LEADERSHIP WANTED!

We Brits have been treated to a series of dull thuds as successive prominent leaders have thrown in the towel. First, David Cameron, the Prime Minister no less, scuttled away precipitately on losing the Brexit Referendum: then Boris Johnson did not stand for the Tory leadership and Premiership when his “friend” Michael Gove withdrew his support (Gove saw close up how shambolic Boris really is): then UKIP leader Nigel Farage, veteran proponent of Brexit, hung up his boots – his mission gloriously completed. Only dismal Jeremy Corbyn clung on, disowned by his own MPs, splitting Labour irreparably. The trend was catching in less exalted spheres too; Roy Hodgson fell on his sword after his overpaid and underperforming England side was knocked out of the Euros by Iceland (sic!) and charmless Chris Evans quit after his Top Gear TV ratings nose-dived. Applications invited to fill these yawning gaps!

We Brexiteers had forecast a rocky period after the Referendum and it is being delivered in spades. MPs are headless chickens, sterling has crashed, stock markets are in turmoil, government has suddenly disappeared. Much of this is a temporary frothing at the mouth which will subside when the Tories finally agonise and choose a Leader and hence a Prime Minister.  As I write, the hot favourite to succeed is Theresa May, 6 years Home Secretary and, in Ken Clarke’s indiscreet words, “A bloody difficult woman”.

Theresa May

The Tories have done rather well with “bloody difficult women” as the Blessed Margaret Thatcher ruled the roost and transformed the nation from 1979-1990. Theresa is looked upon as “a safe pair of hands” and a highly competent person. These are real virtues but I believe the country needs something more. It needs imaginative social policies to tackle the alienation of provincial England and discontented Scotland, to create a fairer society, to take advantage of our financial freedom from the dead hand of Brussels and to capitalise on our global economic contacts.

The best people to deliver that are committed Brexit leaders Andrea Leadsom or Michael Gove; sadly in assassinating Boris politically, Michael has fatally damaged his own prospects. Andrea is untried and perhaps not inspirational – mind you William Pitt the Younger, Ramsay Macdonald and Tony Blair had never held any office before becoming Prime Minister and all did pretty well. But in the event we may have to settle on Theresa and hope she rises to the challenge. Although wounds are still raw, there was merit in William Hague’s maxim “We are all Leavers now” and soon the divide between Remainers and Leavers will fade away.

I do not think I am a male chauvinist pig and while fellow-Scotsman John Knox (not one of my favourites) in 1588 railed against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, I do flinch a tad while contemplating a Western world later in 2016 entirely run by women. I foresee Theresa May in Britain, Angela Merkel in Europe and Hillary Clinton in the USA all calling the shots. One deeply sighs and gently prays for mercy.

Post-Referendum it cannot be business as usual in Britain. The old elites have had their day. Constitutional change is surely on the agenda. How can we defend a first-past-the-post electoral system which results in a wildly over-represented SNP and a totally under-represented UKIP? The House of Lords may have to be swept away and replaced by an elected Senate of manageable size with enhanced powers. Educational standards are improving but the Oxbridge ethos is too dominant and social mobility between the classes, which has been in reverse, needs to be sharply boosted. The nettle of excessive remuneration in the City and elsewhere has to be grasped, if necessary by sensible statutory means. A programme of this kind belongs to One Nation Tories and I am sure the likes of May, Gove, Duncan Smith and Letwin can progress these policies and attract much Centrist support.

The recovery and renewal of Britain is only beginning!

SMD

07.07.16

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2016