From Hansard:
John Spellar (Warley, Labour)
Will the Minister generously give way?
Mark Harper (Parliamentary Secretary (Political and Constitutional Reform), Cabinet Office; Forest of Dean, Conservative)
I will probably regret it.
John Spellar (Warley, Labour)
First, as a previous Transport Minister may I tell the hon. Gentleman that the Germans always buy German trains and the French always buy French trains? They make it very clear how they do that. Secondly, going back to police cars, I do not know what he does on a Saturday night but if he watches any of the police series from various European countries, he will notice that if they are from any country that produces cars they always drive their own vehicles. I do not want to get into specifics, but this is about the mindset of our civil service. The French, German, Spanish and Italian civil services back their industry. What is wrong with the culture of our civil service that it is always trying to do British industry down?
Mark Harper (Parliamentary Secretary (Political and Constitutional Reform), Cabinet Office; Forest of Dean, Conservative)
That is a very good point and I will leave it hanging. I have not seen any evidence that our civil servants are always trying to do our industry down. No doubt the right hon. Gentleman will respond by giving me evidence of that on another occasion.
John Spellar (Warley, Labour)
I have always thought that there was precious little to commend Chairman Mao’s misrule in China, but his policy of sending recalcitrant officials back to the countryside for re-education seems to have something to commend it. Would not undertaking a shift in respect of Britain’s manufacturing be salutary for many of our civil servants, who are letting Britain down?
Oh, I see, he means our police should all drive Austin Allegro’s. Well done, that man!
“produces cars” is probably the bit you missed in your urgency to make a trite comment.
The adorable Mr Harper’s just the boy to get a scheme going. A retraining camp such as Mr Spellar proposes would bring much-needed jobs to the Forest of Dean.
But I guess there’s a risk that the unpatriotic civil servants charged with the task would instead set it up instead in Estonia or somewhere even more foreign…
Not sure where to put this example of Tory patriotism so here it is.
Firefighters no pay increase. Fire authority members 25% increase in allowances. Fair play to the tory leader of Somerset Council – he has taken action. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17282869
If Labour ran the Country, we wouldn’t be in this mess!
Doh!