UK Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has admitted he’s not as clever as a general, but he has a clever line in self-deprecation which some of his puffed-up Cabinet colleagues might do well to emulate.
Since getting the job last month, Bob’s been under a lot of attack on the grounds that intellectually he’s not up to the job.
Now he’s come out with some ju-jitsu manouevres in which he agrees with his critics.
“I don’t pretend to be able to write a great thesis or doctorate – I have no pretensions in that direction. I don’t try to second guess decisions that are quite properly taken in the military chain of command.
“But I’ll tell you what I do have. I have a good feel for ordinary people, for politics and those are my strengths. I understand, I hope instinctively, where many of our Armed Forces come from.”
Not quite the thoughts you’d ever hear from Mandelson, Burnham, Purnell, Harman or the rest of the crew who manage to look so pleased with themselves when on the public stage.
But maybe Bob’s got it right and his candid approach will play well with the public and his party. There could be a good market in former car factory production line workers with strong Midland accents, dropped aitches
and dodgy moustaches.
2 Comments
It’s about time Bob Ainsworth got himself a decent write up. He is afterall a decent person, from a decent working class background that represents the decent people of this country. I think he is a brave man to take on the challenges within the MoD at this difficult time for the Government.
Bob Ainswoth is just another socialist tit on the make, up to his neck in sleaze and corruption just like the rest of his rotten party, make no mistake about that. Very much out of his depth I suspect and soon to be launched from his rotten, corrupt party for his recent comments, but by then he’ll have trousered a huge ammount of taxpayers money (just like the rest of them) and will ride off into the sunset unscathed.