Tempting as it is to comment on the resignation of Michael Fallon MP and the latest scandal over MPs’ behaviour to engulf Westminster, I’m going to resist.
It has got a long way to go before the full extent of the problem is known, and how many of the allegations of improper behaviour are true. Clearly some are, but some of the allegations are in respect of relationships between two consenting adults which, when I last checked, was perfectly acceptable.
If we go on at this rate we will have a House of Commons full of nuns, monks and eunuchs, and that would not be a step in the right direction. We should be governed by normal people – with all the faults and failings that go with that.
Stephen Fidler moves on
Back in the real world, Stephen Fidler – the Department for Transport (DfT) Head of Buses and Taxis – who has looked after bus policy for three years, is moving on.
The industry can count itself lucky that at a moment of extreme danger in its history – the arrival of the Bus Services Bill – it had a civil servant of Stephen’s experience and capabilities at the helm.
He knows the tricks of the trade (that’s a compliment by the way), understands the political agendas. In the case of the Bill, he quickly saw the need to strike the right balance between delivering a Bill that was required by the government (whatever Chris Grayling’s personal misgivings with it might have been) while also ensuring the legitimate concerns of the industry were properly taken into account.
That’s not to say he was in the pocket of the industry. Far from it.
I doubt he would be in the pocket of any one particular interest group. And I suspect that at times he must have been frustrated by the industry’s occasional tendency to want its cake and eat it: By which I mean a continuing desire to thrive off the drug of taxpayer subsidy but not to have any government interference.
Either way, he handled the challenges thrown up by the Bill with considerable patience and professionalism. We welcome Catriona Henderson in his place.
Mayors natter
On other matters, I was interested to see that England’s seven regional Mayors met for the first time last week to call for an increase in the scale and pace of devolution to boost economic growth and improve public services.
I am not clear why devolution itself will boost economic growth, since the economy does not grow simply as a result of devolution – as Scotland can testify.
I suspect this was more about political posturing than any serious belief that this government will move faster and further on devolution any time soon. But, it’s one to watch.
