• By "demoting" Paul Channon from Secretary of State for
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Trade and Industry to Secretary of State for Transport, Mrs Thatcher has underlined again the disdain she apparently feels for our industry. Being sent to Marsham Street has almost become the Cabinet equivalent of a posting to Siberia.
Everybody and everything needs stability to flourish. Change for change's sake is confusing in the short term, and destructive in the long term. Channon will be transport's sixth Secretary of State since Mrs T came to power in 1979, giving the Marsham Street supremos an average job expectancy of just 16 months in the hot seat. Does anyone remember Tom King's whirlwind tour at the helm in 1983?
Why should transport be so lowly regarded? It is certainly not because the subject matter is too easy to grasp. Shipping, international aviation, aerospace, road freight and PSV are all complex subjects which require patience and perspicacity to understand. Nor is it because nothing ever happens. Flogging off British Airways, deregulating the bus industry and peering into the murky waters of our cross-Channel ferry industry have all been headline topics; controversial enough to keep even the most publicity-conscious Transport Secretary in the limelight.
Could it be that Mrs T thinks we are an unimportant service industry? That would be a surprising twist. After all, she frequently tells us that Britain's future prosperity is closely allied to the service sector.
The most likely solution is that Mrs T does not think that transport is all that important because we do not tell her differently. Self-belief is important to a conviction politician like the Prime Minister. Our timely guide to the lobbying business this week shows how hard the industry is trying to convince the Government that we are important. The Freight Transport Association's David Green says that improving the status of the Secretary of State is vital because it will lead to a wider recognition of the importance of transport.
Our parliamentary correspondent tells us that there is surprise in the House of Commons that Channon has been kept on by the Prime Minister: apparently he had been widely tipped for the chop. Perhaps Mrs Thatcher has decided to keep him on for a few months before sacking him, just to keep the DTp in its seemingly normal state of flux. It remains a great mystery why the Prime Minister did not do something sensible for a change at the DTp and promote Peter Bottomley to Secretary of State. He has been an able and conscientious minister, and he has taken an encouraging interest in road safety.
We would like to be able to say that affable John Moore, reported to be a "Thatcher favourite," is leaving the DTp in a shower of glory. Unfortunately, there is nothing to say, good or bad. He has not really achieved anything. We will have to wait to see what the next "temp" brings to the office.