Who’s the fairest of them all?

Who do you prefer? George Young or Margaret Beckett? Well, last week the House of Commons showed it preferred Sir George. But not by enough. The deeply thoughtful, instinctively moderate, utterly charming Sir George overtook Mrs Beckett in the race for the Speaker’s chair. But both were beaten to the prize by the Buckingham MP John Bercow. This left them tussling for another, and to my mind even more significant, prize. Who’s been the best housing minister of the past few years?

Housing ministers may not enjoy the status that descends on the Speaker’s shoulders, but to my mind they play an even more crucial role in our national life. The Speaker is a referee. Housing ministers can be players. The best of them can entrench stability, extend opportunity and spread prosperity. But which has actually secured that treble victory?

Some of the most recent politicians to do the job have scarcely been there long enough to down a treble, never mind win one.

Mrs Beckett was appointed to the post last October and survived in place for scarcely more than eight months. Even West Bromwich Albion lasted longer in the top flight. To be fair, Mrs Beckett brought both intellect and impartiality to the job. It’s not really her fault that she wasn’t in post long enough to make an impact.

Mrs Beckett was appointed to the post last October and survived in place for scarcely more than eight months. Even West Bromwich Albion lasted longer in the top flight

Almost equally short-lived was her predecessor, Caroline Flint, who also enjoyed an eight-month stint. Like Mrs Beckett, she left before any discernible impact could be made on policy. Charged with taking forward the government’s proposals for eco-towns, those plans crumbled into almost nothing on her watch. But it would perhaps be as unfair to blame her for that as it would be to blame Italian tourists for the state of London’s tube network. They’re just passing through. The real problem lies elsewhere.

Neither Ms Flint nor Mrs Beckett are ministers any longer, but the woman who preceded both of them in the role is not just in government, but in the Cabinet, the beneficiary of successive reshuffles. Yvette Cooper is secretary of state for work and pensions, charged with helping the growing number of unemployed back to work and reforming our welfare system.

There’s no doubt that Yvette’s got proper Labour principles, a sense of humour and an appetite for hard work. What she doesn’t have is a record of achievement, and certainly not as housing minister. On her watch the implementation of Home Information Packs became a shambles, the plans for eco-towns were launched without any proper preparation and the big changes required to really reform planning were dodged.

However, it’s wrong to put Yvette first in the firing line. Because the difficulties she faced in post are the same as nearly every Labour housing minister has faced. The real housing supremo in this government hasn’t been the housing minister. The man who’s been in charge throughout has been the man who directed policy on interest rates, the man who regulated the banking sector, the man who has set policy for the major lenders, the man who set housebuilding targets in the millions, the man who commissioned the Barker review on land use planning, and the man who designed the mortgage rescue scheme announced earlier this year. Gordon Brown has, throughout the life of this government, been his own housing minister. The follies are all his. The failures can be laid at his door. 

The best housing ministers can entrench stability, extend opportunity and spread prosperity

There have been housing ministers both politically, and intellectually, strong enough, at times, to carve out a distinctive policy stance free from his influence. Both Charlie Falconer and Nick Raynsford, as Blairites of substance, were able to make a difference. But Falconer was, sadly, in post for scarcely a year. And although Raysnford’s tenure was longer, he still didn’t have the length of time he deserved to make the difference he could have. Indeed he never had the seat at the Cabinet table he deserved.

If Falconer and Raynsford were Labour’s strongest duo, who were the Tories’? I would plump for Sir George (not least for leasehold reform and the liberation of social housing through large-scale stock transfers to housing associations) and Michael Heseltine (for combining the revolution that was council house sales with a truly visionary approach to urban development).

Housing ministers, given time and space, really can help generate stability, opportunity and prosperity. Provided they have one other thing as well: a reforming free-market prime minister ready to back them all the way.

Michael Gove is shadow secretary for children, schools and families