Delivery, Delivery, Delivery (caps author’s own). This seems to be the focus right now in government, and understandably so. A year, a budget and a spending review in, it’s time to stop planning and start delivering. I’m guessing this is the essence of where we are politically. Coming into government after 14 years in opposition would normally give you a bit of time to blame the now-opposition for the mess we’re in and frame a narrative of taking time to fix things.
I remember my old man, whose politics were not of the mainstream, saying in 1997 that Blair should be honest and say at the beginning that it’s going to take a decade to deliver New Labour’s agenda. I heard similar in the runup to last year’s election from a number of those who’ve been in government. Except, of course, it’s not that simple. Events happen, voters’ frustrations cannot be put on hold and there’s an upstart party who are making the political weather.
Initially, the big news on delivery came a bit out of the blue in the form of a new cabinet role being created: chief secretary to the prime minister. It’s a made-up job, so essentially, it can be whatever the prime minister wants it to be. Enforcer, cajoler, conciliator, communicator, all of the above. Creating a new cabinet role that was solely focused on delivery seemed, at least, a bit different.
Political authority and focus is always an issue in delivery. Ask any civil servant working closely with ministers and they’ll tell you their war stories of politicians refusing to make a crucial decision, even when that decision is critical to their own political objectives and career. The demands on ministers are enormous – even when it seems to be in their own self interest. A hundred different considerations can impact on what, to those focused on their own narrow issue, would seem to be a simple matter of A or B.
Also, some of them might just be less good at making decisions.
If it’s difficult making a decision relating to one particular department clearly in that particular minister’s gift, it becomes even more difficult with cross-cutting “missions”. Would the new chief secretary to the prime minister take over responsibility for missions and now be casting the PM’s vote on plan A or B, to help the government stay focused on delivery?
However, Darren Jones was without departmental responsibilities for all of five days, so we’ll never know if having the time to focus solely on delivery – or what it takes to “get sh*t done”, as the management consultants love to say – would have been the solution.
Governing is tough and complex. Getting sh*t done is easier to say than to do. This government has not had the usual advantages of previous ones – time and someone to blame. Reform UK can come up with their simple, uncosted solutions to complex policy issues without the need to explain or any attachment to the responsibility for the mess in the first place. They can jump from one issue to another, offering solutions to whatever that day’s events have thrown up – from both left and right of the political spectrum.
Delivering is one challenge. Communicating is another. Communicating complex solutions to complex problems is a challenge and it would be fair to say that, up until now, this government has been less good at that. That’s all the more difficult in a populist world of politics where the normal rules of evidence and fact don’t apply.
Governments need to be re-elected, they need to pay attention to and respond to the polls and political weather, but they also need to get sh*t done. The week started with a focus on delivery and ended with a significant reshuffle, including many in the junior ministerial roles where the hard work of government is delivered. We even lost our own two ministers for the civil service. It is, of course, a matter for the prime minister – but for every change of minister, forced or unforced, there will be a price to pay on delivery.
Ministers need time to get up to speed, understand all those nuances and policy briefs and be ready to make those all-important decisions. They may also have their own ideas or want options considered that their predecessors didn’t. A government in a hurry just pressed the pause button across a range of significant policy areas. If delivery is the key, stability is one of the best ways to deliver it.
Dave Penman is general secretary of the FDA union