Boris Johnson shares much of Trump’s character — a lazy womaniser with very little grasp of the intricacies of policy. Unlike Trump he is not a micro-manager, prefering to leave things to his subordinates while he blusters his way through not giving press conferences but arranging special appearances. Much of this involves giving lip service to those areas where the Tories picked up seats from the Labour party, in the “industrial” parts of the Midlands and North of England.
Under the British ministerial system, this can lead to unintendedly radical policies.One is the much expected announcement of the approval of HS2, the high speed rail line between London and Birmingham and possibly its “stage 2” of a West-East trans-Pennine route to serve the “Northern Powerhouse”. HS2 is much easier to approve now Boris is not dependent on the “NIMBY” seats in the Home Counties (the ex-urbs of London) for his Commons majority. HS2 is necessary for the London to Birmingham route at least because of severe overcrowding on the line. It would increase speeds from the existing 200Km/h (125 Mph) to 300Km/h.
A change of government and the ministerial shake-ups following a General Election give a chance for the people who really run the country to get their policies to the fore. As those of you familiar with the classic BBC comedy series “Yes Minister” and “Yes Prime Minister” will know, those are the senior civil servants in the ministries. Typically the politicians in charge either have too little time, inclination or intelligence to fully grasp their brief or “go native” and adopt wholesale their advisors’ policies. So it is that while the cats have been away electioneering and Brexiteering, the mice have been planning and drafting policies ready to be taken off the shelf.
Thus we have Tuesday’s announcement that the Government will be bringing forward the date at which new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from sale from 2040 to 2035. In addition, the list will include electric/fossil fuel hybrids so that the only vehicles will be either “full electric” or hydrogen powered. (Denmark, Ireland, Holland and Sweden are banning petrol and diesel vehicle sales from 2030). Boris is prone to making big policy announcements to get the most publicity so it was that he roped in Sir David Attenborough to speak alongside him to a group of schoolchildren at London’s Science Museum. Unfortunately Boris’s cunning stunt was overshadowed first by his now established Trumpian tactic of not answering questions and excluding journalists and then by the woman, Claire O’Neill he sacked from organising the COP26 climate change conference later this year which the UK is co-hosting with Italy.
In a letter to Mr Johnson, Ms O’Neill told him: “You promised to ‘lead from the front’ and asked me what was needed: ‘Money, people, just tell us!’ Sadly these promises are not close to being met.”
“This isn’t a pretty place to be and we owe the world a lot better,” she wrote.
She said the PM had not convened the Cabinet subcommittee on climate change that he had promised, adding that the Government was “miles off track” in setting a positive agenda for the November summit, and that promises of action “are not close to being met”.
Hours after the letter was published in the Financial Times, Mr Johnson was joined by Sir David Attenborough at the launch at the Science Museum in London.
One of the big selling points of Brexit was “freedom from Brussels control”. One particularly agregeous set of EU policies has been the Common Agricultural Policy which places a heavy emphasis on production subsidies, much like the US one although with production caps. Rather like the US, this has resulted in disproportionate amounts of subsidy being given to big producers with little or no concern for the environment. When he took over in July last year, Boris promoted the notably ineffectual Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (not aided it must be said by the power wielded by the DUP at Westminster during the minority goverments) to head the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) where she appears to have enthusiastically gone “full native”. Last week she outlined the goverments post-Brexit agricultural policy intentions.
“We will move away from the EU’s bureaucratic common agricultural policy and towards a fairer system which rewards our hard-working farmers for delivering public goods, celebrating their world-leading environmental work and innovative, modern, approach to food production.”
At the heart of the bill is a shift away from the EU system, where farmers receive subsidies based on the amount of land they farm, to a process whereby farmers are paid for the public goods provided, including clean water, clean air, healthy soils and habitats for wildlife.
There will be a seven-year transition period for farmers to move from the current regulations under CAP, the EU’s common agricultural policy, to a system of environmental land management contracts. Under these contracts, individual farmers will agree with the government a tailor-made set of goals with details on the measures they will take to manage their land and protect the environment.
Sadly, the UK can no longer press such measures on the EU as a member state so the undoubted benefits that will arise will be restricted to a small group of islands off the NW coast of the mainland.
It looks like, either accidentally or deliberately, Boris may well be able to present himself as one of the greenest PMs we have had …. so far. In truth they are very afraid of the green movement and the impact of Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg. The pressure therefore is to keep up the momentum and establish the climate crisis at the forefront of political discourse.