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Hewitt vs. Byers; it's not what you know, or even when you announce it...
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
BBC News; End of the road near for MG Rover
I have never failed to be fascinated by the Sixsmith/Moore/Byers Affair, chiefly because of the scandalous way the Mirror dealt with the non-story of the email that didn't bark ("Princess Margaret is being buried [on Friday]. I will absolutely not allow anything else to be", my arse). The story resulted not only in Jo Moore's resignation, but also Sixsmith's. The interesting, and almost immediate, aftershock was that Stephen Byers, the then Transport Secretary, announced Sixsmith's resignation before all the i's had been dotted, even though his departure was all but a done deal. This turned out to be a good enough reason for Byers himself to resign, something that I have always believed that Alistair Campbell (this was before the manipulation of the JIC WMD dossier) shed no tears over.
Now, contrast that with Patricia Hewitt's announcement that MG Rover had called in the administrators, which MG Rover itself then denied. The announcement was a self-fulfilling prophesy, and things now look bleak for the Rover workforce. There is no question of Hewitt having to resign, even though her action affects slightly more than one civil servant's immediate future. The fact that Sixsmith was on the way out anyway didn't save Byers, so why should MG Rover's mounting financial concerns give Hewitt a pass?
In New Labour, you have your Mandelson's and your Byers' and your [Frank] Field's, and then you have your Hodge's and your Hewitt's and your Hoon's, who appear to made of Teflon. You also have David Blunkett and Keith Vaz. Dragging a resignation out of them was like pulling teeth, but even Tony's patronage couldn't save them forever.
It's not what you know, it's where you are on that greasy Granita ladder...
I have never failed to be fascinated by the Sixsmith/Moore/Byers Affair, chiefly because of the scandalous way the Mirror dealt with the non-story of the email that didn't bark ("Princess Margaret is being buried [on Friday]. I will absolutely not allow anything else to be", my arse). The story resulted not only in Jo Moore's resignation, but also Sixsmith's. The interesting, and almost immediate, aftershock was that Stephen Byers, the then Transport Secretary, announced Sixsmith's resignation before all the i's had been dotted, even though his departure was all but a done deal. This turned out to be a good enough reason for Byers himself to resign, something that I have always believed that Alistair Campbell (this was before the manipulation of the JIC WMD dossier) shed no tears over.
Now, contrast that with Patricia Hewitt's announcement that MG Rover had called in the administrators, which MG Rover itself then denied. The announcement was a self-fulfilling prophesy, and things now look bleak for the Rover workforce. There is no question of Hewitt having to resign, even though her action affects slightly more than one civil servant's immediate future. The fact that Sixsmith was on the way out anyway didn't save Byers, so why should MG Rover's mounting financial concerns give Hewitt a pass?
In New Labour, you have your Mandelson's and your Byers' and your [Frank] Field's, and then you have your Hodge's and your Hewitt's and your Hoon's, who appear to made of Teflon. You also have David Blunkett and Keith Vaz. Dragging a resignation out of them was like pulling teeth, but even Tony's patronage couldn't save them forever.
It's not what you know, it's where you are on that greasy Granita ladder...
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Comments
but its more likely that when labour get elected for another term that we will have him back in the cabinet
The close proximity to the election is probably also a deciding factor as well as the lack of parliament. Media attention is also elsewhere and the government of any persuasion only reacts to press interest in most cases.
In the case of Hoon et al, it's better to have a guy with a dodgy background in cabinet or close to because you get total loyalty from him at all times and he/she is always immediately replacable. All that has to be done is to bring new "details" to light in the form of a leak and >poof< they are gone.
What makes me laugh is that loss through the various forms of taxation and added to the dole payments, council tax relief etc that are going to be given out to the poor bastards who are being given the heave ho the £100million that the government refused to shell out is going to be lost anyway.
It would have been quite easy to dismantle the business a week at a time reducing the impact on the economy but the idiots either didn't think of doing it or just don't give a fuck.