"Forgive me if I've got this wrong, but I seem to recall the country voting the Tories out last year. Part of the reason, if I remember correctly, was their staggering incompetence and insouciance, epitomised by Liz Truss's mini-budget. That catastrophe was, like Truss's political career, formed and steered by the neoliberal junktanks of Tufton Street. But now I begin to doubt my recollections."
"After taking an interest in the Department for Business and Trade's growth school speaker sessions for civil servants, I sent a freedom of information request. Given that Keir Starmer, like Truss, has placed his growth mission at the centre of policy, and that this department is responsible for delivering it, the instruction given to its officials is crucial to the economic and political direction the country takes. Who, I wondered, would be speaking at these sessions? The answer surpassed my worst fears."
"Among the external instructors used by the department's growth school so far are no representatives from trade unions, social justice, human rights or environmental groups, and no representatives from left or liberal thinktanks such as the New Economics Foundation or the Institute for Public Policy Research. But there are four who work or have worked for the Tufton Street junktanks that surrounded Truss."
The Department for Business and Trade's growth school speaker sessions included no representatives from trade unions, social justice, human rights, environmental groups, or left/liberal thinktanks such as the New Economics Foundation or the Institute for Public Policy Research. Four external instructors were affiliated with Tufton Street thinktanks linked to neoliberal policy influence: Samuel Hughes (Centre for Policy Studies), Ben Southwood (formerly Policy Exchange; senior fellow at the Adam Smith Institute), Sam Bowman (research director, Adam Smith Institute), and Sam Dumitriu (former head of research at the Adam Smith Institute; now head of policy at Britain Remade). Keir Starmer's growth mission sits at the centre of policy, and the department is responsible for delivering it, making the instruction given to officials consequential for the country's economic and political direction. Liz Truss previously delegated key functions to Tufton Street junktanks, embedding their personnel in senior roles.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]