The departure from government of Lord Darzi signals the virtual disintegration of Gordon Brown’s “government of all the talents”, established with such fanfare after his assumption of the Labour leadership two years ago.
Over the last few months, one by one, the “goats” have wandered off –Lords Digby Jones, Carter of Barnes and, most recently, Malloch-Brown – to seek pastures new; and now Lord Darzi is joining them.
I’m not entirely sure that Brown will miss them terribly. While their departure does tend to imply a lack of confidence in the goatherd, at least he can replace them with ministers more constitutionally inclined to accept party discipline.
The only notable “goat” now remaining is Lord West of Spithead, the former First Sea Lord, who is still embedded as a junior minister in the Home Office, with responsibility for security. He it was who displayed a lack of goatish sure-footedness when he told the Today programme that he was “not convinced” of the need for 42-day detention without trial; two hours later, after a swift visit to No 10, he announced that he was, in fact, entirely convinced of the soundness of the plan; as a “simple sailor” he just hadn’t chosen his words carefully enough.
It was probably around that time that Gordon Brown first started to doubt the wisdom of his “all the talents” policy.
For a politician, it’s how you deal with the media that sorts the sheep from the goats.
