UK rail minister got engineer sacked for raising safety concerns

Re:UK rail minister got engineer sacked for raising safety c... by prmoustache on Friday August 30, 2024 @06:02AM (#41399259)

But he is working as a mafia leader. I don't think that is the kind of chief executive a democratic country needs.

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Re:UK rail minister got engineer sacked for raising safety c... by YeGoblynQueenne on Saturday August 31, 2024 @02:47PM (#41410919)

The United Kingdom is a monarchy [1]. Lord Peter Hendy is an un-elected member of the House of Lords.

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[1] More specifically, a Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Except it doesn't really have a constitution.

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Re:UK rail minister got engineer sacked for raising safety c... by mattmanser on Monday September 02, 2024 @06:00AM (#41424081)

For non-UK residents, this is a perfectly normal thing that happens regularly[1]. For example the last government did it to David Cameron, who was not an elected MP at the time he was made foreign secretary.

To become a minister, that person needs to be an official politician. Part of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. So if a sitting UK government wants an expert in their cabinet who is not an MP, they ennoble them. They make the person a Lord to get them to be able to operate officially as a minister in the government.

For a fuller explanation see: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/direct-m...

[1] i.e. a seemingly weird thing that the British do because of old traditions

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