The structure of our parliamentary system is that politicians make policy and take responsibility and civil servants provide the expertise and do the heavy lifting. In more recent times a new breed of political adviser has been developed. These young people, usually wet behind the ears, advise ministers how to gain political advantage from whatever they are doing and how to get out of trouble when they fall into it. They also give ministers advice about all sorts of things about which ministers know little, which is just about everything. These advisers go on to become candidates and MPs and then, if their party is in power, ministers themselves.
It is not a coincidence that the rise of the political adviser has been marked by a fall in the quality of ministers. Indeed ministers are less trusted than they ever have been and politics is now in disrepute. These advisers are costing over £8 million per year. There are more than a hundred of them. Cameron has twenty. This blog believes they should all be removed and the practice halted.
The civil service is capable of providing ministers with whatever on tap advice they need and expert opinion can be obtained from experts in whatever field it is required. People whose ignorance and uncertainty is on such a scale that this is just not enough to enable them to shine, should not be in politics at all. They should quit and go out into the real world and only return when they have learned something useful. As for the £8 million; enough to say that cuts are needed anyway and this is a painless and worthy saving.
