Inexperienced politicians and the messes they make

Iain Dale, in the Telegraph, sums up beautifully how inexperience leads to incompetence among Government ministers and advisers:

"Fewer than 10 out of 350 Labour MPs have ever run a business. Business Secretary John Hutton's qualification for the job is that he was a law lecturer at Newcastle Poly for 11 years before becoming an MP. The minister for business, Shriti Vadera, has spent the past eight years as an adviser to Gordon Brown. She counts among her "achievements" Railtrack's renationalisation, the selling of Qinetiq for a fraction of its true value, and the disastrous creation of Metronet. This one-woman disaster zone has cost the taxpayer several hundred million pounds, but she clearly isn't finished yet."

Why do politicians without experience expect to be able to jump straight in to running public services?  We need them to hand control back to professionals and Civil Society.

Comments

[Anne Greagsby]

Best quote ever from House of Commons questioning of civil servants involved in Quinetiq sale.

MP Richard Bacon: "MR WOOLEY ARE YOU A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT ?"

Woolley: "I AM NOT"

Bacon: "ARE YOU A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL PERSON OF ANY KIND ? DO YOU HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS ?"

Woolley: "I DO NOT HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS"

Bacon: "WHAT IS YOUR JOB ?"

Woolley: "I AM THE FINANCE DIRECTOR OF THE MOD"

[Nick Brazil]

The chief culprit in this madhouse of economic misrule has to be our unelected Prime Minister. His official biography shows no track record in business or economics and yet
Gordon Brown was given the most crucial job in Government - running the economy. No wonder he ruined the pensions industry and flogged the nation's gold off at at a knock down price into a falling market.

[W.S.Becket]

Some politicians don't even seem to be qualified for the most basic element of their function.

One - Brynle Williams, an AM at the South Wales Assembly Government (SWAG) - was asked by a constituent to look into the 50mph speed zones that have recently sprung up all over North Wales.

"Grow Up!" was his response as he angrily banged the phone down.

This is a man who has just awarded himself an 8.3% pay increase - which, of course, we pay.

We must be mad to put up with it!

[Bob]

It's clear that Labour are completely incompetent and not fit for govenment, but the sad thing is that the official opposition are incapable of exposing them effectively. Now we have Dave Cameron wanting company directors to be responsible for fat children, drunks and recycling. They've clearly lost the plot!
Maybe civil disobedience, non payment of the TV licence fee, or council tax would get the message through their thick skulls. If the population took affirmative action instead of just complaining we might see some changes.
I will not be paying any more TV licence fees - feel free to join me.