Failin' Graylin'

The MP for Epsom and Ewell, one Chris Grayling, takes a lot of stick in the Guardian for taking the axe to various branches of justice, during his tenure as minister for same.

Now while one may think that the branches of justice involved need to be there and need a lot more money than they are presently getting - and I do so think - Grayling does have a defence.

He was a minister in a government which had been elected, in part, to pull back on the profligacy of New Labour, the profligacy of Blair then Brown. And whatever one might think of the truth of the allegation now, the voters believed it at the time and elected the other lot.

And Grayling, stuck to the brief. He did what his lot said they we going to do, that is to say to cut public expenditure. And his ministry took its fair share of the cuts. What was being done before might have been worthy, but it was not affordable. People - that is to say the majority of those who voted - were not prepared to pay for it. There may well also have been some wishful thinking on the part of both ministers and ministries, that it really was possible to get a pint out of a half pint pot. And voters are notoriously keen on voting for such wishful thinking.

Which opens up a can of worms about the proper role of our elected representatives. But it does give failin' Graylin' a line of defence.