The government's agenda
Commentators have speculated on what might be the ideology that drives Boris Johnson’s government since its December election victory. They ask if it will be pragmatic, free market, or ‘one nation’ Toryism. Most seem convinced that it will strive to consolidate the support of the new Tory voters who ‘lent’ their votes to deliver Brexit, and maybe to reject Jeremy Corbyn and what he stood for, and to help Boris Johnson break through Labour’s ‘red wall’ by doing so.
Even though we are still early into the new government and the new cabinet, there are clear signs that point to the direction it will take. It will be tightly controlled from 10 Downing Street. Not since Peter Mandelson established total control of Labour's output in the 1990s have the actions of individual ministers been subject to such close oversight. The No. 10 machine has objectives it seeks to achieve, and wants to control the levers that must be pulled to successfully bring them about. The PM's top adviser, Dominic Cummings, knows where he wants the country to go, and is putting in place the mechanisms that will enable it to be taken there.
The ideology that can deliver on its election promises and help the government to be re-elected is one calculated to improve the country and the lives of its citizens. It is a problem-solving approach that will attempt to put right as many things that are perceived to be wrong in modern Britain as it can. It will identify the areas in which what happens falls short of what is sought or expected, and introduce measures designed to fix those shortcomings.
Commuter train journeys are in some cases overcrowded, unreliable and expensive, so the government will bring in. measures to improve them. Many young people cannot afford to start on the pathway to home-ownership because there are not enough affordable homes in places where people want to live. The government will take steps to redress this by increasing the supply of housing to address the shortfall. NHS waiting times, whether for GP appointments, A&E treatment, or hospital treatment, are seen to be too long. The government will act to shorten them. Parts of the UK have not shared in the economic success of Southeast England. The government will seek to have them participate in the economic expansion of the nation.
There is a whole series of problems, most of them real, but some perceived rather than real. If the government is to address these systematically and successfully, it needs to avoid virtue-signalling, showy initiatives that sound good and attract media coverage, but which fall well short of what is needed to fix the problem. What are needed are real, practical solutions that work in the real world, ones that enhance choices and opportunities rather than attempt to impose grandiose top-down schemes.
The UK does have problems, and could use a government whose ideology is to fix them. It now falls upon right-thinking people to research policy initiatives that can enable them to do that successfully.