Politics on the Edge. A Memoir from Within
Rory Stewart (Jonathan Cape, 2023)
This morning I braved the elements, and Storm Debi, to reach the local shop in search of newspapers. I remarked to the shopkeeper, “The pavement has turned into a river!” “Really?” he said sceptically. I ‘doubled down’, as they say. “Literally a river!” Then, seeing a picture of the Home Secretary on one of the front pages, I said, “Ms Braverman’s coat is surely on a shoogly peg. When the PM says he has full confidence in a Secretary of State, you can be sure the Secretary of State will be gone by lunchtime.” At that precise moment, something pinged on my shopkeeper’s tablet, and he announced, “She’s gone.”
“Fell, or was pushed?”
“Sacked.”
“Who is replacing her?”
“James Cleverly.”
I resisted the temptation to bask in the warm glow of my apparent prescience. After all, the dogs in the street knew the Home Secretary was toast. Now, amid all the shenanigans of our politics, there is nothing more ridiculous than a cabinet reshuffle. Foreign Secretary today, Home Secretary tomorrow. Civil engineer today, brain surgeon tomorrow. To master an enormous brief overnight requires a certain chutzpah.
But wait up! David Cameron has just been spotted strolling into No 10. And now – I’ve just heard it on Woman’s Hour – even as I write, the ex-PM has been appointed Foreign Secretary! I didn’t see that coming. Presumably he will have to be ennobled in order to sit in Cabinet. Lord Cameron of Jura, or something of that ilk.
But back to the day job. Last night, with the intention of blogging about the book today, I finished reading Rory Stewart’s new political memoir. Only to find this morning that the great ship of state had pitched and rolled on over the stormy seas of ‘events’.
I thoroughly enjoyed Rory Stewart’s book, not because I necessarily agreed with any opinion he chose to express, but simply because it is so well written. He recounts his entire experience of political life, from his winning the seat of Penrith and the Border for the Conservatives in 2010, to his appointment as junior minister in various departments, to Secretary of State under Theresa May, and finally to his running for Prime Minister in 2019, a contest which was eventually won by Boris Johnson. He chooses to end his memoir shortly after that, for him, unsuccessful campaign.
Rory Stewart comes across as intelligent, thoughtful, articulate, energetic, and extremely hard-working. By all accounts he was an effective local MP and a worthy representative of his constituents. His experience as Prisons Minister is fascinating. I remember at the time the prisons in England were in a bad way, and he famously said that if he could not turn the situation around in a year, he would resign. Well, a year later, the evidence was that improvements had been made, so he didn’t have to go, but it was shortly after that that he did go, when Mrs May promoted him to Secretary of State for International Development. He held that office between May 1st and July 24th 2019.
Meanwhile there were all the Brexit negotiations, and then his campaign to become PM. One wonders how an MP, even one as energetic as Stewart, can simultaneously represent a constituency 350 miles from Westminster, run a government department, debate Brexit, and campaign for the highest office in the land.
He does not paint a rosy picture of political life. Indeed he imparts a sense of being something of an outsider. The clue is in the title. He is ‘on the edge’. And, perhaps because he is now done with politics from within, he feels he can be candid in his criticism of colleagues. (I say ‘done with politics’, but then, look at Mr Cameron.) David Gauke gets a favourable review, Boris Johnson quite the opposite.
There are two clichés that recur in any broad discussion about political life. Politicians say they enter politics ‘to make a difference’. It came up on Remembrance Day when Nick Robinson interviewed Michael Gove on ‘Political Thinking’. If you want to make a difference, said Nick, why not become a social worker? “Mmm!” agreed Mr Gove. Actually he said “Mmm!” to virtually everything. The other cliché comes from the electorate, and expresses a diametrically opposing view. “Politicians are all the same. They’re only in it for themselves.” I suppose Stewart’s memoir gave the impression that he was in it to make a difference, while lots of his colleagues were in it for personal advancement. That sounds like a one-sided view, but Stewart is not blind to the fact that he often came across to his colleagues as posh, disdainful, scheming, and intensely ambitious. My sense is that Stewart did follow the lights of his conscience in good faith, but discovered that the environment he found himself in was toxic. So he got out.
I have this notion that the more exalted your position in political life, the more effete you become. Mr Gove who was a journalist told the teachers how to teach; Mr Hancock who was an economist told the doctors how to practise; indeed Mr Stewart who was a diplomat told the prison officers how to run prisons; and Ms Braverman who is a lawyer told the police how to police. But it is not the function of a Secretary of State to ‘run’ a public service. Secretaries of State are there to represent the electorate, whom they serve, and to hold public services accountable to the electorate for the way in which services are delivered. They need to stop telling people what to do, but rather ask them, “What do you need?”
But it must be extremely difficult to retain a sense of humility when the PM invites you to No 10, hands you the credentials of office, and sends you by ministerial limousine to meet your permanent undersecretary in some vast imperial edifice in the heart of Whitehall. There is an amusing, if somewhat sobering anecdote towards the end of Rory Stewart’s book. The Welsh MP Robert Buckland was intrigued that Stewart had an MP ancestor named Richard Rich. Buckland’s favourite film is apparently A Man for All Seasons, based on the play by Robert Bolt, in which Richard Rich betrays Sir Thomas More on his way to becoming Attorney General for Wales, and ultimately Lord Chancellor. Buckland also aspired to the position of Lord Chancellor. Buckland backed Johnson in the leadership contest. Allegedly Boris had promised him the position of Lord Chancellor.
What is it Sir Thomas More said? I paraphrase: Why Richard, I’ve heard it said, what shall it profit a man if he should lose his own soul in order to gain the world? But for Wales?
jamescalumcampbell 