Cameron’s West Wing?

Fawlty Towers, more like

Yet another “story” has appeared keenly anticipating a “radical” plan by David Cameron to “shake up” Whitehall and turn it into a British “West Wing”. It is unclear whether the Tories are trying to capitalise on the glorious TV series (about a Democratic and idealistic fictional president) — as they did so disastrously with The Wire — or simply usher in images of the real-life Whitehouse. But either way, the plan is unlikely to electrify Britain. From the Telegraph:

“Cabinet ministers could be asked to work side by side in an open-plan office in Whitehall and top civil servants could be renamed chief executives, under Conservative plans for a radical shake-up of the machinery of government.”

And:

“Under one plan, the entire cabinet could be housed in one large open-plan office, with secretaries of state from different government departments sitting side by side.”

And this, which must — through no fault of the respected journalist, who is merely reporting what he has undoubtedly been told by a good Tory source — be a strong contender for Private Eye‘s “Pseuds Corner”:

“The junior ministers would have ‘goals-based’ job titles, such as the minister for obesity reduction, while permanent secretaries would be renamed chief executives, to give their roles a more operational focus.”

All jolly good fun. But somehow, the thought of the Old Etonians Cameron, Oliver Letwin and Sir George Young (about whom the “left-wing” BBC is terribly excited this morning) rushing around Whitehall and Westminster makes one think less of President Obama‘s operation, or even that of Jed Bartlet, and more, say, of Gourmet Night in the legendary Fawlty Towers.

PS: Not for the first or last time, Fraser Nelson, the new editor of the Spectator, disagrees with my verdict on the Cameron set-up. Here is his (doubtless impartial) take:

“To visit Norman Shaw South is to see a political machine whirring beautifully. It is like a British version of The West Wing: the key players walking in and out of their rooms and having 45-second impromptu meetings in the corridor. The Cameroon nerve centre was described to me by one shadow minister as a nest of ‘the wonks, the pros and the pretties’.”