondence with the National Audit Office, as personified by the Comptroller and Auditor General – the man who audits the national Accounts I am told that the Comptroller was the chap in Tudor times who sat firmly on the money box and held the key. The auditor is supposed to be independent . It is difficult to see how one person can do two such jobs. Surely the Comptroller has a conflict of interest with the Auditor General. Or has the Treasury taken over the Exchequer, leaving the Comptroller to look for something else to do ? I heard a remark that perhaps the Treasury wants to take over the interfering NAO, perhaps to make up for the upstart OBR (Office of Budget Responsibility) being ‘senior’. Nevertheless the measured terms of the C&GC reply confirms how serious has been the failure.
Peter Webb 4th October 2012 |
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