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Saturday September 27, 2008

Kelly Quits


One of the wonders on my return from Borneo was discovering that Gordon Brown had neither quitted government nor been admitted to a psychiatric wing. So far so surprising. Meanwhile one of his goody two shoes, right hand women, Ruth Kelly, had thrown in the towel, and frankly could you blame her? As transport minister I’m not sure how effective she proved to be but at least Kelly could make a competent address and made a reasonable fist of things on BBC TV’s Question Time. There have been all sorts of mutterings about the transport secretary in the press particularly her Opus Dei Catholic leanings which made supporting the government’s human fertilization and embryology bill difficult, and her problems juggling family life and politics. It is implied in certain press camps that she had found supporting Gordon Brown’s policies increasingly onerous. Who knows, but news of her resignation eclipsed poor old Gordie’s speech at the Labour Party conference, and seemed to confirm a poor track record for Gordie with his key wimmin supporters. Kelly follows in the footsteps of Siobhan MacDonagh, Joan Ryan and Fiona Mactaggart. Perhaps, contrary to what the latest survey has argued, these bright sparks might have preferred to work for a woman boss after all. That’s if there was one available.



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