The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #73264 Message #1287306
Posted By: DMcG
03-Oct-04 - 06:57 AM
Thread Name: BS: NON-Partisan political comments
Subject: RE: BS: NON-Partisan political comments
I don't know how many people outside the UK know who Robin Cook MP is, but he was a member of this government before resigning over Iraq and is now just an ordinary MP.
I heard a lecture from him in about 1996 on political structures and he was complaining about the UK system in which whoever wins Parliament has in effect absolute control (at least if the margin is significant). His basic point was that we think of strong government as one that can force through decisions simply because of the majority, even though come the next election if the other side wins they can force through completely opposing decisions. The result is that, taking a view over several changes of leadership there has been substantial occillation and very little of anything that you could call settled progress. "And I am sick of that kind of strong government" was one of the lines that stuck in my memory. Real strong government comes when, for whatever reason, all sides sign up, in the main, to a point of view; rather like LH's suggested 2/3 majority. Yes, it would be much more difficult to get anything done, but whatever was done would have a much better chance of surviving long term.