It seems that Tory rising star Stephen Greenhalgh has been a little incautious in his choice of words, according to this trade magazine report of his comments at a recent event.

The Hammersmith & Fulham council leader suggested yesterday on a public podium* that some shadow Cabinet members may not have the experience to run the country.

‘My mates are all in the shadow Cabinet, waiting to get those [ministerial] boxes, being terribly excited. I went to university with them, they haven’t run a piss-up in a brewery,’ he said.

‘They’re going to get a department of state, in one case running the finances of the nation.’

Greenhalgh pointed to other countries, such as France and the US, where members of the government had typically served at a regional level earlier in their careers. ‘If you’re going to fail, fail running Alabama, fail running Texas, fail running the city of Paris – don’t just take over the country.’

Greenhalgh has a national role within the Tory party as head of the Conservative Councils Innovation Unit.

It is possible he may dispute the magazine’s report of his words; he’s not picking up the phone and hasn’t replied yet to an email I sent. If so, I’ll let you know.

Greenhalgh has just responded to me by email:

“I was trying to make a serious point about our current political system that I believe does not prepare national politicians of any party adequately for public office. The point if not the same words was echoed by Geoff Mulgan who worked for Blair in No. 10!

I am a passionate localist and believe we need to reinvigorate local government so that it is a nursery for politicians to hone their skills in public administration. At the moment local government has become largely an agency of Whitehall and a political dead end.”

* A round table event run by Public Finance magazine.

November 27, 2009 5:56pm in Conservatives, UK politics | Comment