Anyone else think it’s time for a government restructure?

The list of scandals that have rippled from central government though to the headlines of newspapers would now be longer than the daily caseload report for the entirety of any local authority children's services department.

Even Ted Hastings would have no hope of unravelling the clandestine network of corruption that is interwoven between the benches of the commons, no matter how many AC-12 interviews he conducted.

Despite flagrant breaches of the ministerial code, ethical standards and even the law, members of parliament and indeed our very own prime minister appear able to respond with statements reminiscent of Jordan Belfort in the offices of wall street (who also declined to depart his position) and suffer nothing more than a few days of media coverage and a jibe or snide remark at their expense the following Wednesday during Prime Ministers questions.

On some occasions I’ve found a level of humour in the ineptitude of our politicians. I’ve scoffed at the notion of our Prime Minister being ambushed with cake, ridiculed the ridiculousness of rosé at work events and caricatured the cabinet meeting between Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson on receipt of their fines.

There is no mirth to be mustered, however, when it is possible for a member of parliament to be charged with the sexual assault of a child and yet retain the entitlement to resign, rather than be removed from their position.

There is no amusement to be found when members of parliament are publicly defending the individual who has been convicted by suggesting they are in actual fact, the victim by virtue of their own protected characteristics, as Crispin Blunt attempted to do in his (now retracted) statement identifying the prosecution of the politician as “nothing short of an international scandal, with dreadful wider implications for millions of LGBT+ Muslims around the world."

Although relieved of his whip by the conservative party, Imran Ahmad Khan was able to remain a member of parliament pending sentencing. He elected to resign in order to focus on appealing the conviction, not as a result of good conscience.

As a social worker, as a human being, just as anyone with even a shred of common decency would, I find it abominable that a member of parliament can be charged with such a heinous crime; yet retain such an honoured position (unless they deign to resign themselves) on the proviso that they receive a “Custodial sentence of less than 12 months”.

This, in my (overstated) opinion is akin to condoning the actions of a predator. The length of sentence does not determine the impact of the crime on the victim. The sentencing decision does not determine the level of depravity that should be tolerated in government. It’s time that our leaders condemned such abhorrent criminality with absolute certainty instead.

As a social worker, as a human being, just as anyone with even a shred of common sense might, I do also find myself incensed that we can be removed from our posts, the paramount purpose of which is to protect children from harm, without ever having broken a law, by comparison.

My profession has highlighted to me time and time again the staggering way in which legislation lags behind the times when it comes to protecting some of the most vulnerable in our society.

The institution of our government is dawdling in an even more damaging way on this front. Until 2015 there was virtually no process to remove an elected MP who had committed a crime, which on reflection,  might just go some way to explaining the actions of MPs who have for far too long benefitted from impunity.

As is all too common of present day politics, this is not an isolated incident.

Fifty six MP’s are currently under investigation due to allegations of sexual misconduct. The run down of alleged wrong-doing reads as though it would belong on the charge sheet of an out of control stag party, as opposed to the offices from which the very legislation, guidance and policy that have been broken originate.

Considering this in line with my own experience of working within local government, and as any social worker who has worked within a local authority for more than 18 months will have experienced; the solution to toxic work place environments tends not to be addressing the underlying culture, but to roll out a restructure (because changing the name of a team achieves this, apparently).

With this in mind does anyone find themselves wondering if it’s about time central government had one?

Yeah, me too.

(Written 19th April 2022).