Villian: Alistair Darling

Safe, but slow progress

The Times lampoons chancellor Alistair Darling for failing to make cuts, but he wasnt slow wield the axe as transport secretary

The Times lampoons chancellor Alistair Darling for failing to make cuts, but he wasnt slow wield the axe as transport secretary

So many transport secretaries have achieved very little during their time in office, so why single out Alistair Darling?

One reason it that he made so much time to make a difference, but he failed to make use of it. Darling served for almost four years as secretary of state for transport. Over the last half century only two people have had more time in charge of the nation’s transport provision - Ernest Marples (1959-1964) and John Prescott (1997-2001).

Barbara Castle, one of his...