Would society benefit if the same requirements for openness and accountability demanded of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) were applied to the Cabinet? Ditto Labour Party membership when it comes to the proceedings of the Party's National Executive Committee and its sub-committees?
This stream of consciousness was prompted by news that according to the minutes of the last MPC, the Governor of the Bank of England wanted to pump more money into the economy through quantitative easing (printing money to you and me) than the majority of the Committee. Thanks to the minutes we know their names and which way each MPC member voted. I have already written in my Tribune expose of the Labour Party NEC that all votes should be recorded by name both at the NEC and its sub-committees. But what about cabinet government itself? Are our politics better for a cabinet appearing to be united when in practice the opposite is often true?