Being in office does not mean a Minister is in power – My Article for Conservative Home

Being in office does not mean a Minister is in power. The present government has some attractive policies and ambitions, but it is finding it tough to get them adopted and implemented.

It wants inflation down as does the public but is caught up with the largely false doctrine that the Bank of England is independent. It appears boxed in by the past large mistakes of the Bank.  This is a body owned by the taxpayer, whose Governor is appointed by the government and who reports to both the Chancellor and the Treasury Committee of Parliament. On its website it tells us that its dominant policy of the last 12 years, printing loads of money and buying bonds was one where it was merely acting as the agent of the Treasury. It is true that successive Chancellors from Alastair Darling to Jeremy Hunt signed off all the bond buying and selling and indemnified the Treasury against the entire predictable huge losses they will now make on these bonds they bought so badly. Unfortunately the Bank’s  independence over interest rates led to them being too low for too long and an inflation five times the level set out in their target and the instructions from Parliament and government to them. . Ministers now need to get a grip on the losses and the policy moves to get inflation back to the 2% where government wanted it. The public will blame Ministers more than the Bank for the inflation and for any recession the Bank now wants to correct its past mistakes.

The government  wants migration down but has just presided over a record number of  new arrivals over the last year. The government looks powerless to stop the flow of illegal travellers across the channel most days. Ministers do want the numbers down. They have made that clear to their officials. They have put legislation through to toughen the rules. They have tipped more money into Home Office budgets. They have gone hoarse asking officials to speed up consideration of asylum claims, and asking legal advisers to ensure people cannot defeat a fair decision they are  not an asylum seeker by frequent appeals and legal stunts. Instead of this working Ministers  get briefed against and complained against for being impatient to demand a policy it appears officials do not like, and clever lawyers run rings round the current law designed to stop them. Some combination of new laws, better administration and fewer enticements to come are needed to bring a success. The PM needs to back his Home Secretary to get it done.

It wants more young people to be able to afford a home. I agree.  Controlling numbers of new people coming to live here is the single most important thing the government could do to help. If every year we need to build the equivalent of a city the size of Portsmouth – or last year twice the size, a city like Liverpool – to house the new arrivals it is no wonder we are short of homes. Most of the new migrants need the lower priced homes and the social housing which young people also need. The government needs to end the cheap labour model based on granting more permits to migrants to come and take low wage jobs. This is cheap for the employer but dear for the taxpayer, who is left with the bill for top up benefits, social housing, extra public service provision and the rest.

It wants to deliver the Brexit it promised to win a decisive victory in 2019 on the slogan of getting Brexit done. To do so it needs to persevere with the Northern Ireland protocol legislation and understand the EU  has  no intention of reaching a  negotiated settlement that is fair. Their  negotiating mandate never changes and does  not allow flexibility. The Unionists will not re join the Assembly all the time EU law has to apply to Northern Ireland and all the time the ECJ rules over them. We need to restore the UK internal market as the Protocol promised but as the EU prevents.

It wants to deliver the Brexit wins that come from being independent, yet so often Ministers are talked out of them . Where are the VAT cuts? Where the generous Enterprise Zones and Freeports? Where the improved or removed EU regulations to allow business to flourish? Where are the plans and finance to rebuild our fishing industry? Where the grants and encouragement to reclaim lost market share by growing more of our own food again as we did before we joined the Common Agricultural Policy? Why can’t Whitehall and Ministers review all EU law and decide what needs keeping over the next year. Each department knows the law concerned.

It wants to level up the country. The Conservative way is to spread the wealth and income more widely, helping those on lower incomes into better jobs and business opportunities. It is not based on increasing tax rates on  the rich and on companies. It is about growing the pie so each person’s slice can be bigger. Conservatism at its best gets out of the way of the many who can lead their own lives and get on in the world if taxes and regulations allow them, whilst helping those in  need. It means helping people develop their abilities, not concentrating on disabilities and restraints. All so often policies to do this are delayed or overwhelmed by more of the high tax high subsidy public sector led approach which has failed over so many years to make lower income places as successful as we wish.

This government does not have long to motivate the official government and quangoland to achieve the greater freedom and prosperity people voted for in 2019. It must show determination and strong friendly persuasion to get change in Whitehall before Whitehall’s resistance helps engineer a  change of government.

199 Comments

  1. Mark B
    November 29, 2022

    Good morning.

    I wants [insert here]

    But after being in power for over 12 years it has achieved nothing. How many PM’s ? How many Chancellors of the Exchequer ? How many Home Secretary’s ?

    For Sir Keir Starmer MP to be the next PM, assuming they do not get rid of Rushi, all he has to do is keep breathing.

    1. Lifelogic
      November 29, 2022

      The Tories certainly do seem to have a death wish.

      Kier Starmer is now copying the Corbyn & Socialist Gove policy of VAT of VAT private school fees. Thus making users pay four times over in taxes (twice), the fees and VAT on the fees. So the two policies Starmer pushes this and the abolition of Non Dom status he thinks will raise more taxes. They will raise less, will push Non Doms to leave. This will destroy many good schools, cost more by pushing people back into state schools and make others just use overseas private schools damaging the economy and jobs.

      Pure economic and educational vandalism combined with the evil politics of envy. Starmer benefited from a good Grammar School (Reigate) which later became private.

      1. Hope
        November 29, 2022

        Guido points out majority of Tory supporters oppose his budget! No surprise because they opposed it and voted for Truss! Tory MPs only voted for back stabbing lack of integrity Sunak.

    2. Ian Wragg
      November 29, 2022

      True, 12 wasted years.
      First act of vandalism, decimating the armed forces.
      Blowing up perfectly good coal fired power stations and yesterday national grid telling that there may be power cuts due to technical problems in France.
      Why are we relying in France which is a hostile power.
      The tories need to go the same as Canada a complete wipeout and renewal.

      1. Hope
        November 29, 2022

        Problems in France and stupid Sunak agreeing more EU inter connectors, with Germany!! We voted leave for independence of everything!

    3. Lifelogic
      November 29, 2022

      Achieved nothing and have done huge net harm, this despite even having a decent majority for the last three years. They & Boris got all the big things wrong. The lockdowns, test and trace, dumping Covid infected people into care homes, the net harm vaccines even for children, HS2, the duff degrees, masks, school closures, the vested interests and corruption, the money printing/inflation causing, the vast manifesto ratting tax increases, the bloated and incompetent state sector and the dire and still declining NHS


      1. Berkshire Alan
        November 29, 2022

        Lifelogic

        It gets worse, it now appears from a number of press reports that some of the recent rubber boat illegal Immigrants have bought in diphtheria with them, numbers suggest about 70 are infected, and one has since died.
        Unfortunately it would seem that these people were not tested before being moved on, all around the Country, so we have a sort of re-run of the fiasco of untested Covid people being returned from hospitals to nursing homes.
        I wonder if this contagious disease will now spread further.

        Interestingly went past an immigration hotel yesterday on my travels, no security at all, many can be seen smoking outside of the entrance, playing football in the car Park, locals reporting that people come and go as they like, with many shopkeepers in the Town now reporting problems.

        What an absolute farce !

    4. Pauline
      November 29, 2022

      Exactly! JR repeats his claim that it’s everyone’s fault except the Conservative government that has been in power for over TWELVE years

      1. Hope
        November 29, 2022

        It made me sick seeing the idiots in Parliament listen to Ukraine president’s wife, at our expense! Have they nothing better to do!!

        They should be advocating peace deal. Do they remember their involvement in regime change in Iraq, Libya, Syria! The swamp needs clearing.

    5. Nottingham Lad Himself
      November 29, 2022

      Yes, Parliament is supreme and we have had twelve years of Tory parliaments.

      Sir John continues to protest that they’ve never had the power to do much in this time, however, that all that is wrong is someone else’s fault.

      I’d say that they have done rather too much, and that millions are suffering as a result on the other hand.

    6. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Mark B +1

    7. Hope
      November 29, 2022

      20% of people in Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester are on welfare when there are record job vacancies. JR, your party and govt need to get a grip when wages are chasing welfare payments!!

      Ridiculous inflation rise for welfare plans ÂŁ900 lump sum!! I wonder if this is a draw to the world with free health care education and housing!

      Let us “be clear” your party and govt.’s have not been serious to do anything. Hunt stated during his economy destroying budget he wants more as does extreme left wing OBR. Get rid of the OBR! Your party does not have to follow Labour.

      Sunak on China. What action has he taken? Sunak still gives our taxes in aid by hundreds of millions to China after Hong Kong, Covid threats to Tawain, covid, human rights! His chancellor believes in Chinese lock down methods and his wife on China state TV!!

      No one believes your party any more.

      1. a-tracy
        November 29, 2022

        I’d love to know the average ages of the 20% unemployed in Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. If they are under 25 and able to work (even if only for school care hours or with their 1-year-old in a SureStart childcare centre (for free) to get trained to provide decent childcare), then they should have to work unless they have independent means and don’t cost the rest of us who have to work extra taxes to fund them.
        Some of these Cities are litter bins; driving into Glasgow is sometimes like driving past a litter tip. Pavements get wet with slippy leaves left for months on end. There are plenty of community jobs that councils can’t afford to pay for on minimum wage. A significant part of their day should be spent earning their benefits on minimum wage with top-ups. Don’t like those jobs allocated, then find themselves a better one.

        1. Berkshire Alan
          November 29, 2022

          +1

        2. Hope
          November 29, 2022

          AT,
          Read Spectator article on it then do a little search.

          1. a-tracy
            November 30, 2022

            I don’t subscribe to the Spectator

    8. acorn
      November 29, 2022

      Unfortunately, today the UK has a governing party with two competing versions of Thatcherism, both of which are totally unsuitable for the current state of the economy. The cut tax Truss version and the cut tax OR cut debt Sunak version.

      The UK is a very different animal today to what it was in the eighties when the UK had a current account surplus thanks to Oil and Gas bonanza in the North Sea, that was used to pay down debt, not invest. In the Eighties, the services and finance sectors made up 65% of the economy; today it is nearer 89% and investment spending has nearly halved.

      An industrial plan that creates customer demand; that needs a spending government, not a debt reducing government. It needs a government strategy in which public sector investment leverages private. It needs a government deploying its available natural, human and fiat currency resources to the point of inflation. Frankly, this government needs another Heseltine but there is no sign of anyone who comes close.

      1. a-tracy
        November 29, 2022

        acorn, you say the Oil and Gas bonanza was used to ‘pay down the debt’. What debt was this?
        Debt for building 300,000 council homes in the 1960s that were sold off for less than ÂŁ2000 each to housing associations?
        Debt for the second world war?
        Debt for building hospitals? Roads? Bridges?
        I’m intrigued.

        1. acorn
          November 29, 2022

          The, so called, national debt. Have a look at SN05745.pdf from the HoC library. Particularly the explanation of gross debt and net debt interest.

          1. a-tracy
            December 1, 2022

            Oh please, just tell me.

            I’ve read this SN05745. My O-level Statistics can just about cope with the figures but the document doesn’t tell me what the net borrowing was for, and what the public sector net debt is for.

            Page 6 and 7 shows

            2007/08 ÂŁ45bn 2.9% of GDP public sector net borrowing (exc. public sector banks).
            2007/08 ÂŁ543.5bn 34% of GDP public sector net debt (central gov gross debt interest payments).

            2019/20 ÂŁ57.2bn 2.6% of GDP psnb
            2019/20 ÂŁ1797.7bn 84% psnd

            From 2008 to 2019 (11 years) the ÂŁ1254.2bn extra public sector net debt where is the breakdown of what that was spent on and is still outstanding after spending? I thought a lot of that the extra borrowing spent on bailing out several banks was repaid, Barclays didn’t take a bailout nor the HSBC did they. Is this debt what was used to give people 2% mortgage rates?

            Covid years with another killer to the debt figures. It makes me laugh that the Guardian conflate food inflation with Brexit rather than the two years of repeated covid lockdown, we need to make more of our own food, especially the items we import a lot and look for other places to buy from than the EU they are not the only food sellers out there.
            2021/22 233.9bn 10.3% psnb
            2021/22 ÂŁ2502.9 psnd

            Back in 2000 we owed ÂŁ307bn

        2. Mike Wilson
          November 29, 2022

          Debt for building 300,000 council homes in the 1960s that were sold off for less than ÂŁ2000 each to housing associations?

          How much do you think they cost to build? How much rent was pai over the 20 or so years?

          My mum’s council house was built in 1918. When we bought it in 1991 for £27k (NOT £2k!), we saw paperwork that showed it was built in 1918 for £125.

          By 1991 the rent was ÂŁ80 a week and was taking half of what my mum had to live on. At ÂŁ8O a week, she was paying the original build cost of the house every 1 and a half weeks. She and my dad must have paid for that house hundreds of times – and we still had to pay ÂŁ27k to buy it.

          1. Mickey Taking
            November 29, 2022

            But you got what, a 50% discount on valuation = ÂŁ27k?

          2. a-tracy
            November 30, 2022

            Mike, the housing association bought them for around ÂŁ2k each in Rochdale + 13,664 homes, 1606 garages, 83 shops, 8 community centres, 40 playgrounds and a significant amount of land inc potential development sites was taken over for just ÂŁ25.5m and a promise if ÂŁ685 to be invested over the following 30 years. ÂŁ228.33m should have been spent in the last ten years.

          3. a-tracy
            November 30, 2022

            Also, Mike, a house might cost ÂŁ125 to build but on top of that, there are annual repairs, improvements, new windows, roofs, and the cost to pay off the loan to buy the home; the Councils or Government would have taken on mortgages/loans to buy those houses, people in private rentals can’t just buy the homes they rented.

            When new buyers today talk about gains their parent’s generation got (the % gains not evenly spread around the UK), they never take into account, all the new fixtures they also paid for e.g. kitchens, bathrooms, window replacements, extensions, gardens, fences, the cost of the loan (sometimes at base interest rates of 14% but on average 7.5% over the last 50 years) to buy the home over the 25 or 30-year mortgage.

      2. Peter
        November 29, 2022

        acorn,
        North sea oil was also wasted on a fight with the miners union, while manufacturing industry was simply allowed to perish. Presumably with the Micawberish outlook that ‘something will turn up’. City spivs made fortunes too on foolish privatisations.

        However, Michael Heseltine was never the answer to anything. A less doctrinaire, more pragmatic approach was required.

      3. Peter2
        November 29, 2022

        Gosh acorn
        You are Keynesian.
        I never knew.

    9. Peter
      November 29, 2022

      An article for the laughably-titled ‘Conservative Home’ is rather like doing missionary work.

      The words will probably fall on deaf ears there.

      Gauke is the hero of the Lib Dem crowd who seem to lurk on that site.

      1. Peter
        November 29, 2022

        “ConHome is like a weird supplement in the Guardian for peevish Metropolitan liberals who insist on voting ‘Conservative’ for some reason”

        Comment on Guido Fawkes site

    10. a-tracy
      November 30, 2022

      Mark, you say the Tories have achieved nothing since 2010. However, they paid off long-term debt, and they have added lots of expensive packages for the nation that people often forget has to be paid for.

      1. The World War loans were finally paid off in 2015. The outstanding WWI ÂŁ1.9bn on 9/03/15. We were even paying off bonds going back to the 18th C, Napoleonic, Crimean wars and the Irish Potato famine.

      John, do we have the extra ÂŁ15m pa interest saving Osborne told us we’d have?

      2. In September 2014, the education leaving age was raised to 17; from September 2015, it was raised to 18. This extra cost all had to be paid for during this Tory Government time in office.

      3. All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 free hours per year. It’s usually taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, Scotland doubled this to 1140. When is England’s levelling up going to happen?

      4. Higher University student numbers year on year.

      5. 22.8m dwellings in England in 2010, up to 24.65m in England in 2020 (delays a little by Covid), and we have all seen a big explosion of property builds in England since the end of the lockdown.

      6. In 2020, the Personal allowances for the majority were: 2010/11 ÂŁ6475 Tax, ÂŁ5720 NI.
      In 2022/23 ÂŁ12,570 Tax, ÂŁ12,570 NI. (the NI rate went up from ÂŁ9570 Jul 2022).
      The Tories only attacked their higher-earning supporters, taking away child benefits, and personal allowances from ÂŁ100,000.

  2. Donna
    November 29, 2022

    Sir John is still pushing the line that the Government wants to do all these things, but is stopped by Officials.
    If that were the case, they’d dispense with the services of the Officials and Quangocrats who are blocking their Agenda and – if necessary – they’d change the law in order to do it.

    They’ve done neither. And there’s a very good reason for that: they don’t want to.

    It isn’t Governmental impotence or even incompetence. They don’t want to.

    1. Shirley M
      November 29, 2022

      + many Donna. I agree 100%.

    2. formula57
      November 29, 2022

      +1. “By their deeds shall ye know them”.

    3. Sharon
      November 29, 2022

      Donna, that’s the problem. You say
. government wants to do these things but officials won’t let them


      I suspect we don’t fully realise how many of the ‘officials’ who won’t let the government do these things there are. And how many Labourites have been put in place over time because of everything being run so centralised (such as the approved list of no candidates).

      UK Column had an article a year or two ago showing governments to be third down from the top of the power hierarchy, globally. Not just the UK government. It’s taken years to get to where we are.

      You are right though, one would expect they’d dispense with the services of the Officials and Quangocrats who are blocking their Agenda and – if necessary – they’d change the law in order to do it. To achieve this, those who are anti the nation state need to be removed. A mammoth task, but where’s there a will there’s a way. Clearly, as you say, barely anyone has the desire to make these changes.

      1. Hope
        November 29, 2022

        Shirley,
        The socialist duo Hunt and Sunak do not have to hire former Labour ministers or current socialist spads! This is a deliberate choice. They did not have to vote for Sunak either, their choice!

    4. Mickey Taking
      November 29, 2022

      This gentle wringing of hands murmuring ‘it ain’t me guv’ will not do, it simply doesn’t convince anyone.
      Every chance this government will be remembered as the weakest, malign bunch of political cowards ever!

      1. Hope
        November 29, 2022

        Let us not forget Tory govt extended Carney’s time at BOE!! Lord Debnem climate extremist- they could get rid of the dopes they hired.

    5. beresford
      November 29, 2022

      +1. How are clever lawyers or civil servants preventing the relatively simple measure of withdrawing from the UN Global Compact on Migration, which was signed against the wishes of the British people? This would at least be a declaration of intent.

      1. a-tracy
        November 29, 2022

        https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/232698 There was a petition to stop the signing of this compact in December 2018
        The Global Compact for Migration is the first-ever UN global agreement on a common approach to international migration in all its dimensions.

        The government responded on 7 December 2018
        “The Global Compact for Migration will support global co-operation on migration without affecting the sovereignty of all countries to control their own borders.”

        So who was pretending to be in charge then Theresa May?

    6. Stred
      November 29, 2022

      Yes. It was Theresa May that signed up to the UN Migration Pact, which agrees to treat economic migrants as if they are fleeing from persecution and to assist them, so that’s what the civil servants are doing. It’s present ministers who will not revoke it, because they always follow the Rules based order and UN.

    7. Peter
      November 29, 2022

      It certainly seems as if they don’t want to. Though impotence, with an 80 seat majority, or incompetence would also be damning.

      It’s also a bit late in the day for a ‘Yes Minister’ defence.

      Viktor Orban gets things done. No migrant problem there. No excuses.

      1. Mark B
        November 29, 2022

        Poland too ! And neither have the luxury of having a moat for protection.

      2. glen cullen
        November 29, 2022

        No migrant problems in Russia, the Gulf states, the Far East or South America

    8. Bloke
      November 29, 2022

      Agreed, Donna. The Govt fails to govern and just tries to tick over tolerating worse.
      The Reform Party appears the only one with intent to restore our nation’s values.

    9. Hope
      November 29, 2022

      +1
      They could change civil service employment back to what it was. No, they want virtue signalling left wing crap to build on Labour policy!!

      Still shovelling our taxes by the billion to Ukraine which is of no strategic interest to country. It only acts as an excuse and cover for failed energy policy and net stupid!

    10. Nigl
      November 29, 2022

      Precisely. Andrew Neil’s quote. Incompetence or ignorance’

      Ministers want to do things but are talked out of doing them. Precisely the point made by Neill, whenever there is pushback, Ministers fold led by Sunak.

      They are pathetically weak and out of their depth letting down the people that voted for them.

      Nothing can or will change in the next 18 months apart from the agony/absurdity being prolonged.

    11. Original Richard
      November 29, 2022

      Donna :

      Absolutely correct.

    12. Magelec
      November 29, 2022

      Agreed, they don’t want to. Sunak will not change the asylum law as the 50 or so MPs have asked him to. Why has it come to this?

    13. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Donna +1

    14. Mark B
      November 29, 2022

      They wanted to shut the whole country down and lock us in our homes. Amazing really given their history that they managed to succeed in that.

      😉

  3. Julian Flood
    November 29, 2022

    Where is the cheap energy?

    JF
    (Cancel Sizewell C before it becomes a sunk cost excuse.)

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      November 29, 2022

      As opposed to a Sunak cost excuse?

    2. Donna
      November 29, 2022

      at 0750 today our “marvellous” windmills are delivering precisely 1 GW of electricity. Gas is providing 21.4 GW.

      So it’s obvious: we need less gas production and more windmills.

      1. Hope
        November 29, 2022

        Donna,
        It is obvious the planet will be saved if UK jobs and industry moved to China and transport goods back around the world to UK! Then give China one taxes in aid and shower them with more for climate apology!! Sunak and Hunt are effing mad.

    3. Stred
      November 29, 2022

      Sizewell B is producing cheap energy. We should have built ten of them. But it doesn’t have protection from an aircraft hit and they chose a French design for C which is expensive, takes ages to build and isn’t working in China. Why can’t we adapt the original design and put a protective steel frame around it?

    4. Lifelogic
      November 29, 2022

      Where is the cheap on demand & easily stored energy – it is under our feet and under our seas. The Chinese are using loads of it to make electric cars, batteries and many of the other product we import from them while we export our industries and jobs & freeze our elderly thanks to May’s moronic net zero lunacy.

      So EasyJet and Rolls-Royce (Aerospace) have tested a hydrogen powered turbo jet engine in essentially a PR stunt. We already knew this was perfectly possible but why do it? Far more expensive than aviation fuel, far more dangerous (and heavier to store especially on an aircraft) plus we have no hydrogen wells or mines anyway. Hydrogen (green or grey) is just an expensive and very inefficient battery system to store energy – far better, cheaper, more efficient and safer ways to power aircraft with more sensible, more efficient and far safer aviation fuels natural or synthetic.

      1. Mark B
        November 29, 2022

        What are they calling it, the R101 ?

    5. glen cullen
      November 29, 2022

      We had cheap energy before net-zero using coal, gas & oil
      We had controlled migration before Blaire, the ECHR, the UN Global Compact for Migration
      We had a police force before the woke society took over
      We had politicians before they allowed the civil service, and international organisations to dominate and set policy
      We had a Christian society, a church, a faith and Christmas celebrations before our government(s) introduced policies of multi-cultural, none-offence and inclusivity

      1. Lifelogic
        November 29, 2022

        Cheap, easily stored and on demand energy too. The type of energy used by the Chinese to make EVs, car batteries and the wind-farms etc. that they export to the UK.

  4. Cheshire Girl
    November 29, 2022

    If the Government is powerless in actually ‘doing’ the things you refer to, as opposed to ‘wanting’ them, what on earth is the point of having a Government.! They should change the law, as and when required. They have done so, in some cases, before.

    They should show some backbone, as the public are utterly fed up, with the excuses.
    When it comes to raising taxes, they are quick off the mark.

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      November 29, 2022

      When it comes to raising taxes, they are quick off the mark.

      And this simple sentence exposes this article like ripping a duvet off a cheating partner.

    2. Cuibono
      November 29, 2022

      100% agreed!
      And since there is nothing the poor little govt. can do ( until they decide to lock us in our houses again) what WILL they do when the money for 5 * hotels finally runs out and absolutely no one believes what they say about anything? And how about when it is standing room only on this God forsaken island?
      Seen Brussels? Or is all that actually going according to plan?

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        November 29, 2022

        Cuibono. What do you mean when we don’t believe them? We don’t believe them now.

        1. Cuibono
          November 29, 2022

          I said “absolutely no one”.
          Unbelievably there are still people who believe the govt’s narrative.
          Really!

      2. Mark B
        November 29, 2022

        +1

    3. Hope
      November 29, 2022

      Tories got a majority to deliver Brexit. They failed to deliver by choice. NI protocol more to save N.Ireland and not break act of union, regain fishing waters, etc. stop EU annexing N.Ireland is more important than Ukraine!

      80 seat majority and they could not deliver their own manifesto!! Why? Because they did not want to deliver manifesto! Ie Brexit, immigration and economy!!

      1. John Hatfield
        November 29, 2022

        2019 manifest points. which of these have they achieved?
        1. Extra funding for the NHS, with 50,000 more nurses and 50 million more GP surgery appointments a year.
        2. 20,000 more police and tougher sentencing for criminals.
        3. An Australian-style points-based system to control immigration.
        4. Millions more invested every week in science, schools, apprenticeships and infrastructure while controlling debt.
        5. Reaching Net Zero by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution.
        6. We will not raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance.
        7. We Will Put You First
        8. Getting Brexit done. Investing in our public services and infrastructure. Supporting workers and families. Strengthening the Union. Unleashing Britain’s potential.

        1. glen cullen
          November 29, 2022

          None of the above

    4. Bloke
      November 29, 2022

      Perhaps the UK needs a kinder version of the French Revolution: Radical change but without punishing the offenders. People would be so appreciative of the restoration of sensible govt and everyday happiness. Laughing at the stupidity of the old govt would replace any thought of revenge with deep satisfaction.

    5. Atlas
      November 29, 2022

      Agreed – I despair of this present administration – “In office but not in Power” indeed.

  5. Mike Stallard
    November 29, 2022

    …Yes… And then there is the Global Warming idiocy. My wife turned 80 this year and it breaks my heart to see her sitting shivering in her dressing gown by a cold radiator. We are importing huge amounts of coal to burn for electricity. We import fracked oil from the USA. We have closed the steel works at Redcar.
    All the marks of a really bad socialist government. And then there is the tax burden and the civil service wfh…

    1. Lifelogic
      November 29, 2022

      The Climate Change Act & Net Zero are indeed economic insanity and environmental lunacy. Evil too.

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      November 29, 2022

      Mike – You can get heating prescribed by the NHS now.

      Imagine the abuses of that ‘treatment’ by those who work the system. Who’s keeping tabs on it ?

      1. Lifelogic
        November 29, 2022

        +1 yet another incentive not to bother working or go on benefits and black market as so many do. Often a couple with two separate homes all paid for by benefits while others working can hardly afford one. This made even worse for many with Kahn’s new ÂŁ3,000+ PA ULEZ tax grab.

    3. Iain Moore
      November 29, 2022

      They closed the steel works at Redcar because Corus/Tata were getting over a billion pound pay off from the ETS (emission trading scheme ), not a ton of carbon was actually saved, a bureaucratic shuffling of paper ended a chunk of our industrial base and our politicians allowed it , for they are gripped by the Net Zero Zealotry and had no wish to support our unfashionable heavy industry.

      1. Lifelogic
        November 29, 2022

        +1 and CO2 is not even a serious problem anyway probably a net benefit in fact.

    4. Hope
      November 29, 2022

      +1
      Tory govt would rather give aid to China!! Good old Hunt.

  6. PeteB
    November 29, 2022

    You note the frustrations of reducing the number of asylum seekers coming to the UK. However of the 500,000 net arrivals last year most had permission to come. Why do we allow so many in legally? Surely a Government Minister can control that?

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      November 29, 2022

      Yes, Ministers managed to arrange for 170,000 Ukrainians and 50,000 Afghanis to arrive fairly sharpish and all those students too, all of whom get the right to stay. Ministers also managed to close down Marston and ship the illegals into hotels when they tried.

      1. a-tracy
        November 29, 2022

        Do students get the automatic right to stay at the end of their degree?

        1. Donna
          November 29, 2022

          They have 2 years post-graduation to work; get someone pregnant/become pregnant (or buy a cat) and they’ll never leave. Or the “dependants” they shipped over when they got a student visa.

        2. Narrow Shoulders
          November 29, 2022

          Three more years with a job which takes most of them past the five year residency test

    2. Sharon
      November 29, 2022

      Pete B

      The immigration problem. Another example of measures being put in place that stops government ability to change


      Remember a while ago there were a lot of references in reader comments to common purpose training? These folk are now in place in many, many positions
 stopping government. It’s just that since we left the EU, and expected to be be free to do what we want, that it’s become apparent just how tied government’s hands are.

    3. Nottingham Lad Himself
      November 29, 2022

      Because the economy would be hit very hard if it were stopped, and the services offered by important sectors e.g. health and care would collapse without them.

      They used to come largely from the European Union before your brexit, but you voted to stop that, and so you should be very happy, because in large measure you have.

      This, as was patiently and repeatedly explained to you would be the result, is indeed the result.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        November 29, 2022

        Martin. Another stupid comment from you. We can still get people we need. Just not those who are coming with criminal intent and no means…..or so they say…..of supporting themselves. I wonder where they get the money from to pay the organisers of their little trip?

      2. PeteB
        November 29, 2022

        The economy would not be hit hard. Business would adapt, improve productivity, automate. Cheap plentiful new labour saves them from bothering.

      3. Mickey Taking
        November 29, 2022

        6m EU citizens signed up to be able to stay here!

        1. glen cullen
          November 29, 2022
    4. glen cullen
      November 29, 2022

      +1

  7. Walt
    November 29, 2022

    Yes, Sir John, but Parliament has failed us all, especially since the referendum on Brexit; six years of obstruction and of failure to legislate to implement the promises made to control our laws, borders, and money.

  8. Stephen Reay
    November 29, 2022

    You say “the government wants brexit to be delivered “. I’m afraid that won’t be delivered because come the next election the Conservatives are out. Labour will not following up on brexit and will just end it where it is.
    If Conservatives get back in sometime in the future they’ll just forget about it for the failure it has been.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      November 29, 2022

      Stephen. Conservatives will only get in if people are stupid enough to vote for them or Labour/Libs for that matter.

    2. a-tracy
      November 29, 2022

      Stephen, yes, but the EU doesn’t want us back in; it just wants Starmer on his knees paying in the ÂŁ40bn they’re short each year, I think he’s agreed with it so it will be his turn to lead, and the Remain majority Tories will be just glad to pass on the baton. I think that is why nothing is being changed in preparation.

      I just don’t understand why the ERG, the new red wall Tories, are just going along with this and proposing to just give up, sitting taking their coins and powerful cv enhancing job today and doing nothing about it.

      1. hefner
        November 29, 2022

        The EU appears to have been able to define its 2021-2027 budget (Multiannual Financial Framework and Next Generation EU) without the £40 bn from the UK (consilium.europa.eu ‘EU budget 2021-2027 and recovery plan’).
        This budget was presented on 27 May 2020, agreed with the EU Council on 10/11/2020 and voted by the EU Parliament on 16/12/2020 by 548 votes in favour, 81 against, and 66 abstentions (europarl.europa.eu ‘Parliament approves seven-year EU budget 2021-2027’).

        As far as I could see this EU budget does not need any further UK contribution, which could mean that the level of pressure that the UK could potentially put on the EU is now zero.

        1. Mickey Taking
          November 29, 2022

          Are you saying the UK contributed zero since 2021?
          I really hope so, but doubt it strongly.

          1. Hope
            December 1, 2022

            Hef,
            EU does not have army or money of its own. It scrounges from countries. Without an army it is pointless on the world stage. How could it enforce its foreign policy?

            A post war project with good intentions to stop war, having no real purpose in the world today.

            Unusually your view above was Not thought through.

          2. hefner
            December 5, 2022

            You say my view was not thought through. Reading again what I wrote I cannot see what you think is my thought. My comment stated the dates the different steps of the EU budget were taken and the fact that it seems it was established without a UK contribution.

            How you can relate my comment to something about defence is really beyond me.

        2. a-tracy
          November 30, 2022

          hefner, the shortfall in their accounts was ÂŁ40bn for one year. I have linked it in the past. The payments from the UK start to cease from now. I am glad they have managed to plug the gap. Perhaps our politicians can now get on with what they should be doing with the money we are saving.

          1. Hope
            December 1, 2022

            AT,
            It is not just the annual scrounge it is all the other bolt ons. Not shown or broke down for individual projects.

  9. The Prangwizard
    November 29, 2022

    It doesn’t matter how negligent, how incompetent nor how deceitful his party in government is, Sir John will remain loyal and thus assist in our betrayal. Those who oppose him know he is no threat, he can easily be ignored as we can see. This article is proof. If he himself put these matters first he would resign.

    1. a-tracy
      November 29, 2022

      Stop trying to bait John. He can’t do anything alone, but his fellow Tories need to honour their manifesto, and they need to be led.

  10. Henry
    November 29, 2022

    Poor Sir John caught up in the business of ‘politics’ where whatever he say’s/ does is completely ignored by everyone who matters. They are all out of step except John – it must be terribly frustrating

    1. Mark B
      November 29, 2022

      +1

  11. Denis Cooper
    November 29, 2022

    Over the past two years and more I have circulated an inordinate number of emails, and sent a large number of letters to newspapers, about the Northern Ireland protocol, and in particular about the need to replace EU import checks and controls on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain with UK export checks and controls on goods leaving the province for the Irish Republic. After all of it I have failed to persuade either UK government ministers and other politicians, or Northern Ireland unionist leaders, that this is the way forward. I am now running out of fresh ways to get this simple message across and I am particularly concerned that the unionist leaders do not seem concerned to offer an alternative practical solution to the real problem of how to protect the EU Single Market from unacceptable goods coming in across the open Irish land border. As we come to end of yet another year without progress I increasingly feel that if they are not bothered why should I be? On Sunday I wrote direct to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson asking him to urge the government to initiate a system of export controls and I wait to see if he, or any of the other unionist leaders who I copied in, will even bother to answer. Until that happens I intend to do nothing more, and instead I will prepare to give up on it.

    1. Donna
      November 30, 2022

      You’ve done your best Denis. No-one can do more than that.

      We are governed by treacherous Globalists/Remainers who don’t want to preserve the integrity of the UK.

    2. James
      November 30, 2022

      Denis – I agree – and looking back at your contributions as an honest broker and the silence with which your efforts have been greeted – I’d say “yes” time to take a back seat now until Sir Jeffrey and his cohort come up with some positive ideas on how to resolve this situation. They ‘the DUP’ are only one part but are right in the middle of it and yet against the wishes of the NI people there is still no local government in place. Staying out of office, means staying outside of the tent, and forevermore saying ‘No’ with no alternative plan to offer is getting us nowhere. Eventually This Protocol problem will be sorted but between the EU Commission and UK government – and then we’ll be left wondering what was it all about. To finish – time is moving on – there is war in Europe and the world economy is in turmoil – things are bad in the UK as well and whether we like if or not we are going to need to gather all the friends we can muster, including EU countries, and their lies the crux for NI and the protocol – it is largely seen as piffle in the grander scheme of things.

  12. Lifelogic
    November 29, 2022

    “It wants inflation down as does the public” perhaps so why did Sunak and the Boris Gov. cause this inflation in the first place with their currency debasement, lockdown, tax, borrow and piss down the drain policies?

  13. Philip P.
    November 29, 2022

    Your post today reads like a manifesto for an alternative government, Sir John. I’d back it, but would my vote or those of any number of like-minded voters connect with getting the actions you set out? What would the Conservatives do if they stayed in office? Why would they not do the same as they’ve done for the last 12 years, pursue agendas different from those their supporters say they want? More government intervention, higher government expenditure and taxes, promotion of UN globalist policies such as increased migration, destabilising military adventurism, the list goes on. As long as your party in government remains dominated by the likes of Gove, Hunt and Wallace, who clearly support these globalist policies, I see no prospect of the change of course it will need to stay in office beyond 2024.

  14. Shirley M
    November 29, 2022

    Why are Andrew Bailey, and the treasury officials, still in their jobs? Why are most of the incompetent senior civil servants still in their jobs? What on earth do you expect when the people you choose to make these huge decisions are either incompetent, or have no interest in the well being of the UK and its people? In fact the opposite appears to be the intention of the UK government, and the indigenous are at the very bottom of their priorities. The rest of the world and its people takes priority and will they appreciate it? Will they hell. They’ll just hold out their hands for more while we freeze and/or starve but maybe someone in government will have a nice lucrative job waiting for them when they get kicked out.

    This government has to go, and it should go NOW! I still find it hard to believe that a government could be SO bad and so damaging to its own country. This is far, far, worse than incompetence.

    Nothing personal, Sir John. When I say ‘you’ I mean your ‘government’ (if it can be classed as such).

  15. Roy Grainger
    November 29, 2022

    “It wants more young people to be able to afford a home. I agree. Controlling numbers of new people coming to live here is the single most important thing the government could do to help”

    That is not true. The single most important thing is to build more houses but you and your NIMBY chums want to prevent that by making it subject to local approval which we all know will never be given.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      November 29, 2022

      I’m beginning to think you’ve got a vested interest somewhere Roy. Do you live in the middle of nowhere?

  16. Narrow Shoulders
    November 29, 2022

    What an awful litany of failure – 80 seat majority.

    I don’t think “it wants” to do any of the above and is certainly responsible for the current state of affairs. There is a complete inability to control the narrative and move on with the plans “it wants” to pursue. The Truss – Kwarteng budget being the latest failure.

    Time for change!

    1. John Hatfield
      November 29, 2022

      Calling the Truss – Kwarteng budget a failure is incorrect. It was never allowed to be put into practice.
      The demise of the Truss administration following the mini-budget has been attributed to the market’s reaction to the expectation of unfunded borrowing occasioned by tax cuts and the fuel price cap. I
      In truth, the market’s behaviour was a response to the actions — or inactions — of the Bank of England, before, during and after the mini-budget.

      1. Narrow Shoulders
        November 29, 2022

        It was a failure of narrative John.

        Right idea – poorly sold to the public

  17. Berkshire Alan
    November 29, 2022

    So when are the Government going to get a grip on all of these failures and make so called better policies work.
    For goodness sake they cannot even do the simple stuff and instruct direct employees to come into the office and work, but still pay them the London weighting allowance.
    Face facts John, our Governments have been absolutely useless and clueless for years.

  18. No Longer Anonymous
    November 29, 2022

    No disagreement with this article – wholehearted approval, in fact.

    Cut the number of MPs and Ministers and cut their pay, pensions and perks.

    The democratic industry is clearly as redundant as the mining industry was in the ’80s.

    A Tory Government with an 80 seat majority is no use what … so… ever.

    “Who runs Britain ?” Well it clearly isn’t the voters.

  19. Christine
    November 29, 2022

    Ministers don’t seem to have a problem implementing hated policies and increasing our taxes to the highest levels ever.

    This country is broken and I firmly put the blame on politicians over the last 30 years.

    It’s pathetic trying to blame civil servants.

  20. Keith (Twyford)
    November 29, 2022

    When all but a small proportion of the population is not eligible, why is legal aid available to migrants who have made made no contribution? This does not happen in other countries.

    1. Berkshire Alan
      November 29, 2022

      +1

  21. Brian Tomkinson
    November 29, 2022

    I do not accept that this bunch of ministers, or their recent predecessors, want to get these things done. They didn’t seem to have any problem in curtailing our liberty and freedom during the last three years. If they really wanted them done they would take action and not just make facile sound bites. They need to remember that actions speak louder than words, as they will discover at the next elextion when your party will be annihilated.

  22. Keith from Leeds
    November 29, 2022

    Excellent article, Sir John, but it could have been shorter. It could have simply said we have a government of incompetents! From David Cameron onwards, we have had a succession of weak PMs.
    It is summed up in the saying; If we employ people weaker than ourselves, we will become a government of pygmies, if we employ people stronger than ourselves, we will become a government of giants!
    The fact that no PM has wanted you in government for the last 12 years sums it up. You should have stood for the leadership as a conservative & you may have won! Now perhaps you should be talking to Reform since the party you joined & represented for many years is no longer conservative.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      November 29, 2022

      Thumbs up to that Keith.

  23. Excalibur
    November 29, 2022

    It is not credible that the government with all its resources and capabilities is unable to stop illegal immigration. I do not agree that the government is powerless. The fact is there is not the will. As Donna says above ‘it does not want to’. Which poses the question, why ?

    1. Donna
      November 29, 2022

      Because it is implementing Agenda 2030 and The Great Reset. And the Remainer/Globalists running the show don’t care if the Party is annihilated at the next General Election. They will be off to collect their new role in a Global Institution, knowing that Labour will continue with the programme.

      The only CON MPs who care are those who expect to lose their seats and who won’t be elevated to the House of Frauds or found a cosy sinecure courtesy of the WEF.

  24. Sea_Warrior
    November 29, 2022

    O/T but I saw that the government was getting a good kicking, on the subject of the Apprenticeship Levy, in the Commons yesterday. A U-turn here would be welcome. Too often, this Conservative government remains attached to policies that are just not working.

  25. Ian B
    November 29, 2022

    Sir John
    ‘Being in office does not mean a Minister is in power.’ I disagree with you on this, it is the refusal of Government and for that matter Parliament to accept they are the UK’s Power and providers of its checks and balances that is the problem.

    The Establishment the Civil Service, the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Office of Budget Responsibility are all constructs of the UK’s elected Government. These entities are funded by the TaxPayer and work on behalf of the TaxPayer, Government and Parliament are then paid to ensure they work exclusively for the benefit of the UK and produce the results the UK needs.

    There is no ‘get out’ the elected Parliament and the Government are the de-facto in every sense the Boss, CEO, MD working with direct instructions of the UK Shareholders(The Citizens/The TaxPayer). If the Government, our MP’s and yes even yourself Sir John disagree then you have no place in a Democratic Parliament.

  26. Ralph Corderoy
    November 29, 2022

    ‘Controlling numbers of new people coming to live here is the single most important thing the government could do to help [bring about affordable homes].’

    Allowing house prices to crash significantly would be more beneficial as it would not only put them within reach of those not yet on the property ladder but it would lower the stamp-duty tax of buying, creating more transactions in the market and make it easier for the workforce to relocate. This is achieved by interest rates returning to long-term norms which would have the additional benefit of killing zombie companies, freeing the capital and assets they hold to be more productive elsewhere, raising GDP.

    Now, no Government is going to prefer to do this so how can a rate rise back to 6% that’s here to stay ever come about? What ill fate has to befall the Government so it has no choice?

  27. Ian B
    November 29, 2022

    ‘The government looks powerless to stop the flow of illegal travellers’. No it isn’t powerless, the Government are the Law Makers of the Sovereign Democratic UK no one else. They could have repealed, or changed the Laws causing the problem months if not years ago. It is Government that has chosen not to.

  28. Old Albion
    November 29, 2022

    You ask the questions that many of us are constantly asking.
    Like your Gov. you have no answers.

    1. Mark B
      November 29, 2022

      Best quote of the day.

      +1

  29. Richard1
    November 29, 2022

    The systematic briefing against any minister making a serious challenge to blob policy is particularly pernicious. We saw it with Priti Patel then Suella Braverman and now Dominic Raab. Had some minister had the sense and courage to lead a charge against the preposterous HS2 vanity project it would presumably have happened to him / her.

    So let’s have this enquiry into mr raab, but let it be a fair enquiry where he hears the allegations and who made them (such as putting a tomato back into a pret a manger bag in a reportedly intimidating fashion). If he is found not to be guilty of ‘bullying’ can we please then have an enquiry into whether there have been coordinated attempts to undermine ministers from within the civil service. Of course should there be people who have done this they must be dismissed for cause.

  30. Ian B
    November 29, 2022

    Sir John

    Even you must have noticed and taken note of the frustrations from your contributors here and similar views expressed elsewhere.

    The Democratic Independent Sovereign UK, ‘isn’t’ because it doesn’t have a Government. Every day things slide due to inaction, sound bites yes(Levelling Up how stupid is that) actual decision making Government No.

    There can be no blame attributed elsewhere. Energy is all at the Governments door 12 years of action with the Conservatives, then add in Labour. Inflation is all at the Governments door, they failed to provide the facilities for a secure resilient economy. Even the Ukraine isn’t an excuse, a proper Government would have been ahead of that game as well – the World is unpredictable. To much virtual signalling by Government and all it controls.

    It is an endless list. Do we need the TaxPayer to be funding a Parliament or a Government when they perpetually refuse to do the very things they are paid for?

  31. Dave
    November 29, 2022

    Brilliant article John. Why aren’t you Prime Minister or Chancellor? We need more Conservative MP’s like you or the Conservative Party will be wiped out in the next election.

  32. Fedupsoutherner
    November 29, 2022

    Reading this John one has to ask why have a government at all? Basically what you’re telling us is that every issue that’s important to us won’t get done due to snivelling civil servants who want it their way and a government that’s weak. So why do we vote? There is such a thing as sacking people that don’t deliver. Give them a P45.

    1. Shirley M
      November 30, 2022

      +many FUS. The PTB are more likely to give them a secure future in the Lords and a glittery gong, for doing EXACTLY as told, ie. destroy democracy, destroy the UK, and make us submissive to …. anybody really! UN, WEF, the EU. The fools even go along with it and destroy their own future. They must have an escape plan which isn’t available to the rest of us!

  33. Iain Moore
    November 29, 2022

    I get it that the blob wishes to obstruct Ministers from pursuing their policies , but that is no excuse for Ministers allowing them to succeed , the blob is only succeeding because Ministers are unwilling to will the means to achieve their aims.

    The invasion on our Southern coast is such an example, here Ministers are unwilling to do the necessary to stop it. They lock us all down for Covid but they can’t stop boats invading our shores, which is farcical, it is not a matter of can’t it is a matter of won’t, they won’t change the laws that facilitate this invasion , and the blob knows it, so we are treated on this merry dance of chaos.

    1. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Iain Moore +1 Our elected representatives want our money but dont want to work for it.

  34. Harry Morgan
    November 29, 2022

    Given that the EU will not agree a Northern Ireland Protocol that is fair, what should we do?

    1. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Harry Morgan Get back to being a Democracy, the laws in the UK are made by the UK’s elected representatives no one else.

    2. Hally
      November 29, 2022

      The protocol is there and it is fair according to Boris and Frost who negotiated it also by the Houses that passed it. What we’re about now is to disagree it

  35. turboterrier
    November 29, 2022

    Sir John
    Time for a big reality check. What has and will continue to happen is because countless governments have still not grasped the nettles in the way that they and the civil, public services operate.
    The whole swamp needs draining in the two houses and all governmental departments. AÄșl of it has been infiltrated and taken over by woke beliefs and people are too scared to rebel against it. We are operating a 19th century structure and nothing will change.

  36. Mike Wilson
    November 29, 2022

    It must show determination and strong friendly persuasion to get change in Whitehall before Whitehall’s resistance helps engineer a change of government.

    No! It must sack civil servants who don’t do as they are told. It’s very simple. One verbal warning, one written warning, then dismissal. Then employ people who will do as they are told.

    It’s quite bizarre. Because the Tory Party won’t do what is necessary to get its policies implemented, we are going to get a Labour government. Don’t your lot get it? They are in a suicide mission. The civil servants will still have a job after the next election. You won’t.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      November 29, 2022

      Nice post Mike.

    2. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Mike Wilson +1

    3. acorn
      November 29, 2022

      Ministerial Directions are formal instructions from ministers telling their department Civil Service to proceed with a spending proposal, despite an objection from their permanent secretaries. You should read https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/ministerial-directions .

      Find out how governments’ ends up with so many expensive failed policies. Invariably because Ministers ignored the advice of their Civil Servants and directed them to implement some Ponzi policy which the Permanent Secretary is obliged to do regardless of his objections. But at least the Permanent Secretary, as the Department Accounting Officer is no longer responsible for the spend on that policy direction; the Minister is.

    4. Mark B
      November 29, 2022

      Mike

      If the CS are working within the framework of the law our MP’s create their is nothing any Minister can do.

      Better laws equal better outcomes.

  37. glen cullen
    November 29, 2022

    Scrolling down the article, paragraph by paragraph, as your tone became more pointed, I’d actually thought you where going to announce your ‘crossing the floor’
    A great article today that’s supported by many on this diary and ignored by the government and the Tory parliamentary party 
you have a 70 seat majority for gods sake

  38. Lifelogic
    November 29, 2022

    The nationalised NHS model was doomed from the very start

    Vernon Bogdanor in the Telegraph Today.

    Sure was, and “free” at the point of use a disaster too as then you have to ration it by delays.

    As Bogdanor sensible puts it “If demand for health care is nearly unlimited and cannot be rationed by price, it must be rationed in some other way. The NHS rations through shortages – of staff – and waiting lists. Additional rationing is achieved by those who “do not want to bother the doctor”, often at cost to their health, while large numbers go private, so creating the two-tier health system Bevan hoped to avoid”

    Yet no government since has dared to sort this Labour created mess/disaster out.

    1. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Lifelogic +1 at the outset it should have been no more than compolsary National Insurance. Then the consumer would have the service following the money.

    2. Peter
      November 29, 2022

      LL,
      ‘The nationalised NHS model was doomed from the very start.’

      Nonsense.

      The system started off very well. The British population did not have the worry of being bankrupted through sickness as can happen in the United States.

      The problems came when the staffing and management were allowed to get out of hand. Overpaid and incompetent chiefs, politics and patronage (a big issue), areas hived off to the private sector, plus health tourism by foreigners are all symptoms.

      It’s now a top heavy bureaucracy – but it did not start out that way.

  39. Original Richard
    November 29, 2022

    “It wants inflation down
”
    No it doesn’t. It wants high inflation to inflate way the debt it has deliberately caused whilst impoverishing middle class savers.

    “The government wants migration down
”
    No it doesn’t. There is no evidence for this. It wants the UK to become a “world majority country” and eventually indistinguishable from the third world.

    “It wants more young people to be able to afford a home
”
    No it doesn’t. There is no evidence for this as shown by wanting massive immigration and no ownership rules as they have in Denmark

    “It wants to deliver the Brexit it promised
”
    No it doesn’t. There is no evidence for this whether it is the N.I. protocol or fishing or border control or the relaxation of EU rules and regulations. It wants us to re-join the EU.

    “It wants to level up the country
”
    No it doesn’t as evidenced by the continued funding of HS2 rather than improving connections between northern cities/towns and the continued far left policy of high tax and wasteful spending.

    Ministers want the electorate to believe they are powerless and use this as an excuse to not implement the policies for which they were elected but in actual fact do not approve.

    1. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Original Richard +1

      You have just listed everything in the gift of Government to change. Then as we all know they are in neglect as a result – because they flatly refuse. This Government is persuing its own interanla personel preference which the refuse to comunicate – because it would indicate destruction of Democracy

  40. Lifelogic
    November 29, 2022

    If they are not in power and able to do the job they should insist on being given the powers or they should resign. Priti Patel should have done this and so should Braverman.

  41. Original Richard
    November 29, 2022

    Sir John,

    No mention of the CAGW/Net Zero CO2 policy designed to destroy our economy and then social cohesion through the forced transition from cheap, abundant, reliable, high energy density fossil fuels and nuclear to expensive, meagre, unreliable low energy density renewables coupled with impractical heat pumps and evs?

    All to save our 1% contribution to global CO2 emissions, not that CO2 is the main cause of global temperature fluctuations anyway.

    As I write wind is providing 0.61GW from an installed capacity of 27GW and solar 0.38GW.

    The meme that renewable energy is nine times cheaper than fossil fuels is complete nonsense, even if you are willing to accept intermittency.

    China has seen recently some social disruption as a result of its net zero Covid policy but this will pale into insignificance compared to our eventual social upheaval caused by the continuation of our Parliament’s net zero CO2 policy.

    The question is, who is driving us to this disaster, if it is not our Government Ministers?

    1. Original Richard
      November 29, 2022

      PS :

      Yesterday the National Grid ESO issued the second Capacity Market Notice (“CMN”) of the winter, again on a day with low wind output.

      Would someone who knows Boreas Johnson please ask him to increase the amount of wind.

      1000 years after the King Cnut/tide story, we still have people who believe they can control the weather and prevent climate change.

    2. glen cullen
      November 29, 2022

      Don’t worry folks, the eruption of the worlds largest volcano isn’t going to effect global warming nor climate change 
according to the UN and UK Climate Change Committee, volcanos don’t count towards man-made co2

      1. hefner
        November 30, 2022

        Indeed they don’t because volcanoes essentially produce sulphur components (SO2, H2SO3) likely to contribute to increase the amount of Cloud Condensation Nuclei, therefore making cloud droplets smaller, therefore clouds more efficient at reflecting the incoming solar radiation, therefore a potential cooling.

        Funny that after all these years commenting about the climate, there are still some people unable to grasp some very basic physical processes and the feedbacks they potentially introduce.

    3. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Original Richard +1 The Boris Johnson/Conservative Government policy of Net Zero CO2 policy was predicated by the need to increase imports. So Net Zero has become a greater Plus Zero in the UK’s contribution to CO2

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        November 29, 2022

        Ian. Pathetic isn’t it? They really do think we’re stupid.

  42. MikeP
    November 29, 2022

    You ask so many “whys” and “wheres” but in all of these policy areas, the solution is in your Ministerial colleagues’ gift. They’re not listening to you or their electorates. They seem to be slaves to the Sir Humphrey types who actually run the country how THEY want to not how the electorate determined they should. It’s so disheartening, depressing and it’s game over I’m afraid. Civil Servants are effectively on a go slow (there never was a go fast) to eke out their time to the inevitable Labour Government they feel they’ll identify with better.

  43. Original Richard
    November 29, 2022

    “Being in office does not mean a Minister is in power.”

    So why are they in office?

    As Bill Shankly said, “If he’s not influencing the game, what’s he doing on the pitch?”

    The current majority of Ministers, indeed the current majority of the CPP, don’t care who is in power as a change of Government would bring the same policies of CAGW/Net Zero, high immigration, high taxation and high wasteful spending.

    1. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @Original Richard +1

  44. IanT
    November 29, 2022

    I wonder how many others are begining to feel a huge ‘indifference’ (doesn’t really describe the sensation) to many of these issues Sir John? I can’t do anything to influence these matters and it doesn’t seem that the political classes share any of my concerns, be that the economy, migration or energy security. So what is the point in knashing my teeth and fretting over it? My gas/electricity direct debit will double again in January, having more than doubled over the past year. Why? Because no one had the good sense to ensure a practical, long term energy soluttion for the UK, prefering to posture at COP instead. Frankly, I’ve given up on the Conservatives Sir John. Unfortunately, I think you are whistling in the wilderness.

  45. Bert Young
    November 29, 2022

    There has to be a more control flow between the Government and its various executive outlets . Sir John’s post today highlights this frustration . The Civil Service is not the body that can now be relied on ; there has to be a dependable chain underneath and the sooner this body is enacted the better . I first discussed this with Sir William Armstrong when he was Head of the Civil Service many years ago ; a system of 2 year exchanges was then instigated between the Civil Service and Commerce and Industry and this operated for many years supported by his successor Sir Robert Armstrong . The result was a smoother and effective liaison from both sides and it was still in operation up to the time of my retirement in 1990 .

  46. Cuibono
    November 29, 2022

    Just realised.
    JR is talking about situations like the NHS.

    Telegraph 28th November

    “It’s time faceless NHS bureaucrats were named and shamed
    Those who really make the decisions about our healthcare should be held publicly accountable”

    ROSS CLARK

  47. Mark J
    November 29, 2022

    Once again John, an excellent article for which many will agree.

    However, we know full well many of the common sense ideas won’t be adopted.

    If, as you suggest, there problems with the civil service enacting Government policy – then why aren’t the troublemakers gotten rid of?

    From what I understand, the Civil Service is supposed to act with impartiality with regard to implementing Government policy. It is part of their contract of employment. They should not be picking and choosing what policies they will implement and follow.

    In any other business, refusing to carry out the tasks your employer requires, see you follow a disciplinary process, leading to dismissal.

    So why isn’t action being taken?

    It would be cheaper to pay off the bad eggs in the civil service. Rather than continue to pay them a salary to continue blocking Government policy, policy that is trying to save the UK a fortune.

  48. Fedupsoutherner
    November 29, 2022

    Surely Sir John by now you can see how disillusioned we all our with this pathetic government? What is most depressing is knowing it won’t get any better and we’re all being told a pack of lies. It makes me feel really depressed knowing that all the issues that are important could be sorted with a strong true government but all we’ve got to look forward to is higher bills and taxes and a Labour government who will be just as bad. They will have to totally screw up what is left of the UK if they are any worse. I never thought I’d see the day where a Conservative government would make such a mess of our country and not one MP has had the balls to call it out and walk. Shame on you all.

  49. John McDonald
    November 29, 2022

    Sir John, You have confirmed again that we do not live in a Democratic Country. Parliament and the people are not running the country that is obvious. We should be discussing how we go about restoring the rule of Parliament. But is it too late? Brexit did not work.

    1. Ian B
      November 29, 2022

      @John McDonald +1 Oh so true

  50. a-tracy
    November 29, 2022

    “It wants more young people to be able to afford a home. I agree.”
    So why doesn’t anyone come up with longer 40 mortgages at fixed ten-year deals of 2.5-3.5%?
    Someone loaned the banks money at 0.25% in 2018, so they could charge up to 2.5% mortgage rates and still make a profit on it, (was this the government money tree? Or just collective bank savers taking the hit, don’t forget those without guaranteed defined benefit pensions need ‘savings’ it is only them that suffer long term, and older people still get panned).
    The towns and Cities with affordable homes, i.e. in Liverpool, you can still buy properties under ÂŁ100,000, (achievable by a couple on the national living wage if they save up a deposit by not going on holiday for a year or so, seeing friends at home instead of going out, making your own lunch of sandwiches and drinking tap water or juice only, all the sacrifices many of us had to make to get on the housing ladder.) Struggle to attract entrepreneurs and business people, maybe because of their militant worker reputation. The young entrepreneurs there should be in touch with each other to find funding to start ventures in their home towns; perhaps the trade unions could help them get started.

  51. Mark J
    November 29, 2022

    Today on TalkTV, it has been discovered that:

    1) SERCO are now ringing people at random, to track down those with holiday/second homes – in order to house illegal migrants.
    2) A ÂŁ500 million scheme is in the works, to build more houses to house the afformentioned group of people

    When will this madness end?

    What part of illegal = no entitlement to anything – does this Government not understand?

    I’m sorry John, your party is finished at the next election – and quite rightly so.

    Fixing the economy is not the only thing that the majority are concerned about!

  52. turboterrier
    November 29, 2022

    Another day another pound. ÂŁ4.5m over three years to send thousands of patients abroad for major surgery across Europe and the United States of America.
    How in hell are the people signing off these orders still employed by us. It would be cheaper to fly the specialists in. Our NHS an example to all? They are having a laugh. Are operating theatres be utilised 24/7 if not why not?
    Medical Centres could take on the minor operations if kitted out. Is it the day of the local surgery and medical centres as we know them coming to an end?

    1. hefner
      November 29, 2022

      If it is really £4.5 m, it is pretty cheap for ‘thousands of patients’. As any patient going private in the UK will tell you the equivalent of a 15 mn discussion with a surgeon is invoiced at £200-250, and in a theatre operation the anaesthetist’s fee is around £500 and the surgeon’s fee is around £1k. If any rehabilitation/reeducation is required a few hundreds of pounds more are likely to be spent. And that does not include the hospital cost that can be another £1k/day.
      So based on your comment £4.5 m for ‘thousands of patients’ might in fact be rather cheap.

      Are you sure it was not ÂŁ4.5 bn?

      1. hefner
        November 29, 2022

        ‘Are operating theatres utilised 24/7, if not, why not?’ What about the need for specialist nurses, anaesthetists, various types of speciality surgeons? Are you sure all these people are available 24/7 anywhere in the UK?
        Now tell me, what type of minor operations would you want performed in your local surgery? Wart and verruca removal? Treatment of varicose veins? Colectomy? Baby delivery? Hip or knee replacement? Spine surgery?

    2. hefner
      November 29, 2022

      ‘Are operating theatres utilised 24/7, if not, why not?’ What about the need for specialist nurses, anaesthetists, various types of speciality surgeons? Are you sure all these people are available 24/7 anywhere in the UK?
      Now tell me, what type of minor operations would you want performed in your local surgery? Wart and verruca removal? Treatment of varicose veins? Colectomy? Baby delivery? Hip or knee replacement? Spine surgery?

  53. Original Richard
    November 29, 2022

    “Being in office does not mean a Minister is in power.”

    Could this be because ministers often having no experience or knowledge of the subject for which they have become responsible are easily bamboozled by “Yes Minister” civil servants with an opposing agenda?

    Just consider the lack of stem subject expertise of ministers of the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

    As Kate Bingham pointed out in her Romanes lecture :

    “The country will face unsurmountable challenges because of a notable lack of scientific, industrial, commercial and manufacturing skills both amongst Civil servants and politicians.”

    It is no wonder that we have as a result the economy destroying CAGW/Net Zero driven by graduates of classics, ancient and modern history, philosophy and theatre studies.

  54. Ian B
    November 29, 2022

    This Socialist Government you can’t call them anything else is deliberately destroying the UK and Democracy simply because the People in a referendum wanted a fully fledge Sovereign responsible Democracy.

    The whole construct of this Government is anti independence, anti a solid economy, anti security and resilience. They are hell bent on framing the next sound-bite ‘we must rejoin’ – why else would they (as it is their gift to do otherwise, become Conservative) destroy the fundamentals and ensure their own inaction causes pain.

  55. forthurst
    November 29, 2022

    The problem that the Tories face is that they are practically all Arts graduates so they have no capacity for problem solving otherwise they would have studied subjects at university for which problem solving is an essential skill. That being the case, they simply feel and look as powerless as the captain and crew of the Titanic
    whilst solutions to their dilemmas are obvious and apparent to those who know how to think. Those who know how to destroy this country clearly have the requisite capacity and they have been using for decades but the Tories are so stupid, they probably don’t even realise who they are.

  56. glen cullen
    November 29, 2022

    Today on my high street I witnessed three gentlemen attempting to push another frail old man in an electric wheelchair that had run out of power, luckily they only had to go about 100 meters to the chaps car. He said that the battery had possibly drained due to today’s sudden cold snap 
.a warning to us all

    1. Mickey Taking
      November 29, 2022

      Boris Johnson’s battery drained about 2 months after being PM.

  57. John Hatfield
    November 29, 2022

    “The government wants migration down”
    That is an untruth John. If the government really wanted immigration down it would get it down. The government however, does what its masters tell it.

  58. Alan Paul Joyce
    November 29, 2022

    Dear Mr. Redwood,

    Perhaps there is room in your book “We Don’t Believe You” for another chapter on how the establishment elite here in the UK has fought back against the populist uprising. It looks like these so-called ‘grown-ups’ who are now back in charge of the Government are simply going to ignore the public’s ‘erotic spasm’ (or exotic spresm as Sir Vince Cable, rather humiliatingly for him, put it) and proceed with reasserting the same failed policies, including pursuing closer ties with the EU, as if the 2019 election had never happened.

    The words from your book seem very prophetic.

    “Mr. Redwood sees the populist revolt extending further, unless the establishments adjust their scripts and seek to understand better the forces they have unwittingly unleashed. He shows how great parties have been all but destroyed as election winning forces as new movements and people sweep them aside.”

    I should think many people hope that is exactly what is going to happen to the establishment parties here in the UK including the Conservative Party.

  59. Bill Mayes
    November 29, 2022

    Blindingly obvious perceptions, SJ. A pity that the Government now wears blinkers and prefers to act like the three wise monkeys. To do nothing is to condone or to appease.
    We desperately need a change of Government if only to reinstate true Conservative principles. Else we shall be economically debilitated by a further decade of neo-socialism.

  60. Barbara
    November 29, 2022

    With the news today in the DT that London and Birmingham are both now minority white (in addition to Leicester which Keith Vaz already informed us was Britain’s first minority white city some years ago) I think many feel issues such as the power of unelected officials is now becoming rather academic. All that remains is to censor us from criticising it.

  61. oldwulf
    November 29, 2022

    “…..working Ministers get briefed against and complained against for being impatient to demand a policy it appears officials do not like…..”

    A little more “bullying” by our ministers would have my support.

  62. Keith from Leeds
    November 29, 2022

    Hello Sir John,
    Being in office does not mean being in power! What a statement to make, but an excellent article on why this government has achieved virtually nothing in 12 years. Reading all the comments, it is evident that everyone has no patience with the excuses you make! Why not close the Home office & make redundant every Civil Servant in it? It has failed the UK completely in not stopping illegal immigration, and allowed a woke, weak police force led by second-rate Chief Constables! That might wake up the rest of the Civil Service to start doing what they are told to do. No private employer could tolerate staff who won’t do what they are told or who try to deliberately sabotage & deny it.
    Let’s see some leadership & action instead of the weak, wishy-washy approach we currently have!

  63. Fedupsoutherner
    November 29, 2022

    All this government has achieved in 12 years is increase the population and decrease the money in their pockets. Nothing in the manifesto has been delivered in particular a real Brexit. Why would anyone vote Conservative?

  64. paul
    November 29, 2022

    I will just have hold nose and hope the best.

  65. Mickey Taking
    November 29, 2022

    Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk in a rare newspaper interview following his discussions with Mr Cleverly, the Hungarian foreign minister said he believed too many people in Brussels are motivated by a desire for “Brexit revenge.”
    Mr SzijjĂĄrtĂł, who also discussed his country’s different position on Ukraine with Mr Cleverly, made it clear that Hungary is on Britain’s side regarding problematic talks on fixing the Northern Ireland protocol and other issues going forward.
    The Hungarian minister joked that he is now on his sixth UK counterpart since taking office in 2014.
    He said: “We attach a lot of significance to the debates between London and Brussels. They should be settled in a way that is based on mutual respect and which could make possible to have rational and effective cooperation.

  66. Mickey Taking
    November 29, 2022

    Dutch farmers are in for a shock as their government has announced it will shut down between 2,000 and 3,000 farms across the country to cut on nitrogen levels as required under EU climate rules. According to an early draft of the plan, farmers will receive 120 percent of their farms’ value.
    Christianne van der Wal, nitrogen minister, told MPs on Friday: “There is no better offer coming.”
    But the move is set to infuriate farmers across the country amid already-strained relations between industry leaders and Mark Rutte’s government.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      November 29, 2022

      It could be as many as 11000 eventually

    2. Berkshire Alan
      November 30, 2022

      Amazing when the World is short of food, and the population is growing.

      Pray tell me to what use do they plan for the land, re-wilding, solar panels ?

  67. Berkshire Alan
    November 29, 2022

    Sir John
    Clearly you can see the feelings of frustration and anger of your readers, from the many responses you have had to your excellent postings over the last few months now.
    Do any other Ministers understand, does the Government understand, or are they all in their lofty towers completely unaware of the chaos and incompetence which surrounds them, and that we have now witnessed for far too long.
    If they are aware, are they actually planning to do anything sensible about it ?
    If they are not aware by now, they never will be, so we are all therefore wasting our time hoping something will change.

  68. Lynn Atkinson
    November 29, 2022

    Why are small businesses still paying 20% VAT on energy. Big business (VAT registered) pays 0%.
    Guess which employs more people?

  69. Rhoddas
    November 29, 2022

    I forgot about Energy (FAIL)… we agree UK energy security is paramount, but your govt think this includes EU imports as a miniumum, maybe other imports too. This is now proven not to work, our bills are out of control and inflation is manifest as a result, plus unnecessary QE last year which you understand better than I.

    Despite Liz Truss’s valiant efforts your government will not approve the essential short/medium term requirements for FRACK/DRILL/MINE. Solar/Wind are by their nature ONLY Intermittants, so however the final UK energy mix is designed, we need “on-demand” electrickery, to match our future needs, be they fossil/green, including meeting the increasing transformation to EV. Why is it so difficult to see by Govt that if the lights go out 2022/2023 they will be pilloried at the next election, it’s their job to fix all this. No one else, get on with it!

  70. Ray Hamer
    November 30, 2022

    Get on with it or as Winston Churchill used to say “action this day “

  71. XY
    November 30, 2022

    Lots of pieces drily stating an issue then a “must do this” list. Nothing about how to achieve it.

    In practise, if there are officials getting in the way then please write something about how to get them out of the way. We all know what needs to be done, that’s the easy part – but not all of us have influence to make it happen. If one of 650 MPs can’t exert some positive influence then what’s the point in electing someone to endlessly write “must do X” and ask pointless questions that are effortlessly ducked?

    The Conservative party has shown that it’s anything but conservative and is interested only in pandering to the masses to win elections (along with furthering some personal objectives for some MPs). Time for that party to be consigned to the dustbin of history.

    Perhaps it’s time JR realised that his “right honourable friends” are neither right, nor honourable, nor are they his friends.

  72. XY
    November 30, 2022

    “Conservative” Home? Hahaha that’s funny.

    Most conservative people now see that as just another infiltrated institution.

  73. Lindsay McDougall
    December 4, 2022

    I want to point out one important error in your blog. The 2% inflation target is an AVERAGE not a MINIMUM. Therefore, a single year of inflation at 10% must be balanced by five straight years of 0% inflation.

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