Alan Johnson should save it for Brown
Fraser Nelson 5:41pm
This must be the opposite of "rapid reaction". Some two weeks late, Labour is responding to David Cameron's speech in Glasgow. It is Alan Johnson who is trying to divine some clear, red water:
"Before we evoke the Victorian notion of the deserving and undeserving poor we should take a moment to consider how complex these issues really are.Just as the government has a moral duty to tackle poverty and exclusion, so it also has a duty to address obesity. But this is not a licence to hector and lecture people on how they should spend their lives."
Consider this for a moment. A Labour government whose leader has just finished telling the nation to eat up its leftovers now decides that it shouldn't boss people around. If Mr Johnson really doesn't like people who hector and lecture, he should save his remarks for the next Cabinet meeting.
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Comments
TGF UKIP
July 23rd, 2008 7:02pmToo much lecturing and preaching altogether from three equally politically correct, liberal, metropolitan parties each of which wish to hide and divert attention from the sleazy dealings of some of their most senior figures.
And who, Fraser, is the preachiest of them all?
Trumpeter Lanfried
July 23rd, 2008 7:35pmI am not sure people are allowed to speak at Cabinet meetings.
Verity
July 23rd, 2008 7:48pmTrumpeter - Can they nod?
Puncheon
July 23rd, 2008 8:13pmI just love these politicians who give themselves imaginary duties - "a duty to address obesity" for God's sake. They have no such duty. They have a duty to physically protect the realm; to protect the currency and provide an efficient system of law and order. Er that's it. But of course our political class is not at all interested in these things. Much better to chase rainbows and try to change human nature.
Craig Strachan
July 23rd, 2008 8:40pm"A duty to address obesity"??
I suggest Alan Johnson can fulfill this duty by greeting John Prescott with a friendly "hey, fatso" when they happen to meet in the division lobbies.
Craig Strachan
July 23rd, 2008 8:43pm(And then Johnson should duck).
Cogito Ergosum
July 23rd, 2008 10:04pmWell said, Puncheon. Equally, it is not for our Foreign Secretary to deliver moral lectures to the world, but to operate diplomacy at a basic time-honoured level.
Hereford
July 24th, 2008 8:23amWell said Puncheon. Small Government is the answer. Defence of the realm, law and order and the collection of taxes. Beyond that politicians and Civil Servants have no competence to direct either policy or operations.
David C
July 24th, 2008 9:42amI was tempted to say that 'Al' Johnson provided that missing factor to this government-
Comedy
But then I realised my sense of humour ran out with this lot a long time ago.
Ian C
July 24th, 2008 10:14amPuncheon - nail on head, and Cogito. This little ditty from Johnosn encapsulates exactly what is wrong with politics. And the syatem that lacks inbuilt renewal so that they can get their feet stuck in a game of their making, not ours, and for them to decide how much we must spend to keep them in it.