The Coalition has met it's first hurdle; David Laws.
It's the 29th May 2010.
And the Chief Secretary of the Treasury; David Laws has resigned, after admitting he claimed £40,000 in expenses to pay rent to his partner.
Already I can hear the Tory back benchers laughing...
The occurance has caused great embarassment for the Liberal Democrats who had taken high moral ground on the expenses catastrophe, arguing they were in a better position than the Tories and Labour after the uncovering of expenses in 2009.
Not only has the crisis bestowed embarassment upon the Lib Dems, but also the loss of a key member of the cabinet described as "exceptionally abled" by Vince Cable the Business Secretary and "good" and "honourable" by the Leader of the Tories and Prime Minister; David Cameron.
Although this situation has no doubt weakened our Cabinet's infrastructure with David Laws being replaced by the 'slightly less experienced' Danny Alexander, it has also shown the strength of this coalition - here we have a Conservative calling a Lib Dem "good" and "honourable".
The Leader of the Tories to be precise.
Showing posts with label the cabinet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the cabinet. Show all posts
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Friday, 14 May 2010
Have we really reached 'new politics'?
The Conservative and Liberal Coalition has been an incredibly exciting moment in British Political History and has certainly defaced 'ancient politics'.
However, how close are we really to 'new politics'?
Surprisingly, we are relatively backwards when it comes to politics compared to many of the developed countries around the world.
Just 3 years ago, in 2007 there were 31million women in the UK compared to 29million men.
Just 3 days ago, only 4 women compared to 25 men were appointed Cabinet ministers = 14%.
How is that 14% supposed to represent the 51.6% of the UK population that are women?
It is quite frankly embarrassing.
Just 34km away and the French have made much better progress with 33% of the seats in their cabinet equivalent being held by women.
In Germany; 36%, Sweden; 50% and Spain 53%.
We are supposedly on similar development levels to these countries but instead we continue to have a Cabinet overrun by white, middle class men farmed in independent, private schools such as Eton and processed through Oxbridge.
Fair enough, many of these members may be intelligent and suited for the job. But at the same time the Cabinet needs to be severely 'diversified'.
David Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osbourne and Vince Cable; four key players in the Cabinet; all belong to unnervingly similar backgrounds meaning they only cover a narrow social perspective between them. How will they understand how people feel?
Baroness Warsi became the first female, Muslim Cabinet minister in this election. A sign we are making progress - progress which should have happened much earlier in British political history.
How can we lead the way for a free and equal democracy in LEDCs when our own country does not successfully portray this?
However, how close are we really to 'new politics'?
Surprisingly, we are relatively backwards when it comes to politics compared to many of the developed countries around the world.
Just 3 years ago, in 2007 there were 31million women in the UK compared to 29million men.
Just 3 days ago, only 4 women compared to 25 men were appointed Cabinet ministers = 14%.
How is that 14% supposed to represent the 51.6% of the UK population that are women?
It is quite frankly embarrassing.
Just 34km away and the French have made much better progress with 33% of the seats in their cabinet equivalent being held by women.
In Germany; 36%, Sweden; 50% and Spain 53%.
We are supposedly on similar development levels to these countries but instead we continue to have a Cabinet overrun by white, middle class men farmed in independent, private schools such as Eton and processed through Oxbridge.
Fair enough, many of these members may be intelligent and suited for the job. But at the same time the Cabinet needs to be severely 'diversified'.
David Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osbourne and Vince Cable; four key players in the Cabinet; all belong to unnervingly similar backgrounds meaning they only cover a narrow social perspective between them. How will they understand how people feel?
Baroness Warsi became the first female, Muslim Cabinet minister in this election. A sign we are making progress - progress which should have happened much earlier in British political history.
How can we lead the way for a free and equal democracy in LEDCs when our own country does not successfully portray this?
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