Gordon Brown's outside talent pool dries up
It was June 2007 when Gordon Brown announced his plans to create a pool of ministers from outside of politics to bring about the so-called "government of all the talents". However, while five ministers were initially appointed from outside the political scene, today's departure of Lady Vadera leaves just one minister from the original five. The fact that four have left already, in just a few months, has effectively ruined the plans of Gordon Brown to use outside talent to help the government of the day.
While Gordon Brown will no doubt attract ridicule in the press and within political circles, the idea of bringing in outside parties to complement the government was not such a bad idea. Whether the timing of the move, just prior to the deepest recession in nearly a century, was the main killer is open to debate but there is no doubt the program is effectively finished. It is highly unlikely that Gordon Brown will attempt to rejuvenate this particular program because if it is a failure again the second time round he will attract more criticism than ever.
Is it really wrong to use outside sources to complement the government of the day? Why did this particular program fail so spectacularly?
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