In my latest column for Total Politics magazine (which is on the shelves today) I argue that whilst trust is a noble virtue it nevertheless has little if any value when it comes to political appointments:

"In 1946 the American statesman Henry Stimson famously stated in an article entitled The Bomb and the Opportunity that: "The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust." A noble sentiment indeed, but is it one that lends itself well to the political process? Certainly when an individual puts themselves up for election they are asking voters to trust them. Indeed, they are asking voters to trust them in the most fundamental of ways; to take decisions on their behalf. But when it comes to political appointments it has become all too clear recently that trust is a virtue perhaps best discarded in favour of scepticism."

Read the whole thing here.