In Singapore last week, I was asked: do ministers just come in, reach for the dumbest available policy and go ahead without asking anyone what the consequences will be? I explained the mindset. They do not ask because they do not want to hear the reply. In their minds, they are up against old thinking that just wants to keep Britain on the same declinist path – or ‘cycle of stagnation’ as Kwasi Kwarteng described the record of his Tory predecessors – and if you want to break new ground, don’t ask the people who will always say no. This is what Labour’s far-left Bennite wing think. Labour ministers didn’t try proper socialism because they were cowed by a combination of ‘experts’, the civil service and the City establishment. Where will this approach to government end up? Without achieving very much, I suspect. I feel (slightly) sorry for Kwarteng. I like individualist politicians who do not come from central casting. Most people have written him off – but he will have to show, as someone once said, whether he is a fighter or a quitter.
As for the rest of his party’s conference, it was a real pleasure being described by Jacob Rees-Mogg as Labour’s Michael Gove. It’s certainly an improvement on some of the things I have been called in my own party.
Tories are desperate to realise their Brexiteer dreams by creating Singapore-on-Thames, based on their idea of what makes the Asian island state so successful: low taxes, little regulation and government that keeps out of the way. Oh dear, what a delusion. Singapore has a different conception of the state. It is smart rather than small. One reason I am sceptical of a bigger role for the state in the UK economy is because I fear in a bigger role it wouldn’t be very leading-edge.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in