Blame it on the 'junior researcher'

When political parties find themselves in an embarrassing mess, blame is usually pinned on a ‘junior’ person within their own ranks.

Over the summer the Tories issued an apology to an NHS Trust after claiming it was part of planned cuts, only to then say it had been sent in error by a ‘junior researcher’. When Chris Huhne’s Lib Dem leadership team issued a leaflet with the catchy title ‘Calamity Clegg’, Huhne reacted in horror, saying it had been the handiwork of ‘an over-zealous young researcher’ (but taking responsibility of course). And then most recently – and most seriously - the government says the loss of data HM Revenue and Customs can be traced back to the incompetence of ‘a junior official’.

The suggestion seems to be that these so-called ‘junior’ officials are permitted to an extraordinary amount while escaping the radar of their boss (or boss’ boss…depending on how junior they are): issuing apologies on behalf of their party, write pamphlets and handle extremely sensitive material.

Either the politicians are showing bad judgement by allowing such inexperienced people such levels of responsibility. Or, as is more likely, the people blamed for the gaffes might not be as junior as their masters make them out to be once the crisis has hit. Saying an error was caused by a ‘senior official’ places it uncomfortably close to whoever’s in charge; blaming a ‘junior’ official distances them from the incident, implying that they were much too busy and important to know what a mere underling was up to.

Declaring that ‘I take full responsibility’ but then throwing in the ‘it was an inexperienced junior researcher’ just looks ridiculous. Maybe politicians of all parties need to ‘get a grip’.

Comments

[Stan Rosenthal]

Oh come off it, Ed. How can any Minister be expected to know the operational detail of the hundreds if not thousands of civil servants working under him? According to your logic Alistair Darling should have reviewed the disc delivery procedures the moment he took office and perhaps should have delivered those two discs himself just to make sure.