Blair wants public-private co-op
Tony Blair yesterday called for a flush of private sector talent to brush the cobwebs away from dusty Whitehall. The former Labour leader effectively backed a plea by Tory front-bencher Francis Maude to reinvigorate the policy-making corridors of power. Blair said rules limiting interaction between public and private employees, designed to prevent conflicts of interest, should be examined. But he defended the Labour party’s attempts to centrally govern, saying “if you are not driving things from the centre, nothing is going to happen.”