Michael Gove’s speeches are refreshing. The UK cabinet office minister quotes Gramsci and W.H. Auden. He doesn’t use terms like “zap”, “slightly bonkers” and “squash the sombrero”. He demands to be taken seriously. “Politicians like me,” Mr Gove said in his Ditchley annual lecture last month, “must take responsibility for the effect of their actions and the consequences of their announcements.”
It’s an interesting idea, and I wonder what it means in practice. Let’s imagine a group of politicians — call them Vote Leave — promise we can leave the EU and still have “free trade with minimal bureaucracy”. Let’s imagine that, four years later, the government builds a 27-acre lorry park in Kent, for customs checks after the Brexit transition period ends in January. Let’s imagine the government estimates that customs declarations alone will cost companies £7bn a year. That's £135m a week.
This is minimal bureaucracy in the same way that Britain has a minimal coronavirus death toll. What was it Mr Gove said? “Politicians like me must take responsibility.” Yet, when asked about Brexit preparations last Sunday, he replied: “Some of the criticism has come — how can I put this? — there’s an element of Captain Hindsight
From the FT
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