Andy Richardson: 'BoJo's unwillingness to listen will be his downfall'
He said it was a mutant algorithm.
It wasn’t. It was an incompetent minister and a PM who didn’t check. That’s what caused heartache for students who were given the wrong A-level results or made to wait for B-TECs. But the idea of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Algorithm is fun – and fun is the one thing Boris can do.
The trouble with Boris, however, is that the line about mutants is wrong. It’s a fudge, a distraction, a lie. He, as leader of the Cabinet, would have been briefed on the risks. The fiasco was avoidable; there were five months to fix it – he didn’t need to wait until Scotland showed him how to get it right.
Boris loves blind loyalty and devotion. Those are more important to him than expertise and competence. So it’s no surprise that two of the experts who were aware of the dangers have gone. Ofqual and the Civil Service are now without the services of two of their most senior officials, while the minister who was oversaw the disaster remains in post. The losers, of course, are us.
Whether it’s Dominic Cummings undermining lockdown or the education minister Gavin A Laugh on results day, whether it’s housing minister Robert Jenrick being compromised or Matt Hancock messing up a track-and-trace system that still doesn’t work; their mistakes don’t matter as long as they worship at the altar of The Sun King. Civil servants or those who sound the warning bell, however, are variously sacrificed or silenced for daring to speak out.
Boris loves to be the superhero, of course. And, no doubt, the kids he visited in Leicester this week will have thought him precisely that; the Mutant Ninja PM here to save the day. What Boris hates is detail and responsibility, transparency and accountability.
It is little surprise, therefore, that the UK is behind the 8-Ball on Brexit negotiations. They have been shoved further and further down the agenda as the clock ticks down and other nations walk away, frustrated by the UK’s intractability.
There’ll be more BoJo U-Turns before the year end as our Prime Minister continues to be caught out by events that are predictable, scheduled and his personal responsibility. It won’t be the evil overlords or mutated creatures that will do it for BoJo – his indifference to detail and unwillingness to listen will eventually be his downfall.
