JOHN HUTTON came before us yesterday with the toughest shake-up of the welfare state in years. It was vital that he hide this fact and so he deployed his extensive camouflage skills. The spies who hide transmitters in fake rocks could learn a thing or two from Mr Hutton.
In fact, Mr Hutton may be a sort of human fake rock, if there can be such thing. On the outside he looks all shiny and smooth and . . . well, normal. He blends, as rocks do, into the landscape. But on the inside lies the steel heart (which also doubles as a transmitter) of an ambitious technocrat. This combination makes him invaluable to his master, the famously devious “TB”. Apparently TB can activate Mr Hutton at the flick of a switch.
Mr Hutton was on full battery power yesterday. He began with an attack on the Tory record on incapacity benefit that was pure political kneejerk. It sounded rather old-fashioned, and he may have learnt it word for word from a training manual. “It is time,” he barked, “that we brought this shameful legacy of Thatcherism to an end!” Labour MPs cheered. It was a cheap trick, but those kind of things always work in Parliament.
He talked fast. He talked politics and, it must be said, for those of us who don’t speak welfare technocratese, he talked nonsense. He kept referring to “gateways” and “pathways”. To the uninitiated he seemed to be wandering round a garden centre. But Hutton’s World is a murky place where almost nothing, and especially rocks and pathways, is what it seems.
Hutton’s World is a very busy place. No one rests for very long because they are busy working (and whistling, for it is a happy place too). “Work works,” he said, in what he may think is a catchphrase. His goal is to get one million people on incapacity benefit back into work. He is not going to do this by being punitive. Absolutely not. Instead, he is going to force people back to work by inundating them with action plans.
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In Hutton’s World, everyone has an action plan. Lone parents. Old people. Sick people. People going through gateways. Also, all people on pathways may be required to carry their individual action plans. If you get sick, you no longer just go to your surgery and see a GP. Now, at the surgery, you are also going to see employment advisers. Mr Hutton made them sound as helpful and happy as Teletubbies. They cannot give out drugs, per se, but they are authorised to hand out action plans like candy.
It must be said that Hutton’s World seems popular. The Tories love it, more or less, as do the Lib Dems (although they are in no position to criticise at the moment). There had been talk of a Labour rebellion but there was no sign of it.
In fact, just about the only person who was anything less than thrilled was Peter Kilfoyle, the recalcitrant Labour MP for Liverpool, who actually does looks a bit like a Teletubby. He began by noting that Mr Hutton’s department was closing a Jobcentre in his constituency: “Forgive my scepticism about where and how these jobs can be delivered.”
It was a sour note that Mr Hutton quickly smothered in lots of sweet talk about the wonders of change. TB will be pleased.