So to be clear You support the idea of an unelected "advisor" having more power than any cabinet minister I assume you support the removal of Julain Smith and must be particularly keen on the appointment of the new Attourney General who is on record as saying she doesnt want courts checking that the government is obeying the law both for constitutional cases like the proroguing parliament case or individual cases like deporting people without giving them fair legal representation
Hmmm!! If you want to influence Government you HAVE to be an adviser to Govt ( (i.e. on the 'inside') which doesn't necessarily mean you are aligned with the policies and ideologies. There is little or no point in advising the opposition parties as they have no real power. If you read some of the comments attributed to Cummings re some senior Conservatives and Civil servants a.k.a "the blob" he is not exaclty an acolyte of the Tories Albeit this is simply an extract from Wikipedia entry ... Cummings has been highly vocal over what he believes is a London-centric political system that failed to countenance the United Kingdom’s voting to leave the European Union. In December 2019 following the General Election, which returned an 80-seat Conservative majority, he stated: "After the shock of the referendum, MPs and journalists should have taken a breath and had a lot of self-reflection [on] why they misunderstood what was going on in the country. Instead a lot of people just doubled down on their own ideas and f***ed it up even more. That’s why something like this happens against expectations."[48] He has expressed his dismay that many voters' concerns, particularly in Northern England and the Midlands, have been ignored by both the Conservatives and Labour and 'taken for granted'.[48] He criticised New Labour's attempt at re-balancing inherent structural deficiencies within the British economy following de-industrialisation with a system of tax credits.[48] Cummings has claimed to have never been a member of a political party.[49] Despite this, he was second in a list by LBC of the 'Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives of 2019'.[50]
Not much different then than the power behind Labour -Mclusky and Momentum- not elected but driving policy decisions (thakfully in opposition). Cummings only has the power he is allowed by those in office. As you know, Governments are driven and manipulated by advisers and Civil servants (Yes Minister!) and always have been . It is naive to expect someone to take High office in say MOD or DWP and have a 'handle' of the complexities and demands. The LEVEL of influence is what you are objecting to to and that, again is only determined by the level of competency of both parties. I would rather have a competent driven individual with genuine beneficial polices behind the wheel than incompetent self serving clueless politicians. Talk of a hidden dictatorship is OTT IMO since if he really did overstep the mark and lost the support of the PM and rest of the cabinet he would be ousted, unless that is you believe the media in stating they are all 'spineless yes men' ( which merely proves the point that we are better off with a motivated individual than a bunch of incompetent nincompoops). He is a long way off declaring himself Chancellor and abolishing free elections Anyway who was it said The best form of government is dictatorship tempered with assassination!
https://www.politicshome.com/news/u...agencies/news/108742/dominic-cummings’-salary SpAd staffing cost £9.6m for the year to 31/12/19 Mrs May & her team had 99 full time employees Lazy toohat BoJo has increased this number to 108 with the increase being down to BoJo himself - he now has 44 employees as SpAds c/w 37 for Ms DisMay
I'm very much in favour of PR & agree with you on this point. I also think it was ridiculous that a clear majority of 55% should have been needed when the referendum rules were drawn up, the same as the Scottish independence vote. We have Mr Cameron to blame for this. I'm as frustrated as everyone else about the government (I am a Labour Party member), the problem is there is little that can be done for the time being about the state of play in terms of Brexit, with a government majority of 80. If Labour had won under the current electoral rules I would have still made the case for PR. It is a pity that both us & the USA have the most outdated electoral systems in the western world.
As would I........ I've been in favour of PR since being able to vote....... anything else is just not democratic by pure definition.