James Forsyth James Forsyth

Charles Moore warns that the Downing Street machine isn’t working

Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher’s biographer, is one of the columnists most sympathetic to and best informed about what David Cameron is trying to do. So when Charles warns that the current set-up of Downing Street isn’t working for the Prime Minister, Number 10 should take notice.

Charles’ worry is that the new Downing Street set up is insufficiently political, that policy and politics are being kept too far apart. I think Charles is right about this. The Number 10 policy unit is now made up mostly of civil servants or former management consultants who, by their very nature, aren’t intellectually or ideologically committed to the Cameron public service reform agenda. This is, undoubtedly, part of the reason that Downing Street has recently been retreating from its earlier radicalism.

With political policy people like James O’Shaughnessy and Gavin Lockhart set to leave Downing Street, Cameron needs to bring in other people committed to the whole idea of ending the state monopoly in public services to replace them.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in