Do We Need Politicians? - Political Nostalgia

Is running the country too important to be trusted to politicians?

Originally published on my Blog in January 2014 – About 400 words

As I read Esther McVey’s comments on kids getting jobs in a well-known coffee shop chain I looked her up and found her main claim to expertise was being a TV presenter. Is that good enough for her to be a Minister of State for Employment?

I’m not singling her out, the chancellor George Osborne seems to have been a data entry clerk who toyed with the idea of being a journalist. Should we be concerned that someone with less work experience than the average graduate is running the country’s finances?

Then there is our Prime Minister, who does seem to hide his lack of any real career before politics. A stint in PR seems to be David Cameron’s total CV prior to taking up the most powerful role in the nation. Are we happy with that?

Not that Labour or the Lib Dems seem terribly keen on upping the requirements to hold public office. Mention the chancellor having to be a qualified accountant or the minister for health having to be a qualified doctor and you get general disinterest.

The Bank of England are now independent, the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) give Osborne’s figures and projections an independent inspection. Perhaps it’s time for an independent body to run the NHS, the schools, the police, the State pension etc? Take the here today and gone tomorrow badly qualified politician’s right out of the running of these important services. This does get right to the heart of why do we need professional politicians at all?

Well it’s our taxes they’re spending, so some sort of elected chamber would needed to set the budget for the independent bodies to spend and of course there is defence! Often it seems politicians are all too keen to go to war, but that is one area that seems beyond the remit of an independent body.

We wouldn’t need 650 odd MPs and the huge multitude of Lords and other hangers on of course and most of us would cheer to see them gone. Government could be reduced to a few key people, purely there to set budgets and command the military.

The irony is that with less to fiddle with and far fewer of them, we might get some decent people in politics.

© Ed Cowling ~ January 2014