Does Labour need an anti-Cummings?
This is the first post in a new blog, in which I plan to air some political thoughts. Naive ones, no doubt, but there you go. You've got to start somewhere, even at my advanced age. I've been thinking lately about the long road back to power for Labour. And watching PMQs and reading, I admit, mostly the Guardian. One thing I take from all that is the thought (not original with me) that Dominic Cummings has completely centralised government power in No 10, and this is now run in permanent campaign mode. Constant focus groups and data analysis, tight control of minister's statements, micro-targetting of media messages and a relentless focus on short slogans: world-beating, sadly die, schools open, Churchill statues, and so on. Meanwhile the work of Brexit and dismantling our democracy goes in in the shadows. Here's my thought about one way Labour might respond to that. I think there is a need for one senior person in the Party, probably an adviser rather