Gordon Brown, Enterprise Architect?

Listening to Vernon Bogdanor (professor of politics at Oxford University, and one-time tutor of Tory leader David Cameron) talking about a written constitution on BBC Radio Four yesterday [Today Programme May 16th], I was struck by two thoughts.

Firstly, the similarity between a written constitution (which Professor Bogdanor described as "an organization chart to tell people where they are and what rights they have") and an enterprise architecture.

And secondly, a strong sense that Gordon Brown will be much more sympathetic to this way of viewing the world than either Tony Blair or David Cameron. (Bogdanor has been critical of his former student's grasp of constitutional matters, and suggested he might need to return to Oxford for a refresher course. [Guardian, June 27th 2006])

In IT terms, Blair and Cameron are both business analysts - focused on addressing short-term piecemeal requirements in a convincing manner. Gordon Brown is an enterprise architect.

During Brown's tenure as Prime Minister, the UK might expect to see significant steps towards joined-up government, and perhaps even something like the US Clinger-Cohen Act. I don't think the UK IT industry has ever had such a good opportunity for reform at the highest level.

Further commentary on my other blogs:

• Just tidying up (SOA)
  
• The purpose of a written constitution (POSIWID)