Politicians
are deeply unpopular these days throughout the democratic world, as our
economies struggle and the pace of change demands rapid action - not easy for
most systems. Britain is much affected by this malaise and admittedly the
political talent-pool is not deep; but I here pay tribute to 6 politicians who
are by no means universally cherished, but who are “consequential” in that they
have got things done and have influenced the lives of many of their
fellow-citizens in a positive fashion. My selection is fairly wide and I have
tried to suppress my personal prejudices!
1.
Michael Gove
I do not cite
Michael Gove, now 56, just because he is Scottish or that, like me, he was born
into the purple of the Aberdeen commercial classes. He is the adopted son of an
ultimately struggling Aberdeen fish processor, but he has the Protestant
work-ethic to a marked degree and has marked out a varied and fruitful
political career. He won a scholarship at Robert Gordon’s College and then read
English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Moving from Labour to the Conservatives,
he developed his eloquence at the Oxford Union and succeeded Boris Johnson as
President of the Union in 1988, a pinnacle of undergraduate achievement.
Rejected when
applying for a job at Conservative Central Office, he worked in Fleet Street
rather obscurely before joining the Aberdeen Press and Journal (275
years old now) honing his skills before finding his niche as a leader writer
and later columnist at The Times. He married the well-known journalist
Sarah Vine in 2001, divorcing in 2022.
Entering
Parliament in 2005, he quickly climbed the greasy pole, becoming a friend of David
Cameron and his set, shadowing Ed Balls. He has had a succession of Cabinet
offices, Education Secretary, Chief Whip, Justice Secretary, Environment Secretary,
Duchy of Lancaster and Cabinet Office, and finally Levelling-Up Secretary. The
portfolios hardly matter as Gove developed into a kind of Pooh-Bah without the
arrogance, the Tory fixer who would get things done. In education he broke the dead
hand of local authorities over state schools, by introducing independent
Academies and other free schools and he drastically revised syllabuses,
concentrating on traditional basics, much to the ire of the educational
establishment. At the tricky Levelling-Up ministry he has subsidised local
businesses and infrastructure projects, created several free-ports and even pushed
the ENO to move to Manchester.
Yet to me,
Gove’s finest hour was as one of the 3 Brexit leaders with Johnson and Farage.
Gove and Dominic Cummings led a brilliant campaign in 2016 outwitting Cameron
and the hopelessly Eurofanatic Establishment – who can forget Sunderland
declaring for Brexit and the die being cast? Moreover, he snookered Boris’
candidature for Tory Leader – had he penetrated Boris’ bluster and realised he
did not have the requisite prime ministerial qualities?
Uneasy political
allies, but winners all. Gove, Johnson and Farage.
I rate Gove
very highly and pay tribute to his talent and integrity in the rough old game
of politics.
2.
Sir Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer
is not really my cup of tea, but he is likely to be our next Prime Minister and
he has some real merits. He is 61 years old and was born into a Labour-supporting
family (father a toolmaker, mother a nurse) in Surrey; indeed, he was named Keir
after Labour Party founder Keir Hardie – what a suffocating legacy for a child!
Keir
Starmer
After
education at one-time state school Reigate Grammar, now independent and
fee-paying, he read law at Leeds and took a postgraduate DCL at St Edmund Hall,
Oxford (my college 60 years ago, so he must be a good egg!). Admitted to the
Bar, he specialised in criminal and human rights cases and rose in the legal
profession being appointed Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008-13, for
which he was awarded his knighthood. In 2013 he was wooed inevitably by the Labour
Party, then under the leadership of uninspiring Ed Miliband and soon to be
defeated in the polls by a resurgent David Cameron. Starmer became the MP for
the safe Labour seat Holborn St Pancras in the general election of 2015.
The advent of
the Jeremy Corbyn leadership of the Labour Party in 2016 ushered in a violent
move to the hard Left (Corbyn a lifetime admirer of the former East Germany!), Wokery
unbounded, shameful obeisance to the BLM agitation and all the insanity of utopian
crypto-communism. Corbyn even got a boost from Theresa May’s misjudged snap
general election in 2017. Starmer dutifully fulfilled Shadow roles, whatever he
privately thought of Corbyn.
Corbyn’s
Labour Party was duly thrashed by Boris Johnson’s Tories in December 2019 and
Corbyn resigned as Leader. Starmer comfortably won the ensuing leadership
election 2020. There was a purge of Corbynites and their dogmas, who had so
damaged the Party and Starmer began to rebuild Labour into an electable entity.
Starmer is a sensible barrister, without much political guile, who is
successfully re-aligning Labour policy and rhetoric in a centrist direction.
The inept weakness of the Tories under Johnson, Truss and Sunak has eased his
path.
But Starmer
has spoken out strongly against Labour’s bouts of anti-Semitism (his 2 children
are being brought up in the Jewish religion by his wife Victoria), against tax
and spend fantasies, against uncontrolled immigration, against Russia’s war in
Ukraine and against the barbarity of Hamas. He even broke a Party hoodoo with
some kind words for the blessed Margaret Thatcher’s attitudes. A promising omen
for the future! He has done the country a service by bringing Labour back into
the mainstream.
I will be
much briefer with the remain 4 solid citizens!
3.
Suella Braverman
Suella has
had a meteoric career, serving as Home Secretary 2022-23, after being Boris’ Attorney-General.
She has an exotic background with a Hindu Indian father and a Mauritian
Christian mother, who was a Tory councillor. She is married to an Israeli-born
Jew and is herself a Buddhist, brought up in Wembley. Her rise to high office underlines
the “inclusiveness” of our nation.
Suella is no
respecter of convention and expresses her views with refreshing clarity and
candour. She has challenged the pro-immigration lobby, favours deportation of
boat people to Rwanda, supports pulling out of the European Convention on Human
Rights (“all that Woke nonsense”), believes legal immigration is far too high and,
no doubt like her erstwhile colleague Robert Jenrick, considers the Sunak
government weak and indecisive on this vital issue.
She is a
doughty and admirable right-wing Tory.
4.
Rachel Reeves
Rachel Reeves
Starmer had
the good sense to promote clever Rachel Reeves to Shadow Chancellor of the
Exchequer. Now resident in Leeds (Bramley), Rachel is the daughter of two
teachers and her sister Ellie is also an MP. Born in Lewisham, Rachel read PPE
at New College, Oxford and after a spell at HBOS, became an economist at the
Bank of England.
She has
identified herself as a believer in “securonomics” an airy Bidenesque concept,
involving an interventionist state, strict control of government spending and
taxes, and stimulants to business. Coupled with Rachel’s promise not to raise
any personal taxes, this sounds quite promising. But politicians easily renege
on promises, so we will probably see in time what substance underlies her professions
of fiscal virtue.
5.
Penny Mordaunt
Penny
holds the Sword of State at the Coronation in May 2023
Penny Mordaunt,
aged 50, entered Parliament in 2010 and is now Lord President of the (Privy)
Council, a Tory pin-up, who handles herself with commendable dignity. She has
had a succession of ministerial positions and was briefly Liz Truss’ Defence
Secretary. She is a socially liberal Brexiteer and is much identified with support
for the armed forces and their charities. She represents a Portsmouth
constituency and was herself in the Royal Naval Reserve. She has stood twice
for the Tory Party leadership, probably a bridge too far. She is a
quintessential modern Tory, wholly resistant to wokery, despite being a
constant target of hostile social media.
6.
Frank Field.
A younger Frank Field
I have to be
quick to fit in a tribute to Frank Field as the poor man is suffering from
terminal cancer and is in hospice care. Frank was MP for Birkenhead for 40
years from 1979 to 2019 and then became a life peer on the crossbenches after
leaving the Labour Party in 2018. Born in London of Tory working-class parents,
he was originally a conservative but moved to Labour in 1960 due to Tory
equivocation about opposing apartheid in South Africa.
He long
championed Birkenhead (where my parents were married oddly enough) and Merseyside.
Most of his political life has been devoted to the alleviation of poverty
fortified by his Anglican Christian faith. He remained socially conservative,
even as a minister, deploring the payment of benefits without any contributions
and advocating a small state. He was a long-time friend of Margaret Thatcher.
He was respected in Labour circles for his expertise in the minutiae of
social policy and his energetic advocacy but his support for Brexit and
opposition to immigration made him many enemies. Field resigned the Labour whip
in 2018 protesting about “intolerance, nastiness and intimidation.”
Our system
should be able better to nurture independent, maverick characters like Frank Field
who contribute much to public life.
SMD
10.12.23
Text copyright
© Sidney
Donald 2023
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