How to be an anti-politics party in government: make the public sector accountable

One of the lessons from last week’s Eastleigh by-election – and indeed the Italian elections – is that voters don’t like politicians at the moment. It’s easy for those like Nigel Farage to mop up this anti-politics sentiment in the same way as Nick Clegg could say before the 2010 election ‘the more they attack each other, the more they sound the same’. But how does the Conservative party try to appeal to those voters fed up with the Establishment of which it is so clearly a part? David Cameron can hardly start attacking himself, after all.

There is one thing that the Tories could do – and which their backbenchers are pushing for – which would at least undermine a sense that the party is tied up in the cosy Establishment. Unfortunately, it’s something the leadership is notably reluctant to do. The government could address accountability in the public sector, rather than letting those involved in poor quality services continue to rise through the ranks.