Okay, so here’s a parlour game full of fun and frolics for all the family – name your top Lib Dem (or predecessor parties) MPs, living or dead, to fill your dream liberal cabinet. Here’s the tougher criterion: your choices must also be team players, capable of hanging together rather than separately, rather than simply brilliantly egotistical individuals (hence my exclusion of Winston Churchill, for example). Feel free to suggest their perfect cabinet positions.
My attempt is below. I’ve doubtless missed out some obvious choices, and misplaced some I’ve chosen. But, still, I can’t help feeling my fantasy liberal cabinet would do a better job than the current one … or the next one, for that matter.
Henry Campbell-Bannerman – Prime Minister
Vincent Cable – Chancellor of the Exchequer
Nick Clegg – Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Roy Jenkins – Home Secretary
Menzies Campbell – Justice
William Beveridge – Work & Pensions
David Lloyd George – Health
Jo Grimond – Education
Chris Huhne – Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
David Steel – Energy and Climate Change
Archibald Sinclair – Transport
Paddy Ashdown – Defence
Shirley Williams – International Development
David Penhaligon – Communities and Local Government
Charles Kennedy – Constitutional Affairs
Jeremy Thorpe – Culture, Media and Sport
David Laws – Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As is customary with the LDV Weekend memes, I’m tagging all Lib Dem bloggers – but especially those who appeared in the most recent Golden Dozen: Mark Littlewood, Stephen Glenn, Mark Valladares, Helen Duffett, Jonathan Wallace, ‘Grumpy Old Liberal’, Andy Darley, ‘Costigan Quist’, Jennie Rigg, Millennium Elephant and David Matthewman.
Share:
23 Comments
Actually you’ve picked a few people who would have been my first choices for the jobs.
Off to do a reshuffle…….and to give Shirley a big promotion:-)
You’ve missed out Business and whatever else accompanies it this week.
Gladstone seems to be missing. Northern Ireland, perhaps?
Surely Asquith and Harcourt deserve top jobs – the exchequer and home office, say?
What about Mark Oaten?
Secretary of State for extreme Sports????
“Must be team players”
Lloyd George ??????
And where’s Henry Du Pre Labouchere?
Where’s Winston?
Ooh fun. Churchill at Defence would be fine, perhaps. Spoilt for choice at Foreign Office, though. Paddy, Ming, Shirley… Would devilishly love to see Mill struggle with Education…
Serious lack of females, you’ve got right there…
to put David Laws above John Maynard Keynes is certainly in the realms of fantasy, without meaning any denigration of our current incumbent.
And Conrad Russell is a must, even without a defined portfolio, if necessary
Campbell Bannerman as PM? Well, he was certainly the least offensive Liberal PM…. I think the public would vote for someone a bit more controversial though? I’m sure they’d love the Lord Palmerston drama
Sorry, I think you’d have to have Paddy as PM – someone would need to control the egos in the cabinet and who better?!
I’d go for Ming at Defence, Jo Grimond at the Scottish Office, and I’d create a new Cabinet level Secretary of State for Europe with CK there.
Conrad Russell as work and pensions spokesman
secretary I mean!
Done: http://miss-s-b.dreamwidth.org/928683.html Never let it be said that I don’t respond to tags.
I’m amused – my fantasy cabinet is whoever our current front bench is, and it’s gradually getting closer to reality by the day!
http://www.irfanahmed.org/2009/06/fantasy-liberal-cabinet.html
“your choices must also be team players, capable of hanging together rather than separately, rather than simply brilliantly egotistical individuals (hence my exclusion of Winston Churchill, for example). ”
Bollocks.
http://tinyurl.com/liberalfantasy
I’m expecting at least a 500 page justification of that crass, ridiculous tossing aside of Churchill. Just mind-blowingly stupid from someone who went to Oxford!
Here’s my stab at it though there are too many people for too few places.
Prime Minister – H.H Asquith
Leader of the House of Commons – Shirley Williams
Chancellor of the Exchequer – John Maynard Keynes
Chief Secretary to the Treasury – Vince Cable
Secretary of State for Health – David Lloyd George
Secretary of State for Education – Nick Clegg
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – Menzies Campbell
Secretary of State for the Home Department – William Beveridge.
Secretary of State for Defence – Paddy Ashdown
Secretary of State for Transport – Archibald Sinclair
Secretary of State for Equality - Lady Violet Bonham Carter/Millicent Garrett Fawcett
Secretary of State for Business – Richard Cobden
Secretary of State for Justice
Lord President of the Council – John Stuart Mill
Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs – Roy Jenkins
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Jo Swinson
Secretary of State for International Development – Susan Kramer
Secretary of State for Human Rights – Jeremy Thorpe
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government - Julia GOldsworthy
Secretary of State for Children – Veronica Linklater
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change – David Steel
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell
Secretary of State for Devolution – William Gladstone
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport – Clement Freud
Secretary of State for Europe – Charles Kennedy
Leader of the House of Lords – Baroness Rosalind Scott
Minister Without Portfolio – Jo Grimond
European Commisioner – Winston Churchill
Minister for the New Technology – Tim Berners-Lee
“Secretary of State for Devolution – William Gladstone”
Nice for you to give him another stab at it, Shilpa! Warf! Warf!
If this is an ideal cabinet, can we have Universities back please, taking it back from Mandelson’s uber-department?