Blunkett, D. and Flinders, M. orcid.org/0000-0003-3585-9010 (2021) The privilege of public service and the dangers of populist technocracy : a response to Michael Gove and Dominic Cumming’s 2020 Ditchley annual lecture. British Politics, 16 (1). pp. 1-15. ISSN 1746-918X
Abstract
On 27 June 2020, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove, gave the Ditchley Annual Lecture on the theme of ‘the privilege of public service’. Although the fact that it took place in the context of the broader Coronavirus crisis meant that it received relatively little publicity or attention, the central argument of this article is that the lecture provides great insight into the ideas shaping government policy, in general, and into the inner mind of Dominic Cummings, in particular. As such, we argue that although the lecture was given by Michael Gove, it was clearly floating ideas and themes that were taken, almost directly, from Dominic Cummings’ website. We draw out and explore these themes and suggest that what they combine to offer is a dangerous blend of technocratic populism that is as intellectually splintered as it is politically naïve.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Springer Nature Limited. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in British Politics. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Populism; Technocracy, Governance; Cummings; Whitehall; Expertise |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Politics and International Relations (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 30 Nov 2020 07:47 |
Last Modified: | 04 Feb 2022 16:02 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Nature |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1057/s41293-020-00148-2 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:168522 |