Westminster blog

Just watched John Major at the public administration committee. The former Tory prime minister hasn’t added much sparkle to his much-satirised monotone delivery.

But Tony Wright, committee chairman, seemed impressed by the open and almost radical nature of his suggestions.

Such as:

a] Cutting the number of MPs to as few as 500 from today’s 646 (this goes much further than David Cameron’s proposal to cut to about 580 MPs)

b] Not letting peer-ministers stay in the House of Lords if they turn out to be a bit useless. (Major singled just three of them for praise: Lord Darzai, Lord Davies and Lord Adonis – not Lord Myners, interestingly). But they could keep their title, he proposed.

c] Letting Lords and MPs speak in both chambers. This could cut the cost of the ministerial payroll by up to a third, he argued.

d] Stop reshuffling so often. Under Major it became an almost annual event “like Christmas or Easter” which happened for the sake of it. Ministers would do a better job if they were allowed to stay in one department for longer.

e] Major also made interesting points about who becomes an MP (not as many former businessmen, farmers or officer – and lots of career politicians).

f] He warned that after a certain period of time, the “gene pool” of talent diminishes because the talented ones have already been through the ministerial sausage machine. That certainly seems true of this government.

UPDATE

I mentioned Sir John’s approval of ministers from outside the Commons. I forgot to mention an intriguing hint of a Lords comeback for the former PM. In a signal that he could yet serve again under a Tory regime, Major said he “never ruled out” entering the Lords if he could make a “significant contribution”. The reason he had not done so was because he had been on a temporary “sabbatical” from politics and spent up to half the year outside the UK.

The Tories – if they form the next government – will certainly have to think hard about where to find their first crop of ministers. Old MPs past their peak? Young MPs with little or no experience?

I was impressed by the honesty of Charles Walker, Tory member of the PAC, who candidly admitted during the committee: “The idea of me running a department, or even part of a department, is quite laughable.” That was because he was a legislator, not a manager, he explained.