Mad Frankie Maude hangs up his axe

JFDI

When doing it properly is going to take too long.

Blearghh

our brilliant chancellor

That tells you everything you need to know about Maude's judgement.

You failed to mention the importance of the Transparency agenda that Mr Maude has championed (with mixed success). This is a key area of change in global politics and something that should be supported whether it is around making government decisions and spending more open to query or the Open Data agenda which is linked to the crucial National Information Infrastructure (read the latest paper from the Open Data User Group for more: http://data.gov.uk/blog/national-information-infrastructure-nii).

This is the government guru who wanted us to sign on the internet using a facebook account.

we have had a lot worse

he has got his hands dirty in policy and understood the importance of good information.

he has the testicular fortitude not to be bowed by the big corporations and a politicians' common sense when he sees a care.data turkey.

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and other governments e.g. Australia have copied Maude's work through the Cabinet Office, so I suspect he has done a pretty good job.

The golden rule

The golden rule in Whitehall is that if Maude likes it, it is probably a bad idea and will be badly implemented! Not failed to be true yet.

The number of companies I have met who roll their eyes when you mention the Cabinet Office tells its own story. Maude and his young, naive but eager advisors are brimming full of ideas and jargon, but have no real concept of the implications of what they do or make others do.

I am sure there are some things they have done right, but there is a hell of a lot they have done wrong and so any claims of success or savings from the Cabinet Office should be treated with a great deal of suspicion unless independently verified by people with credibility in that field.

I assume a pleasant sinecure as non-exec at half a dozen FTSE100 plc beckons?