In a long blog post about the government’s disastrous handling of the pandemic last year, Cummings launched a second attack on Johnson and Hancock, this time with evidence. In what Cummings says were WhatsApp messages, the prime minister described the health Secretary as “totally f*****g hopeless. This has been picked up by the media as a devastating blow to Matt Hancock, which it clearly is. But what does it say about a prime minister who uses profanities in text messages to his adviser? Not only that, but concerning a senior cabinet minister?
I am not shocked by four letter words, having worked ‘on the tools’ and in industrial plants and offices for the whole of my working life and I know it’s commonplace nowadays. But we don’t expect our leaders to swear like troopers when discussing a national emergency and the government’s woeful response to it, or do we? Nobody else seems bothered about it.
That’s the first thing. Second, is that Hancock almost certainly won’t resign over it. Having been humiliated across the nation - and probably beyond - he will probably carry on as if nothing has happened.
The Times are running a story this morning about 'Hopeless Hancock' being cleared of lying to the prime minister. I suspect the name will stick forever.
If
my boss, in any position I ever had, said the same thing about me, I would have
felt duty bound to quit. How can you carry on and have any dignity at all? Yet
politicians in the present cabinet seem immune to the need for dignity and cling to their jobs
regardless of how badly they’re performing or what the PMs opinion of them might be.
Granted, Johnson is also totally inept and seems determined to keep men and women in cabinet who are even worse than him, like a human shield. The only conclusion you can come to is that they make him look fractionally better. Anyone with talent or intellectual gravitas wouldn’t be tolerated in this cabinet for a second.
But the real story of the blog post is a throwaway comment from Cummings about the way Johnson conducts meetings. Listen to this:
"On 20 April, Hancock faced intense pressure. Under Raab, the meetings were less pleasant for everybody but much more productive because unlike the PM a) Raab can chair meetings properly instead of telling rambling stories and jokes, b) he let good officials actually question people so we started to get to the truth, unlike the PM who as soon as things get ‘a bit embarrassing’ does the whole ‘let’s take it offline’ shtick before shouting ‘forward to victory’, doing a thumbs-up and pegging it out of the room before anybody can disagree."
This was when the prime minister was hospitalised and shortly after Cummings had returned to work after catching the virus himself.
I point to this because this is utterly typical of how much of senior management in British industry behaves. Meetings are routinely called without an agenda, chaired by men like Johnson who like to entertain, to crack jokes and have a bit of a laugh but can't face up to real problems. Telling people to 'sort it out' and giving a thumbs up is not management.
Johnson's meetings are like an episode of Have I Got News For You.
In an odd way, British industry used to think government was at least semi-competent and the government thought the same about British industry. They are both finding out the hard way how wrong they were about each other. They have exactly the same problem.
And the rambling stories will also be familiar to many. They’re a substitute for evidence and logic and simply occupy time without moving things forward. I sympathise with Cummings although if he thinks that sort of thing is confined to Downing Street and isn’t a peculiarly British phenomenon, he is in for a shock. The charge coming from Johnson's senior adviser is slightly ironic given Cummings' own penchant for rambling pseudo scientific monologues.
I once worked for a director who was the best person I ever encountered in controlling meetings. Detailed agendas would be circulated well in advance with a final comment, “if we all come prepared the meeting need last less than an hour” or something similar. Woe betide anyone who turned up unprepared. But he was the exception to the rule I'm afraid.
Inflation
Australian Trade Deal
This is my very rough attempt at illustrating how the sheep and lamb quota will work in the FTA based on the Australian government press release.
— Dmitry Grozoubinski (@DmitryOpines) June 16, 2021
I've included the entire EU28 Quota as a starting comparison point. The post-Brexit UK "share" of that quota is a bit smaller. pic.twitter.com/X33VcyYIfb
Wonder how my farming neighbours will feel when they finally accept the Tories have sold them out. I’m in a ‘safe’ blue rural Yorkshire seat but wonder how much longer we’ll be seeing sheep in the Dales for. Can you poll readers @NFUtweets @yorkshirepost 🤔 https://t.co/BNBKzClUb8
— Jo Whitehead 💙 (@Jo_WhiteheadUK) June 16, 2021