I doubt that, come the election in 2015, many voters will remember the row about putting VAT on pasties or Francis Maude’s advice to fill up a jerry can with petrol. But what will be on their minds is whether the government is competent and, to use that dread phrase, ‘in touch’ with their day to day struggles.
It is for this reason that the key question about the last ten days is whether they make David Cameron realise that the civil service machine just doesn’t work anymore and that he needs to change the way he governs. The early indications on this front are encouraging. Those who have been involved in COBRA discussions these past few days have been shocked by how the failings identified during the fuel crisis of 2000 still exist. At the end of the week, one of the Prime Minister’s closest allies told me that ‘The fundamental system of management at the core of Government, including COBRA, does not work. David realises that he has to shake up the whole system.’
Now, the proof of this pudding will be in the eating. Once this immediate crisis passes, Cameron, a natural respecter of the establishment way of doing things, could well decide against trying to change the civil service. But his opinion on the permanent bureaucracy does seem to have shifted in the past few days. Up to now, Cameron has always believed that there was little wrong with the government machine that wouldn’t be solved by having the ‘right people’ in charge of the Red Boxes.
The first test of whether Cameron is prepared to really change how Whitehall operates will come next month with the coalition’s plans for civil service reform. Cameron must be prepared to push for a radical reduction in the size of government departments and for more accountability for civil servants.
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