Title

Shadow Cabinet minister, Francis Maude, has insisted his party was not being ‘arrogant' in preparing to run the Government, post-election. Michael Burton reports on his speech to the annual SOLACE dinner It is no secret that Conservative shadow ministers have been meeting Whitehall mandarins through the Institute for Government. Indeed, it is a sensible idea that a potential Government should be acquainted with the corridors of power. If they do win the election, Tory shadow ministers will be hitting the ground running, 24 hours after polling day. It does, of course, bring accusations of hubris. Indeed, at last week's annual SOLACE dinner in London, guest speaker Francis Maude, the shadow Cabinet minister – and an ex-minister – used his slot to deny that he and his colleagues were being presumptuous. With polls showing an increasing likelihood of a hung Parliament after the next general election, Mr Maude admitted the main parties were in ‘uncertain territory'. He told guests: ‘Is it arrogant to be measuring up the curtains in Downing Street? It would be really arrogant for us not to make our priorities known. ‘We have a unique political system in that we can have polling day on Thursday and, by lunchtime Friday, a new prime minister and Cabinet members who must literally transform themselves from being shadows. Suddenly, they're head of huge, unwieldy organisations. It would be arrogant not to prepare for that.' In the course of his 30-minute address to the chief executives, Mr Maude hinted that a Conservative Government would not be devoting its time to wholescale reorganisation of Whitehall. But, he did insist that it would be smaller. He added: ‘Margaret Thatcher had a small team – and no-one complained about a lack of central direction.' Mr Maude stressed that the next Government ‘will face the most challenging fiscal situation in peace time', and that ‘more for less is the order of the day'. He also held out an olive branch to Whitehall saying: ‘They say that plans don't survive the first contact with the enemy. I emphasise that the civil service is not the enemy.' And stressing the need for more public sector efficiency, he complained that while productivity in the private sector was up by 30%, it had fallen in the NHS.

Title

WHITEHALL

Measuring up

SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE READING