So appalling has been the performance of our
global politicians in recent months that we yearn for some elusive earlier
idyllic period when hearts were pure and intellects unclouded. Such a period
never existed. Maybe they once wore smarter suits and spoke in politer tones
but politicians have often behaved like thieves and vagabonds. We admire them
in a partisan way, cheering our man on, like a fancied horse, but knowing
little of his pedigree or previous record. Most had some merit but they had
disasters as well as triumphs – it was hardly an “ever upwards” progress.
Even the most revered had skeletons in the
cupboard. Winston Churchill was a lively and eloquent Home Secretary and First
Lord of the Admiralty but he carried the can for the Dardanelles disaster. He
was a conventionally feeble Chancellor of the Exchequer and his opposition to
Indian autonomy and support for Edward V111 were dire misjudgments. Yet in
war-time he rallied our armies, worked with our allies and was undoubtedly the
saviour of our nation, even if he clung to power too long after the war.
What I admire about Churchill and other great
politicians is that they get things done. Due honour should be paid to colourless Clem Attlee for his work on the
welfare state and to inspirational Margaret Thatcher for restoring our
finances, trimming the wings of the unions and modernizing the City. She could
misjudge too – see the poll tax (aka the community charge) – but her
Euroscepticism struck profound chords. Of the others since the war, Eden,
Douglas-Home and Brown were duds and MacMillan, Wilson, Heath, Major, Blair and
Cameron were plausible but ultimately second-rate. Theresa May seems destined
for the duds’ column, so uncommunicative and abject has she been.
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| The great Maggie Thatcher |
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| The tottering Theresa May |
Our American cousins revered Roosevelt - his
hyper-activity throughout the Depression earned many plaudits and at long last
he mobilized the resources of his country to decide the war. He should not have
run for a 4th term as his performance at Yalta was disastrous and
sickness had made him lose the plot. Yet FDR was a great achiever to be joined
later by Lyndon Johnson (for accelerating civil rights), Richard Nixon (for
ending Vietnam and recognizing China) and Ronald Reagan (for the détente with
Russia).
Kennedy
had too short a term while Truman, Eisenhower, both Bushes, Clinton and Obama
were unable to leave a particular mark on their country. Perhaps only Ford and
Carter were duds but the verdict of history on blundering, blustering and
pig-ignorant Donald Trump will surely be deeply negative.
If
one could construct the ideal British politician he would probably have the
intellect of Gladstone, the drive of Lloyd George, the calm of Baldwin and the
eloquence of Churchill. His American counterpart might combine the rationality
of Jefferson, the persuasiveness of Lincoln, the vision of Wilson and the
legislative nous of LBJ. Alas, such
paragons of virtue only exist in the imagination.
We can only hope that any Prime
Minister will be stronger than vacillating Lord Goderich described by his
monarch, George IV, as “a damned,
snivelling, blubbering blockhead”, and that any President will improve upon
Warren G Harding, whose failure to act against corruption condemned him, in the
eyes of his biographer Samuel Adams, as "an amiable, well-meaning third-rate Mr. Babbitt, with the
equipment of a small-town semi-educated journalist.”
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| Charismatic Ronnie Reagan |
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| Dud Warren Harding |
Casting
the net further afield is not very rewarding. I would rate Charles de Gaulle
and Conrad Adenauer highly in Europe, exceptional figures amid the current
Euro-dross and history will smile on Jan
Smuts and Jahawaral Nehru – but monsters like Hitler, Stalin and Mao lurk in
the shadows.
Our
politicians are only human, not supermen, the usual mixture of asset and handicap, probably
trying in good conscience to improve our lot. Expect little from them and you
will not be disappointed.
SMD
27.1.19
Text
Copyright © Sidney
Donald 2019
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