In his desperate, unseemly and ludicrous pursuit of 'equality', David Cameron has reshuffled his cards and come up with some right royal nonsense.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, Kenneth Clarke, a man just past 74 years of age, has gone and some might say it's about time. A little bit of a surprise is the departure of William Hague from the Foreign Office and, next year, from Parliament altogether; in the meantime, he'll take on the role of Leader of the House of Commons though it's clear he really wants out. Hague gives every impression of a man thoroughly disillusioned with his career and he'll be replaced as Foreign Secretary by the immensely wealthy Philip Hammond whose one saving grace is the extent of his Euro-scepticism.
A real surprise is the departure of Michael Gove from the Education department, while the name of his replacement takes some believing. Gove has upset many while in his role which surely is a mark of the success he's had in attempting to breathe some life into our moribund schools' system, beset as it is with trendy, lefty teachers and educational theories. It seems that Cameron simply doesn't have the stomach for the fight and, no doubt egged on by Gove's cabinet rivals, Osborne and May, has despatched poor Michael to the office of the Chief Whip, a position which carries a reduced salary and is not even a full member of the cabinet. His replacement is the wide-eyed Nicky Morgan, who qualified as a solicitor in 1994 and worked as a corporate lawyer while trying to get into Parliament. She eventually managed this in 2010, after years of lower level politicking, but her rise since has been staggeringly fast; whether or not the is the 'man for the job' as the new Education Secretary may be debatable but it seems unlikely that she'll be as forceful or abrasive as Gove. Of course, she does have one outstanding attribute as far as Cameron is concerned - she's a woman.
Another man to bite the dust is Owen Paterson, now the former Environment Secretary. Paterson hardly distinguished himself during last year's floods and must have known that his time was likely to be up but, again, the name of his replacement makes one wince somewhat. Liz Truss, for that is she, first stood for Parliament in 2001 but only gained entry in 2010. As with Morgan, her rise since has been eye-wateringly fast; she became an Education minister after little more than 2 years and now, at not quite 39, she's to be Environment Secretary. While she appears to have particular interests in and knowledge of the education sphere, what she knows about the environment has yet to become clear though, as with Morgan, her greatest attribute in Cameron's eyes is her gender which is undoubtedly female.
Elsewhere, Cameron has somewhat unceremoniously dumped Sir George Young, Andrew Lansley, Alan Duncan, David Willetts and former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, all of whom appear to have been seen as being too middle aged and too male. They may, of course, also have needed to be sacked but such a sweeping clear-out carries the danger of being seen as an attempt to be trendy and modern regardless of any other considerations. When allied to the influx of pretty young women the changes appear to be much more about appearance and perception than anything else. In addition to the 2 new cabinet appointments, former television performer, Esther McVey, will now 'attend cabinet' whatever that means, Penny Mordaunt, who made a spectacle of herself on some silly television game show, becomes a junior minister as does Amber Rudd; all three have been Members of Parliament only since 2010, raising questions about their readiness for such rapid advancement. Yet another former television presenter, Anna Soubry, who was already a minister, has been promoted as has Claire Perry, both of whom also entered the House only in 2010. Are all these women really properly qualified to take decisions on behalf of the nation ?
Notwithstanding all this advance of equality, what actually matters is the competence of those in the cabinet. Before she became leader, Margaret Thatcher was Education Secretary and was not particularly highly rated. We all know where that one ended. The trouble with the women Cameron's now promoting is that the main reason for their promotion is his belief that there should be more women in government and in cabinet, almost regardless of their abilities. It is an adherence to a horribly misguided notion that institutions such as Parliament should 'reflect' the population at large which is, of course, ridiculous. Everyone has different talents and abilities as well as ambitions and drives. Should our hospitals be staffed by equal numbers of male and female nurses ? Of course not, most men don't really want to be nurses any more than most women don't want to be company directors or members of Parliament, but we are plagued with nonsensical plans to bring about 'equality' in these spheres anyway. The result is the elevation of a lot of women to jobs for which they are may well not be suited, while very able men are pushed aside. This is not to say that men should be preferred over women but that jobs should be awarded strictly on merit and not on other spurious criteria such as gender, age, race, religion, disability or any other basis that can be dreamt up.
Where the manic drive for 'equality' will eventually lead is anyone's guess, but my guess is that the result won't be good.
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