Opinion
Carole Cadwalladr: Norman Lamont was the only qualified Chancellor (er, I think that's what she's saying)
May 17, 2010 07:431 min read
There's a good piece to be written on the absence of women in government. But Carole Cadwalladr's ridiculous piece in the Obsever isn't it.
Ms Cadwalladr's argument rests on her dislike - and that appears to be putting it mildly - of George Osborne:
Why are there so few female politicians? Why do so few women bother
to claw their way to the top? I mean who wouldn't want this? The
"reason" there are few women in this cabinet, we are told, just four
out of a total of 29, is because there aren't any women to choose from.
And the ones there are, just aren't up to the job. They're
insufficiently talented, they don't have the experience.It's why Theresa May was a "surprise" appointment. Or as the Telegraph
put it: "She strikes the only clunky note so far." Which is hilarious
when you consider that this is a cabinet that contains George Osborne.
Because this is as opportune a moment as any to run through George
Osborne's economic experience in full: he doesn't have any. And to
enumerate the number of jobs he's had in business/the City/finance:
none. And his relevant educational qualifications? Zero.
Consider
this: I am as qualified to be chancellor as George Osborne. Which I
don't know about you, but it scares the hell out of me. I can't even
manage my personal finances. But then, actually, we have this in
common, Osborne can't either. It's his wife who arranged their
mortgage. And, interestingly for a father of two, in his late 30s,
who's poised to be in charge of our £163bn deficit, he got his daddy to
act as his guarantor. And let's not even get into the accidental
"flipping" of his second home.
Don't bother with the rest of the piece. It's the same ignorant drivel.
Might I wonder if Ms Cadwalladr has examined the 'qualifications' of Mr Osborne's predecessors as Chancellor?
Alistair Darling: a supporter of the International Marxist Group, the British section of the Trotskyist Fourth Internation; solicitor then advocate.
Gordon Brown: TV journalist
Ken Clarke: barrister
Norman Lamont: investment banker.
Aha! An investment banker. I'm sure we can look forward to Ms Cadwalladr's next piece arguing that Norman Lamont was the only properly qualified chancellor of the past 18 years.
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