In the right hands, the plumb job in Government is Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Seat in Cabinet. Just below the radar, but enormous power. In charge of government spending - everybody needs to be your friend. The best springboard imaginable: the partial list below is revealing[1].
And now, CSttT Darren Jones has sprung into another such job: CSttPM, no less, invented specifically for him, it seems (and to help dig the Starmermobile out of the rut in which its wheels are spinning idly as the engine races). Yes - Darren, the sharp, confident, facetious smartarse, is in charge of more than just spending now. Let's see what he does with it: because such jobs and such people are in the type of pivotal position that can see significant results along several axes, personal as well as political and practical.
In business, the term once used was "troubleshooter" - a person appointed to get something Big & Awkward done, often away from the corporate centre. Julius Caesar is perhaps the greatest example in history; there's Wellington and Slim in British military annals (and many other besides, of course). Douglas MacArthur: the list could go on. Right now, Putin has Sergei Kiriyenko[2]. It's happened to me three times in my career: being given plenipotentiary powers in the hope I could fix some unexpected, pressing difficulty.
The thing is: you're never sure how things will turn out - with the task itself, and what the Man does afterwards. Caesar came back in triumph from Gaul - and immediately mounted a successful coup. MacArthur had a coup in mind himself. Wellington was a bit more constitutionally correct when he had the whole of Europe at his feet: he still became PM. But Slim just quietly slipped away[3].
The troubleshooter appointment will always be given to someone believed to be capable - that's the whole point - but often also to someone viewed as maverick, which can give rise to the problematic aspect of what happens after the hoped-for success; the unwanted consequence of the Faustian pact. And if he wasn't (identifiably) a maverick before the assignment, well, lots of power and a free hand, sometimes exercised way out over the horizon ... it can turn a man's head. Capable, and hitherto reliable, doesn't always mean predictable.
We shall follow Mr Jones' progress with interest.
ND
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[1] Past CSttT's include: James Callaghan, Geoffrey Howe, Michael Portillo, Alistair Darling, Danny Alexander, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak. (Oh yes, and Chris Philp, whose ambitious little heart nearly exploded at the prospect he had it made, when he briefly held the job.)
[2] If you haven't heard of him, well most people haven't. Aye, there's the wonder of the thing - as Sherlock Holmes said in related circumstances
[3] Zhukov, of course, was effectively banished to Siberia! but the CP has always been paranoid about military leaders: when you need 'em, you really need 'em. But afterwards ...
7 comments:
Looking at his CV, he seems to have risen without trace and is obviously very good at impressing the right people. He's been on more boards than a scaffolder.
BSc (Hons) Human Bioscience, University of Plymouth (2005-2008)
And according to Wiki
"He worked in the National Health Service and served on the boards of the University of Plymouth and the Plymouth NHS Trust, and had a weekly newspaper column in the Plymouth Herald."
And by 2009, a year (?) after graduation?
GDL, University of the West of England (2009-2010)
Labour candidate in 2010 at 24 or so
LPC, The University of Law (2010-2011)
" Following the Brexit referendum in 2016, he sat on the board of UK Legal Futures"
"Later in 2016, he went to the United States to work for the Clinton campaign in Miami during that year's US Presidential election."
Hmm.
When I first looked at the Global Warming literature in the 90s I thought it was all unusually dim by the standards of the physical sciences. Then I discovered that the people publishing were duds, with dud degrees, in dud subjects, from dud universities.
Persuade me that Mr Jones is not another.
Labour MP Darren Jones’ wife is the interesting Lucy Symons-Jones, the Net Zero Director of Lexica. A member of the WSP Group — a Canadian consultancy specialising in design, engineering and construction — Lexica is a leading specialist consultancy that supports international and UK-based health and life sciences. If you’re wondering why Darren is keen on Net Zero and on tipping money into the floundering NHS, it’s not for your benefit; it’s because his wife’s snout is in the trough......... Dazza himself made a claim on QT this June that “the majority of the people in these boats (crossing the Channel with gimmegrants) are children, babies and women.” Jones went on a moral tirade at the audience for having concerns about migrant crossings… The BBC failed to provide a factual correction. Home Office figures show 73% per cent of small boat arrivals in 2024 – or 26,999 out of all 36,816 arrivals — were adult males............ Lest we forget, Dazza also voted to remove pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance, thinks that Women can have a penis & voted against the a National inquiry into the Rape Gang Scandal. Doing a Darren Jones’ aka lying appears to have entered the common vernacular......
His NHS experience seems to be a year or less, yet he got on the board of both the NHS trust AND the university? How?
Darren seems a brightish chap but has he got enough 'bottom' to cut any ice. A troubleshooter role usually requires a bit of a background and knowledge of who to call and where the bodies are buried. My concern is what is the poor fellow going to do anyway.
Angie's gone for a Burton. Still she gets a payoff so that might help keep HMRC off her back. Who to replace - don't give a s%^t, Starmer has got a very limited choice of person and even fewer choices of direction and neither matters.
"Australian net zero consultant and technology entrepreneur Lucy Symons-Jones, who co-founded the renewable energy company Village Infrastructure in 2011. Due to financial troubles, Symons-Jones left the business in 2014."
Some people just float upwards ... she does have three children though, hopefully none are "neurodiverse".
All children are neurodiverse these days, it's the law. Only way to get the teacher's attention.
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