The Times reveals today that David Cameron is making good his claim to be cleaning up politics. It is alleged that 28 Conservative parliamentary candidates for safe seats are working for lobbying companies, whilst more than a fifth of his 150 candidates most likely to win seats for the first time will have done public affairs work.
To be fair, none of the three main parties has any kind of policy nor desire to reduce the influence of lobbyists on government - a situation recently referred to by President Obama as blocking 'the revolving door'. However it is the Conservatives, seemingly on the brink of power for whom the lobbying issue is of the greatest concern.
So what is David Cameron going to do about it? We can assume that he is having sleepless nights right now worrying about whether he can offer the British people, 'government of the people, by the people, for the people ...' and whether he can really offer them the 'transparency' that he so desires.
Because he is a Conservative, Cameron is seen as a man who can most likely offer Britain 'smaller government'. He will no doubt be aware that the reason government exists in the first place is because it offers 'critical mass' to individuals and groups of individuals.... because team effort achieves more than rogue behaviour in so many instances in life.
The question is: Is he aware that some groups and 'teams' in society sometimes find themselves wielding more power than others? Does money, inheritance, existing power etc., play a part in deciding for whom that government of the people actually exists? And does he understand that these questions are crucial if he really wants to achieve the goal of open, transparent, fair government?
Of course he does. He is an Old Etonian and he will have learnt that just as on the playing fields of Eton, so in a just society you have to play by the rules. He will know that those rules must be transparent and fair to all who play... Let's just hope that he knows exactly which rules everybody should play by...
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Don't believe all that government of the people sh**.
ReplyDeleteIt's all very confusing. When you are in opposition you know what you want... and then when you get into government, everyone else tells you what you need.
ReplyDeleteThe ease with which lobbyist access parliament is worrying. They work hard to convince our parliamentarians that their views are the majority view in our society, which for the most part they are not. That is why law makers with the best of intentions make bad laws.
ReplyDeleteThey're still not 'getting it' our MPs are they.
ReplyDeleteTransparency? Ha!
So what else is new? The Labour Party is the party of the union 'lobby'; the Conservatives are the party of the industry/employer 'lobby'.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered what they meant by Government of all the talents.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit simplistic to say that Labour is the party of the Union lobby. It has been taking money from business / employers etc for years and been swayed by big business for years
ReplyDeleteLook at the 'third runway' for example
This lobbying exists not just in Westminster but also in local council politics. Lobbying should be made illegal unless it is for charitable purpose such as food aid.
ReplyDelete"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws." Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812), founder of the House of Rothschild. The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or be so dependent upon its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests." The Rothschild brothers of London writing to associates in New York, 1863.
ReplyDeleteIt will take a strong man / woman etc etc to bring the kind of change that is needed.
ReplyDeleteThere are no such people in Parliament... all the men are squeaky clean neutered suited clones and all the women are highly programmed fembots
Can anyone remember a call for radical change after the expenses scandal?
ReplyDeleteMaybe we just imagined it...
Or, just maybe, they think that we have short memories.
Either way, they don't give a toss