Bob's Blogroll

THAT MAN THERE!

Should you be the head of a very large company with a multi-billion pounds annual budget then surely your first requirement for a director of company finance would be someone with previous experience, appropriate qualifications and training would it not?

What do the following people have in common - Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and George Osborne?  Yes, they all have held or hold the great office of state of Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Brown, son of a humble Scottish protestant minister, his qualifications amounted to a history degree.

Darling, grandson of a Scottish Tory lord, graduated with an LL B and practised law.

Osborne, son of a landed hereditary lord with a large Irish estate, graduated with a 2:1 in history.  Never had a proper job as he became a researcher for the Tory party at the ripe old age of twenty three prior to becoming an MP - no experience of the real world.

Have you, dear reader, spotted what they have in common?  Yes all have been Chancellors of the Exchequer and none have even remotely distinguished themselves in that post.  Ah yes, something else, none of them have had any financial experience nor qualifications for that exalted and very responsible post.  One would like to think that having the responsibility for the nation's finances then some degree of financial nouse would have been an essential qualification especially when their remit is to ensure the financial stability of UK plc which obviously has the largest budget in the country.

Qualifications?  Experience?  Financial acumen?  You must be joking, none, zilch, zero, bugger all.  Even I am better qualified than these trustees of the nation's finances as at least I have a First in Business Administration which includes a sound grounding in of finance & accounting, management accounting and economics both micro and macro.

All of this reminds me of an old apocryphal army tale which goes something mike this:  Sergeant enters barrack room and demands "Right you lot, who knows anything about music?"  A little thin, reedy educated voice piped up and said "Me, Sergeant."  The NCO looked this poor little squaddy up and down, then said "Right that man, get yourself to the Sergeant's mess and move the bloody piano!" 

A similar set of criteria would seem to apply in selecting a Chancellor - no wonder the country is in the state that it is.