Chuka Umunna today launched a savage attack on what he labelled as Government incompetence over coronavirus, saying Downing Street’s failures were symptomatic of a system where nobody in power had any real professional experience outside of politics.
The former Lib Dem, Labour and Change UK MP, who this week announced he had landed a major role at communications and PR giant Edelman, said: “Ideology is one thing but basic competence is another and I think that the crisis has illustrated there is a competence deficiency in government.”
He added that the lack of proficiency in such fields as logistics – getting equipment to the right places – highlighted a deep rooted problem in the political system.
“Part of the problem is what it takes to gain high office – the art of politics – is quite different to the art of delivery and doing logistical delivery of big projects. What got you to that position is not what you need to do delivery. And these big challenges that covid-19 has thrown up have shown that is a skillset which is in short supply but is so needed.”
He said the government needed to attract the most capable people in different fields to give up working in them for a period and come to work in politics for a period.
“I see less and less people doing that and I think you now have a lack of life experience in government which is not a good thing. It is the nature of modern politics.”
He added the selection procedure in the big parties was “completely biased to award politicos and people who’ve done politics before becoming MPs and it really does narrow the pool of people who end up there.”
Umunna said: “It’s rigged in favour of the status quo,” adding that he doubted the system would change because those benefiting from the status quo would have to change it.
The Remain campaigner also said he was applying for Irish citizenship in order to get EU rights for his family, including his newborn baby daughter.
He added that he would have banned his children from attending the Black Lives Matters demonstrations if they had been teenagers because of the threat of catching or spreading covid. “Not because I didn’t support the cause, of course I did, but I didn’t want them to put their lives in danger for it.”
He pointed out that data showed BAME people were at heightened risk of dying from Covid.
Umunna was a City lawyer for 10 years advising on capital markets deals before going into politics.
He said he had realised while being shadow business secretary that it was possible to do as much good to improve people’s lives through the private sector as in the public sector.
