The famous triangular revolving sign outside Scotland Yard, London’s police headquarters, suddenly changed a few years back. On it was written ‘Working together for a safer London’. The change was a key to understanding Sir Ian Blair, and why he had to go.
Anyone who was involved in politics during the (Tony) Blair years will remember the verbless sentences: ‘building a fairer society’, ‘working for the people’s prosperity’, that sort of tosh. Sometimes Tony could string six or seven of them together in a speech, scores of words without a verb in sight. Just to use such a construction meant that you were ‘on message’, and Sir Ian Blair was.
Tony Blair was adept at getting his people into important and supposedly non-political jobs, such as Andrew Marr as political editor of the BBC (Marr is still used now to give the Prime Minister an easy ride if things are looking difficult). Sir Ian Blair’s pronouncements were either crafted for him by the Labour spin doctors or his every action and word was, by extraordinary coincidence, straight off the New Labour hymn sheet.
He couldn’t possibly remain even if it were not for the Menezes shooting and this little difficulty of the £15,000.
Boris had to show he could win this battle and has done very well indeed: there were entrenched positions (the Home Office and the BBC) defending their man. Perhaps there is more to London’s mayor than I, and many others, thought. His next task should be to take the sign down.
Anyone who was involved in politics during the (Tony) Blair years will remember the verbless sentences: ‘building a fairer society’, ‘working for the people’s prosperity’, that sort of tosh. Sometimes Tony could string six or seven of them together in a speech, scores of words without a verb in sight. Just to use such a construction meant that you were ‘on message’, and Sir Ian Blair was.
Tony Blair was adept at getting his people into important and supposedly non-political jobs, such as Andrew Marr as political editor of the BBC (Marr is still used now to give the Prime Minister an easy ride if things are looking difficult). Sir Ian Blair’s pronouncements were either crafted for him by the Labour spin doctors or his every action and word was, by extraordinary coincidence, straight off the New Labour hymn sheet.
He couldn’t possibly remain even if it were not for the Menezes shooting and this little difficulty of the £15,000.
Boris had to show he could win this battle and has done very well indeed: there were entrenched positions (the Home Office and the BBC) defending their man. Perhaps there is more to London’s mayor than I, and many others, thought. His next task should be to take the sign down.
No comments:
Post a Comment