Ministers Alok Sharma and Oliver Dowden’s sole purpose is to know nothing, and they’re proud of it
It’s just 10 days until Christmas and we are still none the wiser about almost anything to do with the coronavirus restrictions or Brexit. But then in the Commons we had two cabinet ministers whose sole purpose is to know nothing. And, what’s more, they are proud of it. You might have thought their sense of futility would have kicked in by now, but I guess they both still get a thrill out of playing with the electric windows in their shiny ministerial limos.
First up was Alok Sharma, secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, at departmental questions. Which is in itself an oxymoron as Sharma, one of the nicer ministers you could hope to meet, has never knowingly given a direct answer to anything. And today was no exception, as he had clearly decided, after waffling on for a few minutes about green energy that might happen in 2030 at the earliest, to give himself a break and let his junior ministers do most of the heavy lifting on Covid payouts and companies, such as British Airways, firing and rehiring employees.
