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The Government is Being Outwitted by the Woke Whitehall Blob

by Toby Young
19 June 2022 2:40 PM

Ex-minister Peter Lilley has written a furious piece for the Telegraph in which he lambasts the Whitehall blob for brazenly pursuing its own woke agenda, regardless of the wishes of ministers or the public. He singles out the Messenger Review, a recent report on reforming the NHS by General Sir Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard, which, according to Lilley, reads like the transcript of a hostage video.

Faced with a dysfunctional NHS — increasingly marred by scandalous clinical failures, intolerable waiting lists, diminishing chances of seeing a GP and escalating costs — Sajid Javid very sensibly called in a soldier to give some brusque, military common-sense advice on leadership. On paper, Sajid could not have made a better choice: General Sir Gordon Messenger — the only man to win the DSO twice, for defeating Saddam Hussein’s forces in Iraq and commanding the Helmand task force against the Taliban. Sajid asked him: “to look at how we can support leaders to drive up efficiency and give staff the space to focus on delivering care for patients”.

But this terror of the Taliban and scourge of Saddam was no match for ‘the Blob’. They reduced him to “the very model of a modern major general” mocked by Gilbert and Sullivan for spouting every fashionable nostrum instead of showing military skills. He signed a report that side-stepped every issue he was asked to address and instead focused almost entirely on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) — which is mentioned three times as often as patients. There was just one cursory mention of efficiency. Not a single mention of ghastly clinical failures at Mid-Staffs, Morecombe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford. No mention of waiting lists, cover-ups, clinical standards or value for money.

Worse still, it states that demonstrating a commitment to EDI is more important than “just technical skills”. Of course eliminating discrimination is important, but when someone we love goes to hospital it is the technical skills of the medical staff we worry about.

Worst of all, it proposes using the Everyday Discrimination Scale (which asks staff to report how discriminated against they feel) as an “objective” tool of management. Yet this is entirely subjective and, published research suggests, completely worthless.

Sajid Javid — one of our most robust ministers — very sensibly kicked this nonsense into touch by pretending that the report’s main recommendation was to reduce the number of full time Equality, Diversity and Inclusion managers (actually it was to make EDI every manager’s top task). But the fact that someone of General Messenger’s calibre can succumb to the prevailing woke ideology proves its potency.

Worth reading in full.

Stop Press: In a rare victory for common sense, the NHS has reinstated the word “woman” in its miscarriage guidance. The Telegraph has more.

Tags: General Sir Gordon MessengerNHSThe BlobWoke Whitehall

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12 Comments
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EppingBlogger
EppingBlogger
2 years ago

If Ministers are unable to controil the civil service and if the civil service and other tax payer funded outfits refuse to toe the linbe, a new piece of legislatuon needs to be enacted without delay. A single day should be enough to pass a Bill with very few clauses.

It should make departmental permanent secretraries and accounting officers respoinsible for ensuring that employment contracts are adhered to and resolutions of the Cabinet or written directions from the Secretary of State are followed. Breaches should be regarded as sever disciplinary offences and dismissal should be generally expected and automatic on a second offence.

40
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stewart
stewart
2 years ago

We all learned many years ago from Yes, Minister that for the most part civil servants manage ministers and not vice versa.

31
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JohnK
JohnK
2 years ago
Reply to  stewart

You got there first! This article reminded me of that, and I thought he must have read the script of “Yes, Minister”. I’ve got a set of hardback books of that – it can still be quite entertaining. Just occasionally, the Beeb broadcasts the archive of it as well.

12
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Monro
Monro
2 years ago

The terms of reference were key:

‘The review will consider what is needed to improve how health and social care is led and managed in England.’

All the report had to do was head and tail this IEA paper:

‘In terms of outcomes, quality and efficiency, social health insurance systems are consistently ahead of the NHS on almost every available measure.

They combine the universality of a public system with the consumer sovereignty, the pluralism, the competitiveness and the innovativeness of a market system.

We do not see any one particular country’s health system as a role model, because they all have flaws and irritating aspects of their own.

But there are also plenty of interesting lessons to be learned, which we are missing out on by ignoring alternatives to both the NHS and the American system.

• The Dutch system shows that a successful health system needs no state-owned hospitals, no state hospital planning and no hospital subsidies. The Swiss system shows that even substantial levels of out-of-pocket patient charges need not be regressive, and that people can be trusted to choose sensibly from a variety of health insurance plans. The ‘PKVpillar’ of the German system shows that a healthcare system can be fully prefunded, just like a pension system.

• The quasi-market reforms of the 2000s can be built upon, to move gradually from the status quo to a pluralistic, consumer-oriented healthcare system. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are, in a sense, comparable to insurers, so giving people free choice of CCG would be a necessary (albeit not sufficient) first step towards creating a quasi-SHI system. CCGs’ budgets would then have to correspond closely to the risk profile of the patient population they cover, and this market should also be opened to private non-profit and for-profit insurers. CCGs and non-NHS insurers should be free to offer a variety of health plans, including plans with co-payments and deductibles in exchange for rebates.’

https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Niemietz-NHS-Interactive.pdf

We do not need more reports about the NHS. We know what works. It is there on our doorstep across the English Channel.

What we need is a government with the backbone to get reforms accomplished. An eighty seat majority should have been sufficient.

The leadership report required is one that considers how to improve the way that the Conservative party is led and managed in England.

Last edited 2 years ago by Monro
19
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OldRadioHam
OldRadioHam
2 years ago

In a short YouTube video, he says the NHS works near perfectly. To be perfect it needs better team building. A modern major general indeed!

16
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huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  OldRadioHam

“A modern major general indeed!”

Otherwise known as a See you next Tuesday warrior.

11
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NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago
Reply to  OldRadioHam

‘Team Building’ is the last crutch of poor management. I never did any team building exercise that didn’t end up in me hating my colleagues with a passion. You can put up with Marjorie from the Bought Ledger, but when the raft falls apart and you’re neck deep in cold water because Marjorie can’t tie a bloody knot properly, you have an enemy for life.

The truth for all managers is ‘You can work perfectly well with people you don’t like and don’t have anything in common with.’. All you need is to have a clear and understandable goal, consistent and sensible ways of getting there, and everyone gets what their ‘bit’, of ‘doing their bit’ comprises of. Then leave them to get on with it with minor course corrections as required.

In the context of the NHS. What is the clear and understandable goal of the NHS..? Is it to provide a safe space for people to work, free from possible discrimination.’? I don’t think so, but the NHS seems to think it is. The staff on the very front line may imagine that it is to give care to sick people, but that doesn’t get far up the hierarchy.

20
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JeremyP99
JeremyP99
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

Worked for a software company for 25 years, which was eventually bought by a mega private equity firm.

When asked to join team-building days, I would copy an email from a former CEO, which stated that myself, and two other guys in a small development/support team were the best problem-solving team he had ever worked with. And he’d been in big jobs.

I’d add – maybe best to just leave me to work? Never attended one, and happily accepted redundancy when they messed with me once to often.

4
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JeremyP99
JeremyP99
2 years ago
Reply to  OldRadioHam

No organisation that large is anywhere near functional.

Except in totalitarian states.

Choose. One or the other. And the IEA are correct; the problem is it is no longer possible to have ANY discussions about alternatives, as the NHS is now a cult.

5
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RW
RW
2 years ago

You have to realize what these just technical skills means: Assuming there are two applicants for a given position, the lesser qualified or capable one ought to be preferred if this is suitable to make the work force more balanced (ithe sense of EDI). This matters little for an office-based bullshit job but for a frontline position in a health services, it’s complete madness.

15
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Prole
Prole
2 years ago

To be fair, I dont think it is too hard to out wit this cabinet or government. They are not the most talented bunch, and with all what has been going on over the last 2 years, plus the ousting of the most talented member of the set up, Cummings (whether you like him or not is irrelevant), I think its been quite easy for the deep state to run rings around Johnson and his cabal, especially when some of the afore mentioned cabal are actually in total agreement with the blob and their woke politics.

18
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Brett_McS
Brett_McS
2 years ago

Even though the US system allows an incoming administration to replace several thousand of the higher ranks of the civil service, they have essentially the same problem there. The permanent administration immortals know how to undermine the political appointees if they have a mind to, which they usually do when a conservative government comes in.

See also
https://brownstone.org/articles/elections-wont-fix-this/

6
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