Briefing to incoming government | Josie Pagani

JOSIE PAGANI

STRAIGHT AND TRUE

Briefing to incoming government


Josie's Post column this week is a review the memoir from former UK Conservative cabinet minister Rory Stewart, Politics on the Edge. It's for new MPs and ministers getting back to work, and public servants who will" end their period of grieving for the government they voted for and begin to adapt to the government everyone else chose."

Read it if you are a former minister wanting to understand why it was so difficult to get things done. Or a new minister wanting to pull the levers, or a new MP hoping to work your way through the caucus ranks. Read it if you are a public servant wondering what ministers think of you.

To summarise his brutal insider account of broken politics, mafioso candidate selections, and “elective dictatorship”: one day you will have to choose your values or theirs.

Political parties conflate the interests of country with the interests of the party. The interests of the party are conflated with the interests of the leader. Principle is confused with the principal. Sticking up for your values against your leader or party is an attack on the tribe.

Read the rest here.

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