An incisive Minister
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Our Parliamentary correspondent profiles Transport Secretary Tom King
THE ADVENT of new Transport Secretary Tom King to Marsham Street has done wonders for the morale of hard-pressed civil servants.
For at least the last 18 months of the last Thatcher Government, there had been widespread speculation that his predecessor, David Howell, was set for the chop, partly because everything he had touched as a Cabinet Minister had turned to dust — pit closures, the handling of the increase in weight of heavy lorries, and finally the Serpell Report on railway financing.
There was no surprise when he departed (little lamentation either) and a certain relief when Mr King was appointed.
In Thatcherite terms he is not "one of us" but he is certainly one of the most competent of Ministers. His lack of total devotion to the cause probably delayed his elevation to the Cabinet, which was recognised on all sides as well overdue.
His move from Environment to Transport would have been seen as a demotion after six months in the job were it not for the fact that the Department of Transport has now taken on aviation and shipping.
The one facet of his character that is filling his civil servants with relief is his incisiveness and his ability to take a decision. This is in sharp contrast to Mr Howell, whose inability to take decisions was the despair of his colleagues. A good example of this came just before the summer recess when Mr King finally abandoned what even Tories believed was the ill-thought-out proposal to privatise the heavy goods vehicle testing stations by selling them to Lloyd's Register of Shipping.
Negotiations had been dragging on for months when Mr King took over. He had a look at the figures and when he quickly realised it would cost the Government money rather than save cash he immediately cried "halt", even though he admitted he did not know everything about the testing stations.
But at least the decision was taken, although it left many people wondering why it had taken so long to reach that decision.
There will be high hopes that his ability to get to the heart of the matter will be reflected in the coming months, particularly with regard to the Serpell proposal to allow rural rail services to be converted to bus services.
Mr King himself is not one of the wealthiest Cabinet members, but he certainly has an eye for a good investment. A number of years ago he put £250 into a plastics insulation company. If he were to sell his stake in the company now he would receive more than £200,000 an astonishing return of almost 9,000 per cent.
He is also a shareholder in a stockbroking firm and used to be a director in a Bristol drinks firm. As relaxation he likes to get on to the ski slopes.