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Lady Astor as a female celebrity, Lansley’s gamble with the NHS and the coalition’s plans for education are among your letters this month

Letter of the month wins Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge’s new book Brownat10

Lady Astor may have “lacked a

The courage of Astor Lady Astor may have “lacked a political philosophy” and not been “an especially effective MP” but that would make her no worse than most of her male colleagues (History, TP, Dec). She was certainly a courageous woman. Women’s representation matters! Politicians who make decisions on our behalf should be representative of the population as a whole.

All the evidence is that the only way to significantly increase the numbers of women in Parliament is to use positive action. Without the suffragettes and the legislation that followed, Lady Astor would never have been an MP. Without Labour’s all-women shortlists before 1997, women would not have made the breakthrough they did.

The Fawcett Society identified the four cs that make it hard for women to be MPs – culture, childcare, cash and confidence. After 13 years as an MP, I would single out the culture of Parliament as still the greatest turn off for women. Sandra Osborne MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and chair of the equalities APPG Female celebrity Dr David Stack captured the essential essence of a female celebrity of her day, Lady Nancy Astor. Her assent (or descent) into the male club that the House of Commons represented was a parliamentary watershed in 1919, but also a remarkable personal accomplishment for a Christian Scientist born in the United States.

towards MPs, has left us with what her biographers often call ‘Astorisms’. Her interjections in the House of Commons have made it difficult to take her seriously and

Nancy Astor’s wit, particularly towards MPs, has left us with what her biographers often call ‘Astorisms’. Her interjections in the House of Commons have made it difficult to take her seriously and Dr Stark, quite rightly, concentrates on the rather unfulfilled nature of her political career. Like others in the inter-war period, Lady Astor’s career was set back by support for the appeasement of Germany. She could cause offence in outbursts in Parliament and she was encouraged, particularly by her family, to stand down as a parliamentary candidate in 1945. Martin Thornton Senior Lecturer, School of History University of Leeds

Lansley’s ‘redisorganising’ It is virtually universally agreed that Lansley’s NHS reforms are reckless, ill-conceived and unnecessary (Hawkins, TP, Dec). The NHS is undermined by meddling politicians who endlessly ‘redisorganise’ at huge cost and without any noticeable gain. The fact that our system of government gives ministers unbridled licence to restructure complex systems about which they know little and have even less experience of managing, is surely something to be challenged and discouraged. Even Andrew Adonis, one of Blair’s more zealous reformers, concedes with hindsight that sustainable reform is only possible if pursued incrementally and with the support of the professions. The NHS has its defects but these do not amount to a convincing case for its replacement. David J Hunter

Director of Health Policy and Management, Durham University

Shallow on education Your article on education reforms that contrasted the views of David Evennett and Pat Glass exposed the total shallowness of the coalition government’s approach to what is needed in our education system. Nobody can refute the need for our country to have its future citizens educated to the highest standards possible if the UK is to have any

Caption competition

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National Theatre. Tickets are valid for Monday – Thursday performances only until 28/2/2011, subject to availability.

National Theatre. Tickets are valid for Monday – Thursday performances only until 28/2/2011, subject to availability.

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Last month’s winner “Cameron expostulates as Sarkozy claims victory in the Rock, Paper, Scissors competition and seizes the UK share of the EU budget as his prize.” David Hill

A pair of tickets for Birdsong at the Comedy Theatre are on their way to you.

4 | Total Politics | January 2011 long term chance of maintaining its standards of living and peaceful democracy in an increasingly overcrowded and competitive world. However, devoid of any real solutions or commitment to equality, the Conservatives erect the usual straw men supposedly blocking the way towards educational nirvana. Our communities must take responsibility and care for the education of their children through democratic accountability, and the national curriculum (introduced by the Conservatives) safeguards the opportunities for all children to learn. Encouraging any Tom, Dick and Harry organisation to set up a school which will receive state funding risks a provision nightmare. I weep for those schools now never to be rebuilt in the foreseeable future because of the axing of the Building Schools for the Future initiative. It is tragic that so many children will miss out. Fabian Hamilton Labour MP for Leeds North East Chair of the APPG on education

Duncan’s reminder Alan Duncan’s useful reminder of the importance of investments in governance is laudable (TP, Dec). While DFID has emerged with a ringfenced budget, David Cameron has stressed that the UK’s development strategy needs to support UK interests and cross-government priorities. Many have expressed concerns over this, but it could provide opportunities to look at how departments work together. Research by ODI’s Politics and Governance team looks at UK support to political parties in developing countries. We find that governance support can be strengthened by including political parties alongside other political actors. DFID and the FCO have often operated independently – this new emphasis may provide space for a substantive debate on how they can better work together in areas like governance. Leni Wild Research Fellow ODI Politics and Governance Programme

Losing lustre

Ben Duckworth on the leader losing the golden touch and another trying to find it

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What will 2011 mean for politics in this country? We have struggling leaders, both inside and outside government, and many challenges and conflicts to come.

Inside this January issue you will find regular columnist and ComRes chairman Andrew Hawkins on p10 discussing how Nick Clegg has lost his lustre – and it’s all because of his success during the general election campaign. His one-time leadership rival, Chris Huhne, is one of a number of coalition government ministers busily creating a packed legislative timetable. Caroline Crampton, who has recently joined the TP team, writes her first piece examining how his Energy Security and Green Economy Bill is going to work in practice. You’ll also find the second of Alex Stevenson’s investigations into how the government is operating on p34 with his questioning of whether this fervent activity will create good government.

Our cover feature is Caroline Lucas (p20) – the Green Party leader and its first and only MP in the House of Commons. Lucas claims the Commons is “undemocratic” and has already published a report detailing how to make it a more efficient place. She is very clear on where she sees her party’s vote growing from –disaffected Lib Dem voters. Lucas is not afraid of picking fights with far larger opponents, whether rival parties or institutions.

On the other side of the political spectrum, Iain Dale travelled up to Cambridge to interview Simon Heffer (p38), the DailyTelegraph columnist who is taking a sabbatical (while continuing to write for the paper) at his old university. Being away from London is challenging his opinions apparently, but he hasn’t experienced a sudden conversion. He’s well-known as a UKIP supporter, but will his prediction of success for Nigel Farage really come true? That’s been said for many elections now.

IPSA (cue pantomime hisses and real frustration from MPs) also breaks cover on p26. Board member Ken Olisa talks to us about why MPs shouldn’t need to sleep in their offices and how some mistakes were inevitable because of the rapid creation of the watchdog. The recent debate on IPSA in Parliament highlighted the gulf that remains between IPSA and MPs.

On top of all that, you’ll find characters ranging from Thomas Paine to Adam Boulton throughout our regular sections.

editor@totalpolitics.com

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January 2011 | Total Politics | 5