RUTH SUNDERLAND: Constant churn of ministers must end
- Business is often criticised for being short-termist
- Compared with constant churn of ministers, boardrooms are models of stability
- Ever-changing dramatis personae makes relationships with business harder
Business is often criticised for being short-termist. Compared with the constant churn of ministers in the past decade under the Tories and the coalition, however, many FTSE 100 boardrooms look like models of stability.
The average tenure of a FTSE 100 boss is five and a half years, according to research by investment experts at AJ Bell.
That is significantly longer than the shelf-life of most of the politicians with whom business leaders have had to deal over the past few years – and indeed longer than the full term of a parliament.
Around a fifth of FTSE 100 bosses have been in post for more than a decade. The best ones – Simon Wolfson at Next and Pascal Soriot at AstraZeneca spring to mind – are also among the longest-serving.
This is not coincidence. Nigel Wilson, who recently retired as chief executive of Legal & General after more than ten years at the top, attributed his ability to take a radical approach to investing in UK infrastructure to his faith that he would be in the job for a long time.
'Stable' mates?: The new Government must find a way to stop the constant ministerial churn
By the time most businessmen and women reach the pinnacle, they are highly experienced in their field.
Contrast that with politicians. As our sister paper The Mail on Sunday reported yesterday, since 2015 there have been seven chancellors, eight City ministers, nine business secretaries and nine work and pensions secretaries, before the new Labour appointments.
The ever-changing dramatis personae makes relationships with business harder. Explanations need to be given and cases made on a seemingly endless loop.
I popped in to see Grant Shapps in his office in Victoria in the autumn of 2022, when he was for a fleeting four-month period the business secretary. Paintings of bewigged gentlemen belonging to his predecessor Jacob Rees-Mogg, who served an even shorter stint of less than two months, were still hanging on the walls.
I hope the new Government will find a way to stop this constant churn. In fairness, many of those taking key positions have been shadowing their roles for some time.
There have also been interesting appointments of experts such as Sir Patrick Vallance as science minister and James Timpson at prisons. As boss of the shoe repair chain, he has taken a huge interest in rehabilitating offenders.
The drawback with this approach is that 'outsiders' may know their subjects inside out, but are not familiar with the dark arts of politics. But however smart people are, it is crazy to expect them to master overnight a fiendishly complex brief such as pensions. Building relationships with civil servants, working out requirements then making them happen also takes time.
The revolving door creates constant friction and confusion. It is also harder to hold here-today-gone-tomorrow ministers to account. Former Tory leadership contender Rory Stewart, who held five ministerial jobs between 2015 and 2019, has spoken out against the 'pass the parcel' ethos and suggested a minimum two-year term for ministers.
The recent merry-go-round is linked to Tory upheavals post-Brexit, but the underlying problem is deeper. People are often shuffled around, for reasons of ideology or in-fighting, rather than ability.
The UK subscribes to the cult of the gifted amateur in politics and much else. Labour says it will sort out the national finances through growth. To stand any chance of success it will need steady commitment and focus from ministers, not a motley parade of characters.
