Kwasi Kwarteng’s desire to rebrand his Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy reflects the unashamed Thatcherite’s dislike of 1970s corporatism. Yet the Secretary of State privately acknowledges he requires the support of workers and communities to green the economy. Union general secretaries cannily steer clear of using the words “industrial strategy” to avoid inciting Kwarteng in meetings, instead calling it “competitiveness and productivity”. The cabinet minister, who disbanded an Industrial Strategy Council created in 2018 by predecessor Greg Clark, should study from all angles any fresh title when he takes the IS out of BEIS. Tony Blair proposed relaunching the Department of Trade and Industry as the Department of Productivity, Energy and Industry and Science, until Alan Johnson complained that when things went wrong the “n” in Energy would be capped up and he’d be called the PENIS Secretary.
[See also: Commons Confidential: The workers divided]
Content from our partners
