This June, it will be 30 years since John Major launched one of the most mocked ideas in British political history. Proposed by a man thrashing around in the economic doldrums, the traffic cones hotline was just a phone number for angry motorists to ring up and moan about roadworks. Yet something about its spectacular banality means it has passed into Westminster shorthand. Every failing government now seemingly has its cones hotline moment, where it suddenly becomes obvious that the ideas cupboard is worryingly bare. And this week’s cabinet meeting on the cost of living sounds as if it was positively bursting with such moments.
Boris Johnson had reportedly asked for proposals to tackle the cost of living emergency without spending any actual public money, a question that inevitably raises some questions of its own. He is apparently interested in an old Liz Truss proposal for cutting childcare costs by allowing childminders to look after more than six children at once. Ministers have reportedly joked that if Jacob Rees-Mogg can look after his six simultaneously, surely childminders can go one better, while simultaneously delivering a high-quality early-years learning experience and having eyes in the backs of their heads. No word on whether they’ll be allowed a nanny for backup, like the Rees-Moggs.
