2 min read
I don't think I've ever read a piece by Rachel Sylvester which didn't tell me quite a lot I didn't know. She really is outstanding. Today's piece on Ed Balls is typically insightful:
[I]n recent weeks, the man responsible for drawing up the plan has also had to deal with Northern Rock, missing CDs and the donor row. Before that, he was busy preparing for (and, indeed, hyping up) the election-that-never-was.
According to exasperated officials and ministers in his department, he can be called away to Downing Street three or four times a day. There are often many more phone calls, text messages and emails to handle from an anxious PM. Every morning at seven, he has to participate in a conference call with key Number 10 aides to discuss the strategy for the day.
He is sent polling results, focus group research and media briefs for every subject under the sun. It is a miracle he has a moment left to save Britain's failing schools.
Mr Balls is phenomenally bright - he talks quickly, absorbing ideas as rapidly as he pours them out. A 20-minute coffee with him is more rewarding than a two-hour lunch with most ministers.
...Education is Mr Brown's self-declared passion. Politically, the department's wider remit is a crucial battle zone for the PM, who is struggling to prove that he, like David Cameron, understands that "general well-being" is as important as GDP.
The Secretary of State should be able to concentrate on his day job rather than having to help Mr Brown trouble-shoot as well.
As Mr Balls said in an interview on Sunday, he has spent 15 years working as Mr Brown's closest aide, so it is not surprising that the Prime Minister still turns to him for advice.
But it is also a sign of Mr Brown's insecurity that he is so heavily reliant on the small circle with whom he has been drinking beer, watching football and devising policy for so long.
Other ministers are beginning to resent the fact that Tony Blair's sofa has been replaced by what could be called an "armchair" style of Government - even smaller, but not as cosy.
It's certainly true that Ed Balls is a clever man. Dealing with him in my old, Fabian days, was always a genuinely worthwhile experience. But it's one thing being clever; quite another being a good politician, let alone a good minister (just look at Jimmy Carter for proof of the different skills required.)
There is scant evidence so far of his political abilities (and as a perforner he is embarrassingly bad on TV). That said, as one of those pushing Brown to go for an October/November election, events have proved him bang on the money. Had he gone then, it's - at the very least - more than likely that he would now be basking in electoral triumph, instead of presiding over an administration falling further apart with every passing day.
UPDATE: Ouch. A commenter quite rightly takes me task for that very ugly and ungrammatical first sentence. That's a danger with writing on the hoof and not looking back at what one has scribbled down. Apologies.