In a boardroom, if people fail, they get the sack. End of.
The gold-watch people retire and leave.
In politics, there’s a unique phenomenon called, a shuffle.
In the boardroom the finance director doesn’t suddenly become logistics director and the IT bobble-hat doesn’t become the chief people-person, but…
… in politics, somebody running the Home Office on Friday can become the foreign secretary by Monday morning.
Bonkers, isn’t it?
One of the promises made by the Reform Party is to change the system to enable talent from outside politics to be part of the cabinet. People who have real-world experience heading up the great departments of state.
Probably bonkers.
Without the proper scrutiny of Parliament it would make accountability difficult. I guess the select committees would take on a whole new importance.
The rights or wrongs of this, are a topic for another day…
… but Charmer’s shuffle brings into sharp focus the limitations of government.
In the world of card-magic there’s something called the Zarrow shuffle. It’s very clever, skilful and very deceptive…
… it looks like a thorough mix, but the order of the deck never changes.
We’ve just seen the Zarrow-shuffle, Charmer-style.
Plenty of theatre but when the trick is complete, the same players are still holding the cards and we’re all deceived into thinking something new has happened.
Someone new in the Home Office won’t ‘stop the boats’, or ‘smash the gangs’, just because they are new.
Is this a policy to stop migration or stop Reform?
Dunno!
Political shuffles are conducted in the shadow of moving people to maintain a delicate political balance, to keep a Prime Minister in place.
Not have to spend all day (and into the night) looking over their shoulder for conspirators.
As John Major said in 1990;
‘… I could bring in other people. But where do you think most of this poison is coming from? From the dispossessed and the never-possessed.’
Shuffles make headlines. Creates an illusion of change and lets a Prime Minister look decisive… but…
When your primary goal is to be popular, you can’t take risks. You dare not disagree. You can’t push boundaries. You are a prisoner of other people’s expectations…
… all managers take note.
For the people doing the actual work, the staff, shuffles are disruptive, destabilising and often pointless.
We see this in management. The enormous shuffle going on at the DH+ and NHSE… disruptive, destabilising and pointless.
The sensible thing is balance. Continuity where it matters, change where it helps.
Move someone too quickly and they never have time to build relationships, understand the landscape or see through the consequences of their decisions.
Leave someone in post too long and they can stagnate, get stuck defending past mistakes, or simply run out of fresh ideas.
Our great leader has survived the shuffle. Kept on at health, despite presiding over what can only be described as chaos.
The NHS is;
- knee-deep in a reorganisation no one asked for.
- Waiting lists that aren’t really shifting.
- A Ten Year Plan with no implementation or funding.
- Productivity flatlining,
- A fortune spent buying-off a strike and looks like it’ll happen again.
To make matters worse…
… there’s no money for redundancy cheques and everyone is nervous, uncertain and hacked-off.
Continuity? Yes. Progress? No. Why keep Streeting?
We must learn from Machiavelli.
There is no question, Charmer could have saved Angela Rayner. There’s no evidence of her criminal intent or deliberate tax-avoidance. It’s true, there is an irrebuttable presumption in law that; ‘everyone knows the law’… but we all know, we don’t… especially tax-law.
He could have constructed a narrative to save her. The fact he didn’t could still backfire on him.
As with all puzzles, there is ever only one question to ask; who gains?
Charmer?
Yes… he pushes Labour’s left-wing further away.
Streeting?
Yes… consolidates the view he’s too influential and dangerous to be shoved off to the back benches and…
… he’s the bookies favourite to take over as Labour’s deputy leader.
Streeting would be a step closer to his ambition to become leader of the Labour Party and prime minister… it’s no secret.
Keeping Wes Streeting in post, despite the chaos he’s created, is less about continuity and more about ‘keeping your enemies close.’
In politics they call it a reshuffle, in management, we’d call it a dirty business.
News and Comment from Roy Lilley
Contact Roy – please use this e-address roy.lilley@nhsmanagers.net
Reproduced at thetrainingnet.com by kind permission of Roy Lilley.
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