It is a crucial part of our Parliamentary democracy that we do ultimately  hold government Ministers to blame for the many failings of public services and public bodies. We also expect government to intervene or to change the law when the private sector and or too many individuals miscarry.
I still believe  in that system. I fully understand why government gets the blame when inflation goes too high, but note that an independent Bank of England is responsible for inflation and brought high inflation on. There are so many areas now where government is blamed but in practice the decisions and budgets rest with independent bodies, or where national and international law and judges prevent Ministers carrying out what they want to do. There are even cases where Ministers change the law but are still thwarted by activist courts.
I will explore how far this removal of power has gone, how many of the independent bodies are behaving badly or incompetently, and how courts and treaties prevent Ministers implementing  the public will. As many blame Ministers, Ministers need to take back powers to solve the problems the current system fails to resolve or make worse. The doctrine of independent bodies is doing plenty of damage, from the Post Office to the railways, from Ofwat to the Bank of England. The EHCR stops us controlling our borders  and the WHO which had a bad covid pandemic wants more powers to control the NHS.
April 11, 2024
Good morning.
And
And that is where I believe the problem is. Ministers’ are carrying the can for those who should be made responsible. ie The Civil Serpents. It is the CS’s that run (sic) the departments. In my view, which I have said before, Ministers’ should only be responsible for protecting the public purse and implementing party manifesto promises. If a government department is failing then the CS repsonsible should be made accountable. Only then though natural process would we be able to get better government.
If you still believe in a system that has, and continues to fail, then all are doing is reinforcing failure. Hence the mess we are in.
Simple.
April 11, 2024
Mark,
Agree with you that a Minister – like a CEO in a commercial company – should be able to rely on the operational managers to implement strategy and meet standards. Also agree that currently those managers and departments / quangoes are failing to meet expectations that should be reasonably put upon them.
Some examples of the ‘businesses’ that are falling short:
– Post Office (enough said?)
– Bank of England
– Majority of the OFxxxx quangoes (OFSTED, OFWAT, OFCOM, etc)
– The NHS
– All of the DEI teams that have been established in the public sector
April 11, 2024
We must see control and discipline! If not we can have no confidence.
April 11, 2024
JR believes in parliamentary democracy. That is a theory not a reality. His memory should allow him to remember the rogue parliament of 2019 which thwarted the will of the people, he ought to remember the MP expense scandal so widespread it would be inconceivable they all knew what was going on- action taken- nothing of substance and now more secrete than before. Then we have all those key central promises to the nation which are the foundation contract with the public, broken without a blink of an eye.
How can parliamentary democracy work with so much govt. responsibility handed to quangos to hide decisions made by govt and act as a fire wall for MP claims not me govt? Cameron epitomises a failure in parliamentary democracy, he rigged a referendum to leave the EU, deliberately failed to prepare the nation to leave the EU, made specious claims about our economy, world wars if UK left, lost the referendum so stomped off without sending a letter to leave the EU the next day as promised. Cameron comes back to cabinet not elected by the public but by making him a Lord! Now Cameron leads the govt policy with EU and US! He called Trump divisive stupid and wrong and labelled him in his book protectionist, xenophobic and misogynistic! Cameron then flies off to see Trump to ask if the Republicans would not block funding to corrupt Ukraine! He also leads EU foreign policy after his previous substandard behaviour! Parliamentary democracy or no standards in Tory party?
Get real JR, you are not that naive nor are we. At what point is the public served by installing, through a coup, Sunak as PM when rejected by his party and members and not elected by the public?
April 11, 2024
+++
April 11, 2024
ABSOLUTELY! I noticed Sir John that you did not include Civil Servants – everyone else but NOT CS. Why are you Members of Parliament SO frightened of the Civil Service – they no longer ‘Advise’ THEY call the shots by thwarting what THEY Don’t LIKE. I criticise you for this as I do all Members of Parliament of whatever persuasion BUT you are a ‘ Good and Honest Broker’s and have always served your Constituents well and the Nation it must be said. The CS has become so powerful that it rids itself of Ministers who don’t ‘tow the line’ with cries of ‘bullying’ and EVERYONE backs down and flee in all directions. DISGRACEFUL!!
April 11, 2024
+++
April 11, 2024
JR believes in Parliamentary Democracy.
Do we have that currently?
Do we have elected leaders?
Is our voice obeyed by those who work for us?
Not really.
So we no longer have the system he ( rightlyâŠis there a better one?) admires.
If we ever did?
April 11, 2024
@Everhopeful +1
April 11, 2024
Mr Redwood hides behind the word ‘democracy’ and belief in the system. It’s convenient for him, gives him the opportunity to avoid the hard truths, leaving his voters not himself to suffer the trouble.
April 11, 2024
JR is a citizen and a taxpayer too. He is subject to every rubbish law passed. Thatâs why true democracy works!
April 11, 2024
What system do you believe in then?
April 11, 2024
+1
April 11, 2024
When was the last time a government minister resigned because his/her department failed to do what it was supposed to be doing? I’m not saying it never happens, just that I can’t think of an example, not since John Nott resigned following government’s failure to protect the Falkland Islands in the early 1980s.
It seems to me that for at least the last 40 years the practice has been for neither civil servants nor cabinet ministers to take responsibility when things go wrong.
April 11, 2024
Labourâs Estelle Morris was one of the few; now in the House of Lords!
April 11, 2024
The resignation was Lord Carrington at the Foreign Office. Entirely principled, and as one who met him I would say a loss of a sharp and intelligent mind in consequence.
April 11, 2024
Read Ian Smithâs book, âBetrayedâ. You might change your mind.
April 12, 2024
Exactly!
April 11, 2024
Thank you. It was that long ago….
April 11, 2024
Those doing the real damage are flame proof. Never sacked for incompetence or failing to carry out government policy.
Until the civil Serpents are brought under control nothing will change.
April 11, 2024
Mark B:
If there are serpents in the Civil Service causing risk to governmentâs way ahead, Ministers could use anti-venom to neutralise them, or fire them out of harmâs way.
It is better to burden the Environment Dept in preventing snake bites than the NHS suffering from more ailment adders.
April 12, 2024
Nonsense. Try to sack Civil Servants and see what happens!
April 12, 2024
Avoidance is tantamount to accepting mob rule. Before Margaret Thatcher acted, businesses in printing were confronted with people representing Unions such as SOGAT, NGA & SLADE who forced them to join and pay their fees, or refuse and have their work blacked by all members nationally. That was equivalent to a protection racket, demanding money with menaces,
If you value media that are free to function normally, you should support what Thatcher accomplished for our nation.
Ministers trying to enact the free will of the people who elected them should be free to do so: not having their authority destroyed just because some civil service employees don’t want to do what they are paid for.
Remedy needs another Thatcher. Fine performers including SJR assisted her. The current bozos in the Cabinet lack their high qualities and determination to achieve what is right.
April 11, 2024
and Sir John appears to be one of the few outspoken MPs! What of the hundreds of sheep who nod through the most anti-democratic and often foolhardy Bills?
April 11, 2024
In the times they have left when they are not on grinder, looking at Tractor porn or on dating apps or finessing their expenses I assume.
April 11, 2024
@Mark B – “responsible for protecting the public purse” they collect the money to give away by using their laws, if they do not then control its use and results they are 100% to blame – there is no get out clause. They manage the Civil Service(hire and fire), they take our money to pay for its existence – they are 100% responsible for all out comes. There is a But, as we have seen this pretend Conservative Government went AWOL 14 years ago, who is responsible for them – the CCHQ and the Conservative Party, they lied to us all fraudulently gave us a Socialist tax and spend leadership
April 11, 2024
Civil servants are FUNCTIONARIES and must be made to obey the Minister who has a duty of care to us. If the Minister canât assert that power then he must stand aside for somebody who can, because he has the authority and the responsibility. He must be held to account, because we have no relationship with the functionaries he employs. We canât hold them to account.
I can tell you that the departments run by JR, Tebbit and many other WOULD NOT HAVE DARED TO THWART THEIR MINISTER!
It was ever thus.
April 11, 2024
My neighbour, whoâs a senior civil servant is fuming today as its been agreed (with the unions) that his department will return to three days âinâ the office âŠ.first thing I said was, ââwhy not five daysââ, and he thought I was joking
They’re not in the real world !
April 11, 2024
My MOD supervisor near neighbour is in the office zero days, walking his dog, coffee outings, gym, grass cutting. It’s an outrageous waste of tax payer money and an obvious place to find savings in the defence budget to operational feet on the ground roles and equipment.
April 12, 2024
If they were in government today, JR, Norman Tebbit, and, yes, even the late great Margaret Thatcher would all have been got rid of by today’s excuses for civil servants by the simple expediency of accusing them of bullying and Sunak wouldn’t have stood by them for a minute !
April 11, 2024
I agree Mark, it is also how we end up with Ministers changing all the time but the system doesn’t seem to change. The people working in asylum processing no longer have targets and are underperforming, change Priti Patel, Braverman, Cleverly, what happens with the heads of the departments, how much are they earning?
This big Bulgarian benefit thieves, ÂŁ54 million, how on earth did just five people claim so much and no one in the benefits agency notice or do the proper checks? Every single individual claim needs to be checked to look back to see which division cleared them. Was it one or two employees in the department? Lets not just sweep yet another big screw-up under the carpet by blaming the minister in charge of the department. They should check how they did it to identify others. I thought foreign nationals had to provide a passport to get any uk benefit and had a face to face meeting?
April 12, 2024
No non-UK National should be eligible for any kind of benefit. If we did that then scams like the one you mentioned above would not happen.
Here is a statistic that I was told recently – 45% of all social housing in London is occupied by people who were not born here. Think about that when looking for your next home.
April 12, 2024
Sorry, I meant to say:
“No non-UK National should NOT be eligible . . .”
April 11, 2024
It will be fascinating to read the results of your âexplorationsâ and I look forward to receiving them!
April 11, 2024
Agreed – and perhaps a future diary topic might be “Blame the system, but sort out the Minister”.
Parliament no longer attracts many members of a calibre to be Ministers and we will soon have new office holders probably less well-suited than any in history and so less relevant too, alas.
April 11, 2024
Just so. Look at the ministers we have and their relevant experience, couple with longevity of position in job is it any wonder they hardly achieve any good results.
I have the quesy feeling we’ll soon see Prime Minister Shapps….
April 11, 2024
Defence of the Realm is the first duty of Government.
Grant Shapps regards de fence like an open gate to entitlement.
Ben Wallace was more like the sentinel we need.
April 11, 2024
Theyâre not protecting UK born people nor our British way of life ….but that wasn’t one of Sunaks pledges
April 11, 2024
Maybe that is because of the DEI that has been relentlessly practised at every level since at least the 60s.
Everywhere you look Jack is as good as his master.
(See what they are doing to prison sentencing now).
Look around this so-called country and understand that JackâŠ
Has failed horribly âŠor is he actually very pleased with his wholesale destruction?
April 11, 2024
Parliament did not attract good quality people when it was subservient to the EU. We are free of that and good quality people are coming forward, but the political machine is rejecting them. The constituency association need to put the FUNCTIONARIES in Central Office in their place. We need to SELECT whomsoever we like as candidates to put forward to the electorate as we always did. If we donât assert our authority as Sovereigns who choose our own representatives, donât whine about parliaments full of William Wraggs.
April 11, 2024
Agree
April 11, 2024
Independent effectively means unaccountable but not unbiased.
April 11, 2024
+++
April 11, 2024
Our governments have given away their responsibility and policy decision making to these outside bodies âŠthatâs undemocratic as we the people canât throw them out of office/disband them if weâre dissatisfied
And you continue with this philosophy with police & crime commissioners and regional & city mayors
April 11, 2024
What is needed is not so much new laws but better management and better directed management. Politician have totally failed for most of my lifetime. Tax has increased hugely but value delivered and efficiency has declined. So much of what is spent is spent hugely inefficiently or even does net harm. Things like net zero, road blocking, rigging markets like energy, schools, healthcare, transport, universities, housing⊠rigging what science research is done to. See the Death of Science book Angus Dalgleish et all. The vastly expensive Covid Vaccines and Lockdowns clearly did hug net harms.
What if anything makes an independent body act in the public interest? Nothing is often the answer it seems quite the reverse very often.
April 11, 2024
An excellent medical report from Australia on Long Covid is discussed in the latest Dr John Campbell video. They really mean âLong Covid Vaccineâ which seems to be the main problem. Rather easy to distinguish as not everyone has had Covid or the Vaccines. Also we can test and distinguish between tissues damaged by vaccine after effects rather than covid infections. A very large number of people and a very long list of illnesses that seems to have been caused mainly by Covid Vaccines.
How much longer is Sunak going to persist with his vaccines are unequivocally safe lies? Will he go to his grave before he apologises and corrects the record? But then John Major has never yet said sorry for wrecking the economy, destroying businesses, homes repossessed, businesses and jobs destroyed, marriages and lives extinguished by his moronic ERM letâs join the EURO fiasco. This before he made us suffer 3 disastrous terms of Blair/Brown wrecking of the UK, disastrous devolution, dishonest & pointless wars⊠Sunak set to bury the fake Tories yet again. Nearly all his policies are 180 degrees out just the same as Labourâs are.
April 11, 2024
My neighbour, a 78 yr old woman who was fit as a fiddle before she had the Covid jabs (4 in total) is now effectively disabled. All the signs of serious jab-damage (I won’t call them vaccines) and the NHS “can find no explanation.” Dr Geert vanden Bossche (expert virologist) is worth listening to on the Kunstler Podcast 31 March 2024.
April 11, 2024
@Donna & LL re the gene therapy forced upon us by our politicians and their “experts”. It’s a grand example of where neither Ministers nor Civil Servants/advisers take the blame, in this case for the most draconian attack on our basic liberties in the modern era and the most colossal public health failure ever committed.
When both sides are culpable, they join forces to deny anything went wrong, and create a whitewash public enquiry which inevitably confirms that the authorities did everything right (or the best they could in the circumstances) so are blameless.
This is why since Covid there has been the ramped-up attack on freedom of expression (via “online harms” and “anti-misinformation” laws), as they need to control the media narrative in order to hoodwink the public.
April 11, 2024
+1 even kicking out Andrew Bridgen for telling the truth unlike âthe Covid vaccines are/were unequivocally safeâ Sunak. How long is Rishi intending to stick with this blatant lie? The evidence is overwhelming and is growing by the day & all around the World.
April 11, 2024
They certainly will not be able to hide the damage done by the vaccines it is huge and Worldwide and far worse in the more highly vaccinated countries. We can also test tissues to show if the problem is caused by the vaccines or by Covid. See the latest Dr John Campbell podcast on the recent Australian medical paper on Vaccine harms (they like to call it Long Covid sometimes).
April 11, 2024
Do listen to the podcast I highlighted with Dr Geert vanden Bossche – and pay attention to his warning. He hasn’t been wrong yet.
April 11, 2024
I will do.
April 11, 2024
Yet another tax grab a 16%+ increase in 14 months. No reason it could not be done for less than ÂŁ20 if run efficiently. Plus they still very often have unacceptable delays and charge more for faster service,
Passport prices are set to rise for the second time in 14 months in a move that has been described as adding âinsult to injury for holidaymakersâ. Britons face paying 7pc more to update their travel ID from Thursday, just over a year after a 9pc rise in February 2023.
Not so good for reducing inflation Sunak.
April 11, 2024
They donât care. Itâs not in the âinflation basketâ. If one doesnât like it, one can always take a holiday here. ÂŁ1000 for a week in a wet caravan sheltering from the rain on a site with horrible facilities is a bargain.
April 11, 2024
Wrong quote there. Should have been:
April 11, 2024
Lifelogic
Passports no longer last 10 years they last 9.5 years at the most,From Date of Issue, Not expiry date (which may be a different date)
Reason, they are useless near the end of their life because you cannot go anywhere if on return you are going to have less than 3 -6 months left on your passport, add on the time that you need to replace one before you go on holiday for peace of mind (they may be on strike) and you are lucky if they are useful for 9 years in practice, but you still pay for 10.
April 11, 2024
Bjorn Lomborg
âTo achieve 100% solar or wind electricity with sufficient backup, the US would need to be able to store almost three monthsâ worth of annual electricity. It currently has 7 mins.
Just to pay for the batteries would cost the US five times its current GDP.â
In the UK it would cost even more relative to our population. Net zero is total economic, environments, engineering and scientific insanity Mr Suank and Ms Coutinho.
April 11, 2024
Having reminded Rodney of âThe Moral basis of Monetarismâ, written 40mm years ago – he has updated it.
I thought these definitions would be of interest under this subject addressed by JR today:
THE WRONG CONSENSUS
The Wrong Consensus is government based on the accommodation, (disguised by the process of inflation), of the demands only of those powerful enough to threaten the Rule of Parliament. Since this accommodation is based on the defiance of the politically and economically expressed wishes of their fellow citizens the Wrong Consensus is diametrically opposed to the genuine democratic consensus.
ILLEGITIMATE POWER
Illegitimate power is power which once acquired through the machinations of the Wrong Consensus is not open to challenge either through Parliament or the market place. Outside the many legitimate roles of the State, Government promotes the retention of illegitimate power by preserving institutions which the people acting in free association would have condemned to oblivion. Within the Rule of Law only the market mechanism can balance the relative claims of those who possess and those who must have the right to challenge that possession.
PRIVILEGE
Privilege is the arbitrary possession of illegitimate power. Since there will always be social variety and change, so there will always be relative degrees of wealth and power. The destabilisation of society comes not from variations in wealth and power but in the arbitrary and unchallengeable possession of any particular degree of wealth and power.
April 11, 2024
+1
April 11, 2024
Given you write “I still believe in that system” you are unlikely to agree with me that Ministers would be best replaced with AI chat bots.
Those would not mis-speak (so much), would pander to popular whims, be skilled at employing buzz phrases to quell criticism and would be less prone to involvement in scandal. As for objections that chat bots could not take effective action for change, would that represent much of a departure?
April 11, 2024
Statement by most ministers usually come in two forms. Either so obviously true as to be not really worth saying. Things like âwe want to deliver an efficient, affordable, coordinated, safe, integrated, reliable and clean transport system⊠did anyone want the reverse? Or they are blatant untruths like âwe have cut taxesâ or âthe Covid Vaccines are safeâ, ânet zero will create jobsâ, or we will stop the boats, reduce NHS waiting lists, grow the economy, reduce government debtâŠ
Mel Stride âIâm proud of @DWPgovuk investigators and @CPSUK for taking down this organised crime group who stole millions.â Was it not the DWP that allowed this and many other such frauds to happen in the first place?
April 11, 2024
Welfare is the second largest budget, Sunak already lost ÂŁ12 billion to covid fraud this alone ought to have put DWP on notice to fraud by alien actors.
Key question why are foreign nationals allowed welfare straight away? Other countries like Australia, Canada, US etc you have to be self sufficient for the period of your visa or not allowed for an initial period. Why not here?
Moreover, Mel Stride ought to now tell us what percentage of welfare is given or lost to foreign nationals? Farage was ridiculed by Tory and Labour Party when he warned the nation over Eastern Europeans coming here ie Romanians. The first in was greeted by Labour MP for phot op and had a criminal record! Cameron was going to stop child benefit for EU citizens never setting foot here. When he left office ÂŁ33 million each year sent abroad for children never setting foot here. What is the welfare percentage given to EU citizens? Mel Stride needs his feet held to the fire for his wanton stupid remarks to deflect long standing failings of his department- and him!
April 11, 2024
Mel Stride was appointed 25 Oct 2022, the Belgian gangs crimes were committed from 2016 to 2021. “The investigation identified three “benefit factories” in the Wood Green area of north London where repeated false claims for benefits originated.” So many previous holders of the role, Damian Green, David Gauke, Esther McVey, Rudd, Coffey.
5.8m people are claiming UC now. Launching in 2013 we were told it would reduce fraud and error.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-14-march-2024 Statistics for the number of people on Universal Credit by geography, age, conditionality regime, duration and employment. These statistics will be released on 16 April 2024 9:30am – It doesn’t say if it will include nationality.
April 11, 2024
Oh and remember this…Kate Osamor the Labour MP for Edmonton raises concern that Bulgarians are being unfairly targeted for benefit fraud investigation. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/dec/06/mp-raises-concern-over-bulgarian-nationals-uk-benefit-suspensions
“Concern about the treatment of many Bulgarian and some Polish universal credit claimants has also been raised by a charity supporting EU nationals and an estate agency renting to Bulgarian tenants in London…Osamor has written to ThĂ©rĂšse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, to express her âgrave concern that Bulgarian nationals are being unfairly targeted for benefit fraud investigation based on their nationalityâ.
I wonder how many of these turned out to be the fraudsters?
April 11, 2024
You are seriously misinformed about AI. Might as well adopt the Chinese system of dispensing with politics and politicians altogether and just have the bureaucrats I.E unimpeded civil servants.
China is basically the CCP and the Civil Servants. Thank God for the CCP, else China would dominate the world.
April 11, 2024
NHS ordered to reveal fates of â9,000 transgender children.
Writing in The Telegraph, Ms Atkins says she has had enough of âa culture of secrecy and ideology over evidence and safetyâ.
Good and what about the 200,000+ Covid Vaccine injured Ms Atkins where Sunak and the government is surely deliberately lying and hiding, distorting & refusing to release proper raw statistics broken down by vaccine status or to investigate the excess deaths and harms properly.
April 11, 2024
Bulgarian fraud gang convicted after stealing ÂŁ54m in biggest-ever benefits scam so that is about 54000 typical tax payers taxes passed to criminals. Well done those responsible doubtless just the tip on an iceberg.
Philip Davies MP on GB news with the Sunak inherited an appalling position defence, indeed he did but inherited mainly from the mess made by one Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Andrew Bailey who wasted ÂŁbillions and presided over vast waste in lockdowns and the net harm vaccines. Plus the 11%+ inflation that he caused with Baileyâs QE currency debasement.
April 11, 2024
Allister Heath today is right as usual.
âThe international Left-wing elites are on their way to crushing democracy
The ECHRâs net zero judgment shows why the UK must now leave the court without delay
Democracy is dying, and we are running out of time to save it. The theft of power and influence from ordinary citizens, and its transfer to unelected, unaccountable lawyers and technocrats is accelerating.â
Except perhaps it is already dead in the main. One vote every five years for the least bad option of usually two parties who will not do what they promise anyway on a FPTP basis is hardly democratic.
April 11, 2024
@Lifelogic +1
April 11, 2024
No party ever does what it promises under PR, and you canât sack them. At least we can sack these under FPTP until they prefer to obey us. We can also replace them individually if we could be bothered to get off our sofas and take part. Donât think Farage will âsaveâ you. He will lock us into a system from which there is no escape.
April 11, 2024
My thoughts entirely on this one Lifelogic. Keep going on this topic đđ
April 11, 2024
“The EHCR stops us controlling our borders.”
I would like to take issue with this : The EHCR has nothing to do with our ability to control our borders !
Your own government has caused the problem by deliberately going against what a large majority of voters want and let legal immigration get totally out of control. Cameron promised to reduce it to the “tens of thousands,” but his successors have allowed in three times the numbers he wanted to reduce !
The only explanation is that they have gone along with big business in allowing them to bring in an extra 500,000 people a year so that they can exploit cheap labour rates while we pay the bill for it with worsening public services and congestion of all kinds.
The far smaller number of illegal migrants are the responsibility of Macron who is no friend of Britain. He now has the perfect excuse because the Dublin agreement is no more, and illegals can come to France without needing to apply for asylum in the first safe country they arrive in.
April 11, 2024
I donât think that Cameron’s intervention in Libya helped much.
April 11, 2024
Another disaster from the Cast Iron, low tax at heart but never in reality, IHT threshold ratter, abandon the bridge, do not bother to prepare for a leave vote. over paid Greensill âadvisorâ.
April 11, 2024
In accordance to UN resolution 1970-73 led by NATO coalition with the USA, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Qatar, Spain & UK; under Operation Unified Protector â UK military engagement was limited, miniscule and token
April 11, 2024
+1
Except I believe that during the Brexit negotiations there was a quiet agreement that the UK would take “it’s fair share” of the criminal migrants the EU encouraged to flood into Europe. For the sake of appearances, Macron pretends to try and stop them and Sunak pretends he wants him to.
April 11, 2024
Don’t blame the French for the UK’s policy of encouraging illegal immigration with hotel accommodation, free medical care and liberty to earn tax free delivering pizzas, not to mention those lucky enough to cash in on the drug trade.
April 11, 2024
Well said (written!).
April 11, 2024
1997 and 2010 sounded the death knell of our nation, its ancient system of democratically accountable system of governance deliberately torn apart and replaced by a system whose purpose was simple, to create bodies and in some cases appease foreign entities (WHO, ECHR, Quangos, NGO’s, activist bodies and activist judges) that circumvent Parliament and elected government and pack them with ideologically sympathetic outriders.
if John’s looking for someone to blame he can start with two toxic politicians who I believe are a stain on our nation, Blair and Cameron. The rot started under these two reprobates and most Tory MPs endorsed Labour’s agenda to protect their careers
The people of this nation deserve better than Labour and the Tories whose only concern is passing one from another and back again.
I know something if Labour do gain a majority they will flood the country as the Tories have done since Cameron and the odious May to impose irreversible change.
etc ed
April 11, 2024
@DOM – while you are correct it has to be recognised that every Tory PM since they were elected 14 years ago have perused the Blair/Brown Socialist WEF agenda, not one of them has been a Conservative. Conservatives serve, control expenditure and above all keep the UK safe, secure and ensure resilience. Socialist tax like crazy, spend as if it is going out of fashion and peruse the One Nation ideal that everyone from all corners of the globe must receive money from the UK taxpayer before it is created by enterprise and endeavour. I guess like me you would not be aware of a Conservative Government this century
April 11, 2024
Indeed âto the tens of thousandsâ and ÂŁ1m IHT thresholds Cast Iron âDaveâ Cameron.
April 11, 2024
I fully agreed the buck stops with the minister but permit me a little snipe at your good self. If my memory is correct, in a previous post you blamed not the Minister but ‘experts’ for the Post Office fiasco and my comment at the time was to the effect that it was not the responsibility of the ‘experts’ as you called them but the responsbility of the people in charge (head of the Post Office and minister) properly to direct and manage the experts (Fujitsu in that case) by ensuring adequate testing and formal acceptance of the IT system, and ensuring they themselves understand what the system’s functions are, what the experts are doing and any advice the experts give them. A minister who signs off the expenditure is surely responsible for ensuring the requirement on which he or she satisfies themselves is necessary expenditure and value for money is met by the delivered system.
Did I misunderstand your previous post? What you say now is consistent with the view I held at that time. Qangos, agencies and various ‘arms length’ bodies can be and are used to avoid ministerial responsibility. The EU is perhaps the most egregious example of ministers avoiding responsibility by either delegating upwards or offering little or no resistance to the higher level of government taking over.
Reply I said the experts/main executives were to blame and action should be taken against them. I also say Ministers will be blamed for letting independent public bodies behave badly so they need to intervene. They need to correct or discipline these responsible executives.
April 11, 2024
Many parties to blame for the Postmaster scandal, including those judges who miscarried justice. Those civil servants however seem to escape scrutiny.
April 11, 2024
Wouldn’t dismissal be more appropriate?
April 11, 2024
We need to see criminal charges against both the Ministers who allowed this thwarting of justice and of the executives. Nothing less will do. Corporate Manslaughter. Ministers need to understand that assuming responsibility for a department is a serious thing. Executives need to understand that returning your gong is not sufficient.
That show of justice might sort out quite a lot of even worse shenanigans on a greater scale elsewhere.
April 11, 2024
Maybe we should be ruled via referenda?
Rather than always expecting this or that party to put right what the others have done?
Mind youâŠweâd need honest politicians for that.
Ones who followed each referendum result to the letter!
April 11, 2024
@Everhopeful
The Swiss voted against net zero in a referendum, that’s all been overturned by this new ECHR ruling!
April 11, 2024
….when an unelected court has more power then the voting electorate
April 11, 2024
The people are fight far more often than governments. This as they have the interests of the people at heart unlike so many MPs who have their own interests, careers and âconsultancyâ income at heart.
April 11, 2024
They don’t even want ‘none of the above’ on the ballot paper ….I don’t envisage seeing another referendum in my life time – democracy is dead
April 11, 2024
We don’t have a democracy Sir John. We don’t even really have a Parliamentary Democracy any longer – if we ever did. That’s where the problem starts and ends.
We are “given a choice” between two almost identical parties pushing almost identical policies (which come from the UN/IMF/WEF and soon to be WHO) and under FPTP it is virtually impossible for anyone else to get elected, except in Scotland and Wales where devolution turbo-charged the SNP and to a lesser extend Plaid Cymru. Meanwhile the English have NO representation that isn’t compromised by the disproportionate inclusion of the SNP and Plaid members.
And then we have the House of Frauds (stuffed with the unelected, unaccountable and mostly appointed under very dubious circumstances) acts against the popular Will. It’s being reported this morning that 12 Cabinet Members will resist leaving the ECHR, including Hunt. So these people are obviously quite happy for a bunch of foreign “judges” to decide “our” immigration/border control policies and now “our” climate change policy.
I am now firmly in the camp that most members of Parliament (present company excepted) are our enemy – elected or otherwise.
April 11, 2024
@Donna +1 yes ripped up by the lazy political class that defers to their gang leaders before those that empowered, paid and voted them in. There is a core that serve but they are sidelined by the ego and need for self-gratification at the top. It is time for the individual members to do their job and take back control, as it is they are the fodder being sacrificed by ineptitude – otherwise it is they that will be hung out to dry and blamed at the ballot box.
April 11, 2024
It has been like this for what seems to be my lifetime! Democracy? who is kidding who?
April 11, 2024
Donna,
Hardly surprising if the UK govt is to act in lockstep with EU and its role to prevent divergence from EU. This is the strategy irrespective what half of the Uni party is in Govt.
April 11, 2024
Level playing field
April 11, 2024
@ Donna +100
April 11, 2024
Agree – and who holds these outside international bodies/courts/treaties to account ….well it isn’t the voting people of the UK ….who’s wagging the dog’s tail
April 11, 2024
Indeed. Hard not to conclude this given the absurd levels of taxes we pay and the total lack of any value given back. That and them coercing dangerous net harm, net tech. Covid âvaccinesâ into people who clearly had no need of them – even had they been safe and effective. Then they try, but clearly will fail, to lie about this a d to cover this crime up.
April 11, 2024
On the EHCR stopping UK controlling its borders I would like to ask you two questions.
1. Why does the UK not make use of Article 5 of the European Convention which specifically provides for âthe lawful arrest or detention of a person to prevent his effecting an unauthorised entry into the country or of a person against whom action is being taken with a view to deportation or extraditionâ? This can be done outside UK’s territorial waters in the Contiguous Zone under Art 33 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea:
” the coastal State may exercise the control necessary to:
(a) prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea;
(b) punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea.
2.The contiguous zone may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.”
There is no requirement in law for the UK to accept the boats from France, whether escorted by the French or not.
2. When the weather is unsafe or a rubber boat is dangerously overloaded or uncertified as seaworthy, why aren’t the drivers of the boats arrested and charged with endangering human life at sea under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861?
April 11, 2024
Many thousands arrive on illegal boats. Funding just 10 or so as whistle-blowers can create a chain of solid evidence leading direct to the criminal organisers. Paying 10 illegal entrants on results and punishing master criminals for 25 years is better than funding thousands of illegals for life in the UK.
April 11, 2024
Anyone who get on the boat or pays for the boat knows they are unsafe. They are all party to the crime it is clearly âa joint enterpriseâ. It is not evil traffickers forcing victims onto the boats. Indeed one could argue that the French government authorities are party to it too. Perhaps even the the UK boat taxi-services are too.
April 11, 2024
We have the new Illegal Migration Act 2023 which makes crossing an criminal offence
How many have been brought to court to date â zero (0)
How many have been deported to date â zero (0)
What was the point of the new law if it isnât enforced
April 11, 2024
Sunak has said time, and time again (before the election) that he’d consider leaving the ECHRs if they stop him doing anything …..It just so happens that everything he does is in conpliance with ECHRs – his plan is working
April 11, 2024
More repetitive, deranged and deluded rants from Lifelogic (again in quadruplicate) above. How about posting the other side of the story?
Having destroyed the prospect of the installation of any further renewables infrastucture â either offshore/onshore wind or onshore solar â with the incompetent management of the last renewables auction, planning restrictions and the onerous 45% Electricity Generator Levy, the government has approved the development of the Bressay and Bentley fields west of Shetland
As is habitual with the fossil fuel industry, the company undertaking this development has grossly overestimated the quantity of economically extractable hydrocarbons in these fields. To make them profitable, as with Rosebank, the government will be expected to pump in ÂŁbillions of taxpayer subsidy. None of the hydrocarbons will be landed or refined in Britain, but will be sold on the open market. Though the government will be taxing the profits, just like the ÂŁ60/family direct energy price support during the 2022/2023 winter, the bulk of our subsidy will be paid out to the shareholders.
If any further evidence is required of the complete hypocrisy of Sunakâs government over itâs alleged âcommitmentâ to net zero and tackling the now obvious effects of the climate crisis, this is it.
Reply Offshore oil and gas will generate billions in tax revenue
April 12, 2024
The failure of the offshore renewables contract bids was surely because cost prices to the industry had risen very sharply, making this form of energy even less economical than it was already. The bidding failed even after the government poured tens of millions more into subsidising offshore renewables. Netzerowatch says we’ve been paying some ÂŁ9 billion a year since 2017 in subsidies to these wretched underperforming energy generation sources.
Like the council Covid lockdown signage still to be seen here and there, wind farms will stand as a monument to our naive belief in salvation from an overhyped threat to the world. Except that they’ll cost a heck of a lot more to take down and scrap.
April 12, 2024
If that is all that benefits the UK then leave it in the ground.
As a citizen resident in the UK and a voter the billions in tax is of no use or interest to me if it comes from the energy being exported to support someone else’s economy and I am the one paying the taxes. I want the energy resources used here to support our economy and provide cheap energy for us.
The primary purpose of government is not to generate and collect taxes …
April 11, 2024
Do we live in a democracy?
I suppose if you held us up against some other nations around the world you could probably say we do.
It just seems to me more each day that we are being ruled over by people who are likely only middle management at best, and who are determined to keep their seat on the global government gravy train, bypassing their duty to those they claim to serve.
Who signed us up to treaties that give no wriggle room, effectively having us ruled by outside forces (which surely goes against our rights, those given on oath and not an Act that Parliament can remove)
There is always the excuse that we would look bad and would be distrusted globally.
I’m sure there are governments out there who ignore treaties for the good of their nation. In fact someone did a run down of how many times other nations have done so without the sky falling in on them.
Mrs May and the UN Migration Compact, as an example, seems a very undemocratic act.
This has never been fully discussed in the public realm, and despite a huge petition, she just went ahead.
It seems at times that we are being ruled by screeching, hysterical bands of minority pressure groups that no one has ever consented to be ruled by.
We have a mainstream media and a state broadcaster that can omit facts, bend facts and various other tricks to nudge the public in whatever direction they see fit. Now we have people cancelled and effectively gagged with various laws to stop debate and truths being spoken.
I don’t see any of that as particularly democratic.
April 11, 2024
The Electorate selects its representatives to be responsible for what the people voted for and want delivered. Their chosen Governmentâs Ministers have authority to act within our laws. What so-called independent bodies such as the BoE, Ofwat and foreign courts may prefer is a matter for them alone.
Our Ministers must use their power to decide and override, subject only to the PMâs approval, or beyond those the UK Supreme Court.
The present chink in the peopleâs armour is the current useless PM whom they didnât support as leader. Removal of that worthless bozo is currently remedial work in progress.
April 11, 2024
Watching and listening to Lord Arbuthnot’s evidence and answers to questions about the behaviour of Post Office executives and their contractors was both illuminating and depressing. Here was a former MP doing what one expects of an MP. But he was met with lies and cover ups. Civil servants appeared all to ready to support the Post Office line. I was reminded of a comment made to me some years ago by a now deceased senior civil servant that they quickly assessed, when a new minister was appointed, who would be in charge of the department. Was it them, the civil servants if the minister was weak? Or was it the minister who knew what (s)he wanted and how to get it done despite the doubts of the civil servants. Clearly in the case of the Post Office a succession of ministers were too weak to challenge advice or too ready to buck their responsibilities. Ultimately ministers are responsible and must take responsibility for their department and the quangos for which they have oversight. Cable’s recent feeble excuse about being unable to intervene in the Post Office Horizon case just does not wash. If ministers fail to act, who will hold state owned enterprises and quangos to account?
April 11, 2024
Too late, John.
This should have been a priority in 2020.
We will shortly have a Government run by a Lawyer who will double down on the politicisation of the legal profession and reinforce independent bodies with the existing New Labour chumocracy.
April 11, 2024
The empowerment of an unelected quangocracy and its stuffing with leftists was the massive political success of the Blair-brown govt. all these bodies are set up to select and promote people with a statist-collectivist world view. The same seems to apply to the courts which is perhaps why we get overtly political judges in the supreme courts – to be chosen as a judge you have to have attended the requisite number of âdiversityâ courses etc I believe. The ECHR ruling yesterday really is extraordinary. If a court can order a govt to set its carbon policy due to a âright to a family lifeâ presumably it can intervene in any and every aspect of policy. Could this be an electoral lifeline – a referendum on leaving the ECHR?
April 11, 2024
Richard1,
Exactly right. Bypass parliament and hand power to cronies in various unelected bodies. There is even an organisation dedicated to inculcating these people with the approved groupthink and then helping them into positions where they can exert power. A sort of Freemasonry for managerialism and statism.
April 11, 2024
Sir John
If an independent body functions by being in receipt of Taxpayer funding and it is Government that facilitates the removal of money from the payer then doles it out to the independent body â then Government has the overall responsibility and accountability. Governments are there to control and account for expenditure.
They are not independent; they are not above the laws that that Parliament lays down or the directions given to them by Government.
On the one hand you have Government trying to evade its responsibility, on the other you have ineffective some would say incompetent individuals that seize the opportunity to create empires and impose personal views on society.
April 11, 2024
It is not the ECHR which stops us controlling our borders. Itâs the fact that we have enacted the ECHR into our domestic legislation through the Human Rights Act. That needs to be repealed.
April 11, 2024
Alistair Heath, yesterday evening!
“Democracy is dying, and we are running out of time to save it. The theft of power and influence from ordinary citizens, and its transfer to unelected, unaccountable lawyers and technocrats is accelerating. ”
I’ve always thought that the EU behaved like an Arthur Daley who’d turn up with a tatty, leather briefcase and announce that in the case was the rules! And if they weren’t followed, here are the punishments!
This is what many of these unelected groups/organisations are doing. Some are more polished and sound convincing, others are just illogical!
I think Alistair is right, we do need to act promptly, but I do not believe those at the top would agree, seeming to be happy with the status quo! I hope I’m proved wrong.
April 11, 2024
The problem I have with your comments is firstly te government appoints the people who head up these Quangos and re happy to sign up to these international agreements and I see zero blow back. We are told no cabinet support for pulling out if the ECHR for instance.
Therefore the only assumption that can be made is that your cabinet is happy with what is happening and that their Liberal elitism is more important both in thinking and outcomes than the effect on the country/itâs people.
Losing direct political involvement/influence will be difficult for them but let us not forget they are egregiously wealthy, are guaranteed honours/directorship/other sinecures allowing them to enjoy a lifestyle beyond ordinary people whilst looking down on us from a lofty height.
I seriously wish the U.K. voters were not so supine.
April 11, 2024
Nig1,
Looking after number one is more important than ‘the effect on the country…’
More so as many will be out of a job within a year and they don’t want any blemish on their CV when they seek new roles.
April 11, 2024
SirJ the issue is one of democracy deficit â we elect MPs that form a government, we donât elect quango, none government organisations, independent bodies and international bodies by treaty
Our governments have given away their responsibility and policy decision making to these outside bodies âŠthatâs undemocratic as we the people canât throw them out of office/disband them if weâre dissatisfied
And you continue with this philosophy with police & crime commissioners and regional & city mayors
You’ve 3 weeks till the point of no return ..the lose big in the May elections lose big in the general election …and I see no change of policy nor direction
April 11, 2024
Also include international courts eg ECHRs
April 11, 2024
Sir John, can I point out the business case for subcontracting responsibility only works, if you retain control of the activity being subcontracted.
Clearly government and the ministers who are notionally in charge of their departments, have allowed the agents they have appointed to do the work to go rogue. It is actually worse. The government has abandoned any attempt at control of the contracting bodies they have set up.
We now have a country run by bureaucrats that are unelected unchallengeable, yet they demand ever more from the tax payers to keep them in their positions of power and authority. The public sector is out of control, literally out of control. They however demand control over not just the tax payers but also over the so called government which is all too ready to cave into their endless demands. The Quangos and NGOs which government ‘rely on’ to get things done, simply watch as things are done….badly.
Pot holed roads
Economic policy
Migration control
The judiciary
Prison provision
Gender blending
The BBC propaganda
Net Zero ideology and dogma
Crime control
Hate laws
DEI, ESG, Race given priority over merit
Divergent Devolution activities
The list is endless, and we the tax payers are being forced to pay for it !!!
We elect members to Parliament to watch over state activities, so where are our elected members when we need them to act for us?
April 11, 2024
Well Port Talbot steel workers are going on strike, you can disguise it anyway you want ….but its only happening due to this governments policy of ‘net-zero’ …plain & simple
April 11, 2024
In a democracy the government carries out the will of the majority by being âof the people, by the people and for the peopleâ. But this is not the case for the UK as we are ruled by unelected bureaucracies â UN/ECHR, civil servants, quangos, institutions, âcharitiesâ, pressure groups, think tanks, âorganisationsâ, NGOs, regulators and judiciary who are now making laws rather than applying laws. Fortunately we have escaped, sort of, from the EU.
This is for two reasons. Firstly, these bureaucracies, as stated by Robert Conquest in his 2nd and 3rd laws of politics, always inevitably become left wing and autocratic with no wish to continue with any democracy and in many cases are actively working to destroy Western capitalism and prosperity. Secondly, many MPs and consequently Ministers, use these left wing bureaucracies to enact policies which they themselves would not dare to admit to their electors they support.
To avoid Einsteinâs definition of insanity all those voters who do not wish the country to continue with mass immigration and Net Zero need to ensure they do not vote for any of the existing Parliamentary parties.
April 12, 2024
+1
April 11, 2024
Of course you are right. Please ask Shapps what the hell is going on?
â The landing of saboteurs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Tendrovskaya spit in the Kherson region, planned by Britain, was stopped, – FSB of the Russian Federation.
During the battle, the Ukrainian Armed Forces landing force was destroyed and one soldier was captured.
This information will be updated.â
April 11, 2024
I have recently posted my detailed analysis of how the supposed ‘rule of law’ has become ‘the rule of lawyers’ and how Western democracies are turning into critocracies on my website http://www.modernrationalpolitics.com.
I say this can only be reversed if ultimate power to decide in policy decisions and to interpret laws is removed from unelected lawyers or Judges, both national and international Judges to democratic institutions such as Parliaments or on big issues Referendums (though making Judges subject to periodic elections could be an alternative).
Furthermore it is a key democratic principle that the present generation cannot bind its successors nor be bound by decisions of previous governments by any unchangeable laws, legal precepts, constitutional arrangements or international treaties.
April 11, 2024
Ministers are in control full stop ; Ministers are controlled by 10 Downing Street full stop – the buck stops there . When there is so much clutter around get a good and reliable cleaner to deal with the mess .
April 11, 2024
Slightly O/T: âIs Britain really as poor as Mississippi?â, ft.com, 11/08/2023.
With London included it is not, without London it is. It would appear as 49th within the 50 US states based on GDP per capita at PPP.
April 11, 2024
With all quangos, of whatever sort, taking us all in the same direction, you wonder why the government doesn’t bring them in line and use what powers they have, except that HMG is leading the charge.
Too many things are in decline, the railways, the roads, the economy, competence, education, the NHS, or failing.
The country is going to the dogs because of official policies – the rest of the country mimics what government does, indulging in expensive waste and bad decisions.
It’s not just quangos that MPs need to apply pressure to, its, also HMG.
April 11, 2024
Just reading more on the PO scandal, it highlights the fault lines with those that actually find their way into public service. We have a GE coming Ed Davey is putting himself forward to lead the Country. It would be a stretch for anyone seeing how he as the boss of the PO, responsible, accountable and as suggested had knowledge of the flaws with the system that ruined so many lives isnât as culpable as the rest of the service he was managing. He was paid to ask the questions; did he fail or did he not give a dam? He wants to lead the Country; his party want him to lead the Country. Is that not what is wrong with Parliament and what some call democracy.
It wonât change as those that have stolen power will resist, but we need to be in a position that the only people charged with choosing candidates is those that someone will wish to represent â a constituent. Even better if all campaign money also came from the constituency in which offered up candidates. As always outside power play is corrupting. Being told who will represent you is very EU, having money piled in from gang leaders is in itself also corrupting. MPâs need to represent those they serve because that is who chose them on the ballot ticket. Serving a voter a Constituent even a Country â yes, serving a gang leader or a Party is actually anti-democracy and the root of the corruption.
April 11, 2024
Ian B :
The lesson to be learned from the PO scandal is how the much of the establishment and for how long clubbed together to protect their reputations and careers rather than see justice done. It wasnât just the executives in the software and PO but also the Ministers, accountants, auditors, the judiciary including the CPS and many others.
April 11, 2024
From the BBC
âThe government is making progress on cutting NHS waiting lists in England, the prime minister insists, as latest figures show targets are being missed.â
I have now been waiting 104 weeks, moved from one part of the system to another all of which appear to be delaying tactics. Only 75K waiting more than 65 weeks, pull the other one, the system is massaging the figures.
My ability to just walk is impaired, just 6 yds on a good day
April 11, 2024
âThe difference between us conservatives and our opponents is that every time their instinct are always about control, expropriation, coercion â about taking your money and spending it on your behalf, and regulating your lives. We on the whole are in favour of freedom. Itâs that single Anglo-Saxon idea of freedom that should unite conservatives.â
That is the quote of the day in a speech, by our former PM that did everything the opposite to his grandstanding speech. But he highlights the muddled thinking and the mindset of the group think inside the upper ranks of the Tory Party they actually believe they are Conservative
April 11, 2024
Ian B :
Yes, unbelievable hypocrisy from a PM who boosted CAGW and the Net Zero âsolutionâ which has been specifically designed by the Bolsheviks to destroy the Westâs prosperity and bring total control through the rationing of food, heating and transport necessitated by transitioning our energy from cheap, reliable, abundant hydrocarbons to expensive, unreliable, chaotically intermittent renewables with no grid-scale backup together with the use of electrification and smart meters to control us through our energy use.
April 11, 2024
Can you believe it, Sunak being interviewed today ”’the plan is working”’
April 11, 2024
Almost 3% wiped off the value of our banks today …..thats billions
April 11, 2024
Perhaps the Plan is to completely destroy the country. In which case, he probably is on target.
April 11, 2024
yes it is – the economy stays in meltdown.
April 11, 2024
I think Dom Cummings tweets and views on this whole subject are broadly correct. It is the low quality of the political class, which doesn’t really care or understand, which is the problem. The civil service act lazy because they can get away with it.
April 11, 2024
A bit like crime, net-zero and illegal immigration ….they can get away with it
April 11, 2024
Rang Civil Service Pensions to find out how much my gold plated rise on my ÂŁ224 pcm will be.
6.7% she said
Oh good how much will I get
ÂŁ232.14 pcm
Wot ?
That’s a decrease not a 6.7% rise surely ?
Your tax code has changed.
How can that be I dont work etc etc.
Glad I rang anyway
Forewarned and all that.
April 11, 2024
Currently ÂŁ234 not ÂŁ224 ( Numbers aren’t my thing )
Whats the numerical equivalent of dyslexia ?
April 12, 2024
Ha ! I see it’s in the Express and Mirror today
They say ” Getting advice from a legal expert is important to help them understand and plan …. ”
A legal expert no less !
April 12, 2024
LOL, more smoke and mirrors from HMRC, to blind the plebs with.
When will Government Departments and their respective Ministers put the British PEOPLE, First?
And when will they take the blame for their mishandling and errors? If they cannot put it right, they should do the honourable thing and step down.
April 11, 2024
If the system is not working, then surely it’s down to the person in charge to fix it? And everyone at the ‘Top’ must face the fact that the buck stops with them. If they are not prepared to accept that, they must be relieved of their duties.
April 12, 2024
Exactly !!
April 11, 2024
But Sir John it was Ministers/Parliament who sent up these organisations and now you a blaming them instead of Parliament for the problems we now have with them. We were in the EU for so long that MP’s are not use to governing the Country. The lack of experience of responsibility for to long.
April 11, 2024
The issue is one of democracy deficit â we elect MPs that form a government, we donât elect quango, none government organisations, independent bodies and international bodies by treaty