Who would you like as the next Secretary of State for Defra?
Who would you hate getting as Secretary of State for Defra?
Who do you expect to get as Secretary of State for Defra?
I really find it very difficult to answer any of those questions. That’s why I thought I’d ask for your opinions. But if you want to be scared rigid then have a look at John Rentoul’s assessment – a usually well-informed writer.
Can it really be the case that Gove, Johnson and Leadson will be rewarded for their differing displays of inadequacy over the last two or three weeks? Really?
There must be a good chance that Liz Truss will be on her way – potentially the least effective SoS for environment the world has ever known. Let’s just hope that she doesn’t get a job where she can do more harm.
Rory Stewart? What has his greatest achievement been? Some think that changing his mind and saying something nice about the EU might be the pinnacle – and he might be wishing he had stuck with Brexit now.
George Eustice – a Brexiteer who might just get a promotion?
In a world where Andrea Leadsom was, for a while, the second most likely person to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom then there is no logic for who gets their fingernails on power in Britain. In a post-truth Britain, where we don’t need experts, we may be amazed by the ignorance and prejudice which jostle for supremacy in the head of the next SoS for Defra. A return of OPatz anyone?
Remember, the new Defra supremo ought to be designing options for a post-CAP England and a post-CFP marine environment.
Maybe the new SoS for Defra will have the job of winding everything up since its budget and importance will be , presumable, greatly reduced post-Brexit – at least in the eyes of most politicians. So that means a move from unimportant to very unimportant.
There is so much to look forward to…Not!
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Good questions, I’ll take a punt, first one is obviously fiction…
Caroline Lucas
Andrea Loathsome
George Useless
Andrea Loathsome – I love it!
Leadsom should get Defra. She’s had children, that’s a useful experience. And then there’s ‘I-only-meant-to-blow-the-doors-off-Boris’. He’s quite amusing, especially when he tousles his hair and says something. If that doesn’t help, we can do as Cameron does and pretend to be cheerful by humming little ditties to ourselves.
On second thoughts, perhaps Cameron’s ditty was genuinely cheerful — suggesting he couldn’t have given a toss as he walked back into No.10 yesterday evening. It was as if he had just passed the Bullingdon Club initiation test of burning a £50 pound note in front of a street beggar.
We have an unelected PM trying to lead the majority of MP’s who did not campaign for the outcome of the referendum. The governments pre-election manifesto is now toast…we have no idea what the new government plan… or will plan….
The country needs to have a general election to sort this mess out.
Yes.
Whilst virtually anyone would be an improvement on Truss the thought of Leadsom at DEFRA is very unappealing. As a true believing Brexiter she would gleefully rip up anything with a hint of Brussels about it which could see – amongst other things – habitat and species protections weakened and the countryside soaked n neonicotinoids, growth hormones and anti-biotics. She is also keen to restore hunting with dogs though I suppose it is doubtful that she would be allowed parliamentary time for that.
Ken Clarke
Andrea Leadsom
Andrea Leadsom
“post-truth Britain”
Start date?
Oh god knows, I’d like someone competent with a science based background and enough spine to adhere to the science. That isn’t what we are going to get of course, the best case is some bland tool who wanted a senior post but wasn’t competent or kiss-arse enough for one of the big posts, the worst case is another radical freemarketeer and rights denier who will do the opposite of anything that sounds even slightly liberal or nature loving just on general principle that it will annoy what they see as the hippy wets.
Sadly I think we are closer to the latter than the former. It is government by explicit lies and spite from here on out. Okay it has always been that, but at least previously they paid lip service to it not being.
One thing I do want though, sorry to have thought of this after typing first reply, is someone who will have a bonfire of subsidies. Especially for the fishing industry. Not a penny for them is my new campaign demand when I write to my MP and MSPs. They wanted a post-EU world, let them have to survive without the EU subsidies that kept their industry afloat (pun intended). They can all sink as far as I am concerned. Not a penny for the fishermen, let them suffer May’s DWP hell like the rest of us.
Boris Johnson would make a good Secretary of State for Defra but only if he promised to listen to his Dad, Stanley, and do what he’s told this time. Since, unbelievably, Nicky Morgan seems to be making sterling efforts to trump Gove as the worst ever Education Secretary, she’d be an unmitigated disaster at Defra (although she might just do something about rabbits being dazzled by headlights). Thankfully, my knowledge of the internal politics of the Conservative Party is far too sketchy to have a sensible notion of who would actually get the job.
As I read this and Rentoul’s piece the sky turned darker and darker, and now rain is rattling on the roof. Nuff said.
You win some you Leadsome is surely in line for a bigger job than Defra – as the awfulest of the awful leave lot, (proof that we’re in post truth la la land is that she was judged as a ‘leading light’ of the leave campaign, aaargh). If May is really a pragmatist she won’t want someone with her toxic links to the Grafton hunt in that job, she’ll want someone anodyne who won’t rock that particular boat too much – I’d bet Trussless will stay where she is.
Which probably means Leadsome will actually get the job, aaargh.