Our man in Westminster is impressed with the CPT's new straight-talking chief
Last week I expressed concern at the rather heated, if understandable, reaction from bus operators in Greater Manchester to the plans to introduce bus franchising in the conurbation. It’s the tone and the style that bothered me, not the fundamental point being made.
So I listened to Graham Vidler, the new CEO of the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), discuss this on You and Yours on Radio 4 on 28 June with interest.
How would he handle it? In the heated and angry Stagecoach style, or in a more measured way?
Measured wins
Fortunately the measured way won. I was rather impressed. His tone was calm, his message clear and firm. There were a couple of points I would have made in addition to what Graham had to say, but I’ve been following bus policy issues for the best part of 30 years, ever since deregulation, while Graham’s been in post for a mere two months.
He was good. And I’m told he was also pretty good on the Sunday Politics show on 30 June discussing drivers' hours and the Private Members Bill on this.
I’ve already eaten my words once about Graham, commenting that my initial reservations were, perhaps, somewhat hasty. I’m now even more certain in that regard.
If I was a minister or a councillor (or even the Mayor of Greater Manchester!), I would be feeling that Graham Vidler is somebody I could do business with. And his media profile is growing in a way that we have not seen of his predecessors, and he’s only two months into the job.
No spin
But here’s a thing. While he has articulated the case against franchising perfectly well and defended the position of the operators, he also gives me the impression that he won’t defend the indefensible and that if operators are failing to deliver, for whatever reason, he will also say so.
Perhaps not publicly, but certainly in private.
And when I listened to Graham on You and Yours, his measured tone, and his obvious grasp of the issues, just made me think that he was simply telling it as it is. No spin, no weasel words. Just the straight facts.
I hope Stagecoach takes a lesson from the new CEO of their trade association.
Contest rumbles on
Meanwhile, we are now well into the final stages of the Conservative Party leadership contest.
I might follow politics closely, but even I’m getting just a touch bored of this. I’ll be glad when it’s all over and we finally know who our next Prime Minister is to be.
Mind you, with talk of Labour tabling a motion of no confidence in the government as soon as this contest is over, and with some thinking that Labour might win this and force a general election, he might not be Prime Minister for long. I’ll explain why next week!
