Monday 1 October 2018

Philip Hammond - attention to detail FAIL

From The Independent:

Philip Hammond has launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson, saying he does not expect the former foreign secretary to become prime minister...

He went on to suggest Mr Johnson could not do “grown-up politics”, adding that he had ”no grasp of detail” on complex subjects like Brexit.

The former London’s mayor’s greatest achievement to date had been introducing the “Boris Bike” cycle scheme in the capital, Mr Hammond said.


Those with longer memories and/or who pay attention to detail know that pay-per-use bikes were already available, albeit on a smaller scale, several months before Boris Johnson became Mayor of London. See here or here.

2 comments:

Physiocrat said...

I never thought much of Hammond after, as newly appointed Conservative Secretary of State for Transport, he ignored the recommendations of the Foster review, which criticised the programme for the replacement of the Inter City 125 fleet by the Hitachi Super Express Bi-mode trains (the IEP) and suggested that the project should be abandoned.

The IEP was developed by the Department for Transport under the Labour government, resulting in one of the most expensive trains of its type in the world, under powered and still unable to enter service on the East Coast Main Line due to incompatibility with signalling systems.


http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/Foster_IEPReview2010.pdf

This suggests either unsound judgement or an inability to stand up to civil servants.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Ph, he's not a details man, clearly :-)