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Precursor of 'Jamie's Kitchen' concept also ended in failure

The man whose brainchild led to Jamie Oliver setting up a new restaurant exclusively staffed by trainees — as shown in Channel 4's recent series — has been forced to admit that his own similar initiative has been less than a complete success.

Tony Blair had already been a successful leader of the Opposition when he decided to see if he could pull off the same trick as prime minister. Like Oliver, he had appeared many times on television and was a similarly polished and popular performer with catchphrases at first amusing and only later annoying.

Blair's radical idea was to take a group of apparently useless and unqualified individuals and try to make them into successful governing politicians once he'd won the 1997 General Election.

Most of those chosen had had no previous experience of running a government department or anything else — though Frank Dobson reputedly had a franchise for a whelk stall near to King's Cross Station in the mid 1960s. Disappointingly, although they were given this fantastic opportunity — and despite the fact that most of those taking part were undoubtedly otherwise utterly unemployable — there has been an overwhelming lack of the expected talent or enthusiasm.

Some of those taking part in Blair's brave trial — such as railway buff Stephen Byers — possessed the necessary keenness but lacked any natural ability. Others — such as Dobson himself — lacked both keenness and ability, although he apparently possessed a talent for the telling of obscene jokes. Only one participant from the group, Estelle Morris, left voluntarily, after discovering the whole thing was too much for her.

Plans to set up the equivalent of a trendy continental brasserie — with payment only allowed in Euros — have been put on indefinite hold by Blair pending the sorting out of his domestic experiment.

Despite the fact that Blair's experiment itself has not been a total success, the programmes have made gripping TV. Nevertheless, there are signs that the public may be tiring of the model.

Alternative political entrepreneur Ian Duncan-Smith, who proposes something along the same lines, may be disappointed if he expects success. Initial reports show that the voters find his proposed recruits even less appealing and even more workshy.

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