When the prime minister taunted Ed Miliband at PMQs about when he would start doing his job, an awkward question was whispered across Westminster. What exactly does the prime minister do? Last week he spent almost three days in Zurich on a failed World Cup bid. Yesterday morning he was on television predicting the football scores. Whitehall is wondering: is this the Beckhamisation of politics?
Prime ministerial time is precious and perhaps it is unwise to squander it in this way. Many ministers are desperate for a few minutes with David Cameron to focus on urgent problems, arguing they could do more productive things with it than winning two Fifa votes. The PM admits he is a chairman and not a chief executive. He is a hands-off PM who lets his cabinet get on with it.
At first this was a relief. It was pleasant not to have a workaholic in No 10. Unlike his predecessor, he has a Bush-like focus on getting enough sleep and is uninterested in calls through the night about next day's newspapers.
After six months of a Cameron government, officials are asking if this hands-off approach is starting to become a problem. The prime minister is slowly getting more involved in the big domestic reform agenda and will shortly complete a round of catch-up meetings. But there are still concerns about whether he is across the detail and implications of what is proposed. Without a team of expert advisers to push departments in the right direction, there is a frightening lack of grip at the heart of government.
After Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, it's strange to have a prime minister so uninvolved in major government business. Some colleagues like his style and argue it gives cabinet ministers the freedom to operate. But when things go very wrong, such as last week on school sports, the lack of grip shows. The issue drags on longer than it should and then, without a blush, a review is ordered and a U-turn prepared. But the jury is out on whether this is relaxed government or bad government.
Labour ran things like a strict classroom, attempting to keep to tight discipline and a detailed lesson plan. In contrast, the coalition is like a hippie commune. Adversarial politics and bloody faction fighting are out. The new politics is about everyone trying to get along and being given the time and space to pursue their projects and sort through their personal issues.
The Lib Dems are the problem children, agonising and worrying but trying to look like serious ministers. Civil servants are aghast and ask why they can't behave like adults and make a decision. There was a moment last week when collective cabinet responsibility almost disappeared. Now the word is that Lib Dem ministers will vote with the government. What is striking is how much they are being indulged. The signs are that there is a lot more of this to come. Civil servants will have to evolve into therapists. Listening and coaxing as we adjust to public ministerial soul searching and meditation before a final decision.
This may mean harmonious politics but it will slow the pace of change. The government's agenda is moving forward at a cracking pace as departments churn out a white paper a week. But with the new year will come the pressures of legislating to make them a reality. This means setting out in parliament the exact detail of the winners, losers and problems. With legislation comes opposition, intense pressure from lobby groups and many, many votes. Whitehall and parliament are bracing themselves for a new kind of negotiation process. The vote on tuition fees is only the beginning.
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