Saving (Great) Britain: The Phoenix Fellowship
A blueprint to turn Britain around
(View and share this post on X here: https://x.com/alexfmac/status/1860641084222894349)
At the start of my career in 2012 I moved to Singapore. It felt like living in a utopian future. Everything worked. Trains on time with plenty of room. Streets clean. Polite and well-educated kids. Zero crime (people left their laptops on mall cafeteria tables to reserve their seat).
At the end of the year I learned that there had been a government surplus and my fellow citizens would be receiving a ‘Growth Dividend’. This is effectively a rebate on your tax bill in the form of cash or vouchers.
In the past 20 years the Singapore government has achieved a budget surplus in 75% of the fiscal years. Such competence in governance is extraordinarily rare. But it did not happen by accident.
I returned to the UK in 2014 to start my first company. Fast forward 10 years and Singapore seems like a distant dream compared to the dystopia in the UK.
I’m leaving the UK for the US now to grow my second startup. I have become increasingly disillusioned with the UK which has translated into fairly pessimistic thoughts.
But I’m an optimist at heart and I do plan to return here to bring-up my future children. So before I leave I want to highlight the root cause of many of our problems - and more importantly: propose a plan to fix them.
Many things have been written by some very smart people recently about the causes of the UK’s demise:
Sam Bowmam, Ben Southwood and Samuel Hughes’ brilliant piece: Foundations.
Patrick Ryan’s ‘Something’s rotten in the state of the West.’
There is a slight problem with these pieces though. They tend to point to ‘policy’ as the thing we need to address.
Bad policy is just a symptom of the pernicious disease that destroys the present and threatens the future of our once ‘Great’ Britain.
The underlying cause of the disease: a lack of talent in politics and the civil service.
Now that you have experienced both major parties in recent memory ruling our nation - whatever end of the political spectrum you identify with - it is undeniable that many of our politicians are incompetent, lazy, cowardly and corrupt. They possess neither the ability nor moral fibre required to run a sweet shop, never-mind our nation.
Whether it is Boris Johnson telling the nation to lockdown while hosting parties in downing street. Or Liz Truss crashing the economy with the mini-budget. Or Keir Starmer being a hostage of the public sector unions. Or Rachel Reeves announcing a ‘growth budget’ which has cratered the pound, reduced the GDP growth forecast by the OBR and created such a big rise in our cost of borrowing that she may be forced to raise taxes even further…
The plan I propose below addresses the UK’s problems permanently. Unlike policy changes which are temporary.
Policy needs to adapt to the circumstances and challenges of a particular period of time. But if you have the right talent in charge - they will identify the right policies as times change (similar to how the all-time great CEOs run companies).
Step 1: Increase MP, Minister, Senior Civil Service and PM Salaries by 10x
In the UK a graduate securing a job at a Magic Circle firm could expect to earn as much as our Prime Minister.
In the US
Higher salaries attract higher quality talent. Even in public service careers.
Equally they help attract a more diverse range of talent from a variety of backgrounds. Many current members of parliament (including 2 of our most recent prime ministers) can ‘afford’ to pursue a career in politics. They inherited or married into generational wealth.
The most talented people from disadvantaged backgrounds cannot afford the luxury of giving up a career at a Magic Circle law firm (and what that would mean for their family financially) to pursue a more noble and impactful career in politics.
Why 10x?
A 10x in salary for MPs, Ministers and the PM would put them all firmly within the top 0.1% of earners in the UK. We should be targeting the top 0.1% of talent to run a nation like ours.
The UK’s current GDP is ~£2.3 trillion. Less than 0.005% (~£60m) of the current annual budget is spent on MP salaries.
If increasing this budget to £600m improved GDP growth by even 1% - the investment would return 38x.
In order to ensure this pay increase incentivises the desired improvement of talent - it should be voted-in now - but implemented only at the start of the next parliament in 5 years time.
This ensures that at least more talented individuals will have had the ability to challenge the current crop of MPs for their seats… and don’t get me wrong - I’m sure there are some worthy candidates in the current crop.
To make this change in the law will require a significant investment in lobbying and PR.
Step 2: The Phoenix Fellowship
A superhero bench of politicians requires a superhero school.
Improving pay by 10x for key positions governing our nation will have a significant effect in attracting the right talent into politics.
But many of them will not know where to start - and the traditional routes into politics (assistant to MPs or SPAD roles) will result in our next generation of superheroes being stunted by the habits and advice of our existing crop of politicians...
Similar to the X-Men - we need to create a ‘Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters’ to teach and hone the skills of the most talented people in our nation - equipping them with the knowledge to navigate politics and excel in public service.
The Phoenix Fellowship in summary:
A 3 year fellowship for the most talented people in the UK who aspire to work in politics or the civil service
Each Phoenix Fellow is paid an annual grant of £100,000 for 3 years to participate
The fellowship is part-time and can be completed alongside a full-time job.
The fellowship will be bi-partisan with ‘tutor’ representation from all political parties and backgrounds.
Selection for the fellowship will be strict. We are seeking the top 0.1% of the population.
The selection process will largely be scored based on objective, standardised testing - assessing: Cognitive Ability - there is a strong correlation between cognitive ability and career success Personality - assessing conscientiousness and other traits we consider key to success in public service Courage - this will be a road paved with unpopular choices, media attacks and even personal attacks. Courage is a pre-requisite
Assuming it kicks off in 2025 - 4 cohorts of 10, 20, 30 and 40 fellows would accelerate the political careers of 100 of the most talented people in the nation into public service.
Ideas without execution are nothing. I do not have sufficient time to run this initiative.
But the nation does not have time to wait - we are in crisis and that will worsen with every year that we do not address the underlying problem. I am therefore open-sourcing it with the hope that someone will take it by the horns and run with it.
If the right person steps up to do that (ideally someone with experience in politics and public service), I will:
1. Fund a £75,000 initial grant for someone to explore this initiative over the next 6 months.
2. Provide a significant (6-7 figures) donation to kick-start funding for the Phoenix Fellowship program.
If you’d like to run this initiative or help fund it, please contact me on X or LinkedIn.