The good chaps rule lives on
One of the greatest political comedies and satires of all time is Yes Prime Minister. Astonishingly for some of us, it’s now nearly 40 years old.
It couldn’t possibly be relevant to 21st century politics could it?
Judge for yourselves - in a classic scene (Season 2, episode 4), available on YouTube, where the Prime Minister has to appoint a new Governor of the Bank of England amid a financial scandal, this is their exchange -
Prime Minister’s Adviser: The PM is worried about financial scandals. Are you worried about financial scandals?
Applicant: Of course, we don't want any of those, but if you go for the sort of chap the chaps trust, you can trust him to be the sort of chap to see the chaps don't get involved in any scandals.
Prime Minister’s Adviser: He'd hush them up?
Applicant: No, any suspicion, and you have the chap straight out for lunch. Ask him if there's anything in it.
Prime Minister: What if he says no?
Applicant: You have to trust a chap's word. That's how the City works.
Considering some of Sir Keir Starmer’s appointments, it appears that vetting for roles, such as UK Ambassador to the US or being appointed to a peerage, hasn’t improved on what was considered satire in the 1980s.
If we’ve learned anything from the Me Too movement, the Epstein files, countless politicians’ misdemeanours and any number of other scandals, we must have worked out that chaps don’t always tell the truth.
Keir Starmer had a front row seat for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s shenanigans. At the time, Starmer showed a forensic ability to expose the then PM’s lies and misdemeanours.
Yet now he is in power, those investigative talents seem to have deserted him.
The fact is the good chaps rule was bust in the 1980s, and decades past its sell by date in the 2020s. People going for a job like Ambassador, or lawmaker for life, ought to have a more rigorous interview than someone going for a regular, real world job - where checking references would be the minimum that’s done.
It’s remarkable that Keir Starmer has been Prime Minister for less than 18 months and, in that time, in addition to the five Ministers he’s lost, he’s also lost -
2 Cabinet Secretaries
2 Chiefs of Staff
4 Directors of Communications (one of whom he put into the Lords causing yet another scandal)
1 Director of Political Strategy
And of course, 1 UK Ambassador to the US
We’re not sure even Boris Johnson could match this.
The lesson from all of this that we hope Keir Starmer, or whoever follows him, learns is that the SYSTEM is the problem. Replacing the politician or civil servant doesn’t change the tune.
What we need is systemic transformation of the culture of government and how it appoints people to important roles - because whatever we’re doing right now isn’t working, and it’s eroding trust in politics.
This must include proper background checks and full recruitment processes - no more appointing chums and bypassing normal recruitment rules. This should be especially rigorous when jobs are being given for life - such as peerages in the House of Lords. Obviously we would prefer to see all lawmakers elected, rather than appointed!
For key public jobs, appointees should face scrutiny by the relevant select committee in Parliament and there needs to be more transparency on direct Ministerial appointments.
Above all else, jobs must be awarded on merit, rather than patronage.
The system must change.
Inaction will lead to more scandals and more people chuckling over episodes of Yes Prime Minister from 40 years ago and reflecting that, bizarrely, it seems to be more relevant now than when it was first broadcast!