Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Cameron prepares to purge his government

David Cameron has pulled off a very neat trick:

Ministers in a future Tory government will be sacked if quangos under their control are found to be failing … David Cameron said ministers would no longer be able to hide behind quangos' "cloak of independence". …
"Even when power is delegated to a quango, with a Conservative government, the minister will remain responsible for the outcomes," said Mr Cameron. "They set the rules under which the quango operates. And they have the power to ensure those operating the quango are qualified to do the job."

But who will decide how serious a quango’s failure is and how severe a punishment the relevant minister deserves? The question answers itself.

Think how Cameron handled the expenses scandal: his allies were made to put on a public show of contrition and then allowed to carry on, while those MPs deemed politically inconvenient or otherwise expendable were cut loose to the mob.

He’s just given himself several truckloads of ammunition to deploy against potentially any minister, as he likes.

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