Killers

Johann Hari’s article on New Labour’s dismal record on workplace health and safety legislation makes for depressing but unsurprising reading.

I’d only disagree with Hari on one point: like a lot of critics of New Labour, he personalises the issue by pinning all the blame on Tony Blair. It might be that Blair has personally directed that Labour’s manifesto promises be watered down, but Hari doesn’t make that case in his article; he simply quotes snippets of Blair’s stump speeches and assigns blame for the climbdowns to Blair. Prime Ministers end up talking about all sorts of policy areas, especially during election campaigns, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they took all the detailed decisions regarding those policies.

To be sure, ultimately the Prime Minister is responsible for what his government does, but then so are the various secretaries of state at the DTI and - given that much of the argument revolves around the prospect of the government having to spend much more money to properly enforce whatever regulations it might pass - the Treasury. The problem really isn’t Blair himself, no matter how convenient it is for those who want him to go sooner rather than later to pretend otherwise: it’s a combination of New Labour’s determination to prove itself business-friendly and independent of the trades unions, and the weakness of cabinet government since about 1983. Two facts that will become all too obvious should Gordon “PFI” Brown move into No 10 between now and the next general election. (No matter how much you might admire Brown’s formidable intellect, drive and sense of discipline, can you really see him as a member of a cabinet of equals, primus inter pares?)

Actually, I have a second, minor, quibble with Hari’s article. He attributes the phrase “If it’s good for General Motors, it’s good for America” to Ronald Reagan. Reagan might have said that, but as I understand it the sentiment - if not in that precise wording - was first expressed by GM president-turned-Secretary of Defence Charles E Wilson during his Senate confirmation hearings.