Reeves warns Burnham ‘governing is hard’ and says he must have a plan
Rachel Reeves has warned Andy Burnham he needs to have a proper plan for government when he enters Downing Street in just over a week’s time.
In what is likely to be her last interview as chancellor, she appeared to concede her hopes of staying in the role were over and told the PM-in-waiting “governing is hard in Britain”.
During an appearance on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme, she said: “It is important that when Andy walks through that door, that he has a worked-through plan, because governing is hard in Britain, and lots of lots of challenges and shocks will come his way.
“What is really important is that him and his team are really clear about what they want to achieve. As those shocks come along, he needs to stay laser-focused on those things that have always motivated him, have always driven him, and are the reason why he wants to lead our great country.”
It's good that "laser-focused" is in there, we wouldn't want to lose that in the new regime. Maybe it could be part of Burnham's plan, along with a scattering of "turbocharged" and "good for Britain" and even "five point plan".
The language is something to look forward to as Mr Burnham finds out that governing is indeed hard. The carefully casual attire may not be enough for someone who seems to be shallow, politically unimaginative and weak on detail.
But possibly laser-focused.
4 comments:
Governing is easy - you just do what the Civil Servants want you to do. Going against the Civil Servants, or the Blob, oe the media, that is hard.
DJ - yes it's an insight into the difficulties and the enormous pressure to sell the decisions of the Machine, not make them.
A million years ago I used to commit laser holographic interferometry for a living. My abiding memory, apart from the joy of getting a really good pic, was how hard it was on my eyes. I don't refer to the stray reflections that can damage your eyes: I was well enough trained to have suppressed any risk of those. I mean simply that it was exhausting.
So I gurgle when "laser-focused" is used as an alternative to "turbocharged" by the technologically illiterate. (Who, I suspect, are often also rather stupid, routinely innumerate, and generally ill-read. Cruel of me, I know.)
dearieme - the people who write their speeches may be technologically illiterate as well. It is probably seen as an advantage for coming up with low grade rhetoric. I sometimes wonder if they misjudge their audiences though.
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