Stephen Tall

What links Jeremy Hunt and Peter Lilley? (Tip: If you’re not sure who they are, that’s the clue.)

By | Wed 9th July 2014 - 9:12 pm

Who’s the most famous cabinet minister? And who’s the least famous? That’s what YouGov set out to find out by inviting its representative sample of the public to type in the name, unprompted, of the post-holder of six senior cabinet positions. Here’s what they found…

identifiable cabinet ministers - yougov

So Iain Duncan Smith (36% correctly naming him as Work and Pensions secretary) and Jeremy Hunt (28% as health secretary) are the least famous cabinet members. Though, to be honest – like John Rentoul and with due respect to Mike Smithson – I’m actually quite impressed by how high all the figures are. Another happy consequence, perhaps, of fixed-term parliaments and the stability of coalition governments.

The YouGov survey reminded me of Conservative secretary of state for social security Peter Lilley’s classy response to his Labour shadow, Donald Dewar, 22 years ago:

lilley dewar

* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.

Read more by or more about , , , , , or .
This entry was posted in Polls.
Advert

4 Comments

  • Simon 10th Jul '14 - 12:27pm

    So no Lib Dems are well known? Or is it that Lib Dems dont get the most important jobs?

  • simon F 10th Jul '14 - 7:47pm

    So is that why you all abstained during the Jeremy Hunt vote? Just didn’t know who he is? I still never have received an actual explanation about that…

  • Tim13 10th Jul '14 - 7:54pm

    Admittedly, Stephen, some of those who have “passed on” almost automatically receive praise and positive comment, but Donald Dewar has gained almost hero status in some quarters. I can’t imagine Peter Lilley achieving that!

  • Passing through 11th Jul '14 - 3:03pm

    ” Another happy consequence, perhaps, of fixed-term parliaments and the stability of coalition governments.”

    I’m not sure the fact that the likes of Gove and IDS have been allowed to stay in position long enough to become widely recognised could be described as a “happy consequence”.

    I believe the country would be much better of if those two had been quietly put out to pasture 3 years ago. Still I live in hope that IDS at least will get peddled on Monday.

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • colin murfin
    There are numerous untried ways to generate more tax Heres a few 1. Change NIC for employers to a tiered system like PAYE ie 0% for low paid 200% for hi...
  • Ernest
    I agree. We need to explain the bases of liberal democracy. To build a fair,free and open society with the values of liberty, equality and community and to w...
  • Tim
    It just isn't true to say we used to tax the rich more. The richest 1% now pay more than twice the proportion of income tax that they did in the 1970s. Although...
  • PM
    "the general public perception that somehow the BoE Base Rate is linked to the cost of borrowing" This is because it is. The banks can always ...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    Jana - I like it. It is addressing the issue practically. The pitch is never empty and the operator loses nothing. The harder part comes later. Rules, even cont...