Along the way, an “Interlude” details another disaster, the delays and failures in the evacuation of Afghanistan, 2021. e. a ministerial role, the MP knows only too well that they have just embarked on a brutal game of snakes and ladders where the success or failure of their political career is unlikely to have any connection with their own talent. A feasible change to political journalism could result from a government fund to finance a revival of local journalism to provide information on the impacts of public policy, comparable, Dunt suggests, to BBC local news programs. Westminster must operate more slowly, planning longer-term, rushing through less unnecessary, poorly thought-out legislation. He argues that for much of the twentieth century the press was more independent and critical of government because it was funded by advertising.

As for the Treasury, it seems to have stopped reading at the bit about payment by results and simply waved the whole thing through. PMs still decide when and how many life peers will be appointed, make nominations, and then invite other party leaders to do so. Most of the time, the formidable reporters of Westminster are only focused on stories that fall into one of three boxes: Tory-Labour fights, intra-Tory fights and intra-Labour fights. No 10’s control of special advisors must end and they should be appointed on the basis of expertise alone.

Bills used to be scrutinized, and when necessary re-drafted, by the Attorney-General, but since Suella Braverman held the role, briefly, in 2020–2022 it has become “a mouthpiece for government policy,” no longer providing objective advice.

But he does not mention that a UK referendum on PR was held in 2011, as part of the agreement to form the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.Central Bylines is a trading brand of Bylines Network Limited, which is a partner organisation to Byline Times. It is easy to stir up righteous anger, but Dunt does something far more useful in performing a detailed analysis of why none of this nonsense was stopped before it got started. Bills are often drafted in a hurry and receive so little scrutiny in the House of Commons “it often might as well not happen at all” (p.

In short,” he says, prefiguring Succession’s Logan Roy, “it is about whether this is a serious country or not. The Chief Inspector of Probation judged that “there has been a deplorable diminution of the probation profession and a widespread move away from good probation practice” (p. As Dunt describes, with a strong majority government it is hard to amend legislation at any stage of its passage through the House of Commons.The select committees are faintly praised as a process where MPs are somewhat freer to contribute openly and consider the greater good beyond the party line. He decided to drive through the change from an ideological conviction, shared by the leaders of his party, in the superiority of the private over the public sector.