Whitehall And Downing Street Chaos.

What a truly explosive day in the heart of Westminster with the evidence given by Dominic Cummings at the select committee hearing. After six hours of non stop watching I was exhausted, so God only knows how Cummings was feeling.

There are several confirming points that came through from the very intense meeting that was awash with accusations and expletives throughout.

We have been saying for many years that Whitehall and the State have become too big. A great lumbering beast sucking the very life out of the country. Confirmed today by the man who started to tackle this incredibly complicated mess that is the Whitehall machine.

The allegations pointed to those in leadership roles within the Civil Service whose skill set did not match those needed to do the job, who made incorrect decisions or who were unable to make the right decisions at critical moments during the last year and a bit.

A culture of toxicity afraid of change when that change is necessary. Where everyone blames each other for poor and inadequate completion of jobs. A place where those who have the skills, experience, knowledge and most importantly a can do attitude are suppressed by those In leadership roles with the wrong skill set. Any company in the private sector would sink and disappear with this type of culture in place.

A very unsurprising allegation was that Matt Hancock was the wrong person to run the Department of Health and allegedly lied many times that things were in hand such as procurement of PPE. It was even claimed that he had lost the confidence of his peers and the Cabinet Secretary. To hear that he also allegedly told others to stop work on projects in order to push forward to hit his target for testing ahead of everything else.

The Libertarian Party has called for his resignation or sacking many times right from the beginning and throughout the crisis.

Now there is a very big problem with Government procurement and a subject I have a fairly good understanding of. Having, a couple of years ago attended a workshop delivered by the Gloucestershire Federation of Small Business in partnership with the Gloucestershire Growth Hub. A workshop on how SME's can make strong and successful procurement bids for Government contracts.

I was taken aback by how complicated and regressive the bid process is and it is unsurprising how few contracts are won by SME's and how long the process is. There needs to be a simplification of the processes so true competition can improve and speed up the procurement especially in emergency situations where speed is of the essence.

There is a saying in retail that rings true " get it right first time."

The chaos that is entwined within Government and Whitehall needs to be untangled and the size of the State shrunk to the minimum.

If we tackle the size of the State we reduce the burden of taxation and release those funds into the hands of the very people who have earned them. It will take time to proliferate the changes that are needed.

Glenville Gogerly EADW - Libertarian Party Chairman.