The Queen’s Speech will be just a holding statement, as Whitehall waits for Gordon

There is something comically surreal about the ten-year plans Tony Blair has commissioned across his Cabinet. A Prime Minister who will not last another ten months is asking his Cabinet to agree a strategy in four areas of policy. No one engaged in the process is in any doubt about its futility. Soon Gordon Brown will be prime minister and his own, deeply personal strategy will be the only one that matters. All activity until then is hopelessly cosmetic.

It is in this spirit that ministers are preparing for the Queen’s Speech on 15 November. There was a time under this government when this event would fizz with Blairite energy, as Her Majesty was asked to read out plans for an inordinate amount of legislation, knowing, as we all did, that it could never be fitted into the parliamentary timetable. Now there are barely enough ideas to fill the speech. Each Whitehall department knows that anything substantial will be completely revised when the Chancellor takes over.