Unthinkable? Ministers who know their stuff

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/11/unthinkable-ministers-who-know-their-stuff

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The former children's laureate Michael Rosen could be on to something. Mr Rosen's view that the new culture secretary Sajid Javid ought to be knowledgeable about culture has been mocked. It may seem obvious for condescending insiders to dismiss such suggestions as naive. A lot of people, though, will think Mr Rosen's view is common sense. What is wrong with knowing your field? No one wants a gifted amateur, still less an ungifted one, to conduct hospital operations, to give university lectures, to defend murder suspects or to be placed in charge of a nuclear submarine. Much better, surely, to give such jobs to people who know what they are doing. So why ignore that same rule in government? On that basis, there may even be an entire government-in-waiting on the back benches at Westminster consisting of people who actually know their business. Would a cabinet that fielded, for example, Conservative GP Dr Sarah Wollaston as health secretary, Labour benefits expert Kate Green at work and pensions, Lib Dem barrister Sir Menzies Campbell as justice minister, ex-diplomat Rory Stewart as foreign secretary, former lecturer Barry Sheerman at education, former parachute regiment officer Dan Jarvis at defence or successful entrepreneur Margot James as business secretary be significantly more lightweight than the current team? If practical experience were made a precondition for ministerial appointment, politicians might regain what, with the exception of office, they crave most of all – respect.