The Digby Jones Column: Why we need a directly-elected PM
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Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham, has joined TheBusinessDesk.com West Midlands as the site’s first regular columnist. In the first of his monthly contributions, the controversial former Midlands lawyer, CBI boss and Government minister casts his eye over the General Election.
The pundits say the General Election has become an X Factor talent contest. You have Vince Cable in his tutu while Gordon Brown is the John Sergeant figure. The only thing missing is Piers Morgan. But the upside of this contest-by-TV is that all the many people who have disengaged from politics are finding it is something they can understand. My view is this – why separately can we not elect a Prime Minister and then elect our local MPs? Instead, many votes are lost in safe Tory and Labour seats where you’ve perhaps got 12,000 majorities. So you get a Prime Minister you may not want and have not voted for. I think there is something wrong with that sort of electoral system – because we still cannot elect the person we most like as our Prime Minister. We should be able to do that, whether Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Nick Clegg is ultimately successful. Reform of our government is badly needed – and I am not just talking proportional representation. The people should be able to have a directly elected Prime Minister and he should be able to choose a Cabinet from wherever he wants – whoever is going to be good for the country. That is a much better way of doing it than political tribalism. I want to see a cabinet made up of people who actually know about the sectors they are asked to take on – people who want to do something for the nation and then perhaps go back into the private sector. We need to have MPs actually listening to debates and paying attention to what they are supposed to be doing. At the moment MPs rush in from the tea rooms and restaurants and have no idea what they are voting on. They have to be told whether to vote yes or no. We are sending cannon fodder to Westminster. It is not good enough. Look at Jack Dromey who happens to be married to Harriet Harman. At the press of a button he is suddenly the Labour candidate in Erdington. No wonder there is serious disenchantment with the political system, and it has to change. And ministers have to guard against the arrogance and pomposity which separates them from everyone else. They must not just talk about it but they must have real, meaningful impact by understanding their subject, by being experienced from their former lives and by spending time on the ground. So, for example, when it comes to the West Midlands we need to get out of our malaise and do something about core skills. We need those who will invest and create businesses where they address the need for skilling people. And if some complain that training is expensive, I say – OK then, try ignorance. But we need to get on with it. Birmingham is not asking for favours. We don’t play the victim like they do up North. There is nothing to fear. But we need to get it sorted.
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