Mediocracy scores over democracy every time

There was a time, in the middle of the last century, when most Labour politicians's vison of a modern Great Britain was of a meritocracy, driven forward by the brightest and best to a future fuelled, in Harold Wilson's words, by "white hot technology".
The 21st century version espoused by Nu Labour is a mediocracy driven, but not necessarily forward, by the un-elected and State empowered into a future of unorecedented energy dependency and technological poverty.
In Nu labour's ideal universe, the cream no longer rises to the top but is driven to the bottom of the bottle by the sheer weight of mediocrity. The latest manifestation of this approach is the promotion of Alan Johnson to the position of Home Secretary. Now, granted that Jack Straw has split the former Ministry into two and siphoned off the most interesting bits - as he sees it - into a new and Orwellian sounding Ministry of Justice. But, the rump is of sufficient importance to the current and future welfare of the country to demand that the Home Secretary be someone with talent, strength and, above all, a real sense of duty to the British people.
Gordon Brown's first appointee, the remarkably talentless and charmless Jacqui Smith, should have given us a clue to his thinking. She used the post mainly as a way of funding her domestic living arrangements but, importantly from Gordon Brown's point of view, did nothing that went against her master's wishes. When Johnson's appointment was announced there were quite a few pundits who regarded it as a positive step, principally because he satisfied the main criterion, i.e. not being Jacqui Smith.
Prior to his recent appointment, Johnson's performance as a Minister has been ordinary in the extreme. The only time he was faced with a big decision - to bring Pubic Servants' retirement age in line with the private sector - he caved in at the first hint of Union pressure. This lack of bottom did not seem to damage his prospects in the least. He managed to avoid breaking anything during his tenure as Minister for Health so, even though he signally failed to get to grips with major issues such as MRSA and the bloated NHS beaurocracy, he was regarded as a safe pair of hands. His reward has been to be asked to occupy one of the great seats of State. So far, his performance has failed to reach even the modest levels of mediocrity we have come to expect from incumbents of the Home Office.
He blithely informed the Home Affairs Committee that he " didn't lose any sleep over the prospect of the population of the UK growing to 70 million". Echoing most of his peers, he referred to the benefits of multi-culturalism and how it had transformed Britain into a "vibrant" culture. As he was saying this, other beaurocrats were preparing to publish figures that showed unemployment at its highest level for 14 years. Coupled with the recent disclosure that the bulk of the 1 million new jobs created since Labour came to power had gone to recent arrivals from overseas, it demonstrated either an unforgiveable lack of sensitivity to the plight of the British unemployed (whose interests he is supposed to champion) or, and marginally worse, a genuine ignorance or understanding of the bigger picture.
The latter is the more logical interpretation following Johnson's abject performance in the House of Commons yesterday. By all accounts, he was casual to the point of insolence, appeared ill-briefed and, at one point, admitted that his lack of legal training meant that he struggled to grasp many of the finer legal points. Here's bit of advice Mr Johnson; one that anyone who has ever worked in business either learns rapidly or falls by the wayside. Before you present anything, if there is something you don't fully understand , grab hold of someone who does and get them to explain it to you in words of one syllable. Do not go into any situation ill-prepared, poorly briefed and without a sure handle on the most important issues. Falling back on the "I am just a poor boy from a working-class background" defence , simply won't work at this level.
The fact that Johnson decided he could wing it suggests one of two things: Either he is so lacking in genuine intellectual ability that he simply doesn't realise the depth of his own ignorance. Or, he is so contemtuous of Parliament that, in common with most of his Labour peers, he feels no real need to prepare before he faces questions in the House. Either way, he has proven, once again that, in this administration, mediocrity is the only benchmark aspiring ministers need to aim for.