The silence is deafening. Mr Trump is not passing any caustic remarks about Mr Biden’s cognitive function. Neither, generally, is the Grand Old Party. Mr Trump is not normally reticent when it comes to trashing the reputation of political opponents. When he was up against Mrs Clinton in 2016 he had his rally audiences chanting “Lock her up!” It would be easy now for him to make the current occupant of the White House an object of derision, and mockery. One could imagine him doing tasteless impersonations on stage, perhaps following a dispute between the two old men, about their respective golf handicaps. Bald men and a comb come to mind. But no. It is the Democratic Party that is making the fuss. Gathering numbers of Congressmen, and women, on that side of the aisle, are urging the President to step aside. But not Mr Trump.
The silence speaks volumes. Mr Trump would rather Mr Biden stay where he is. Mr Trump thinks he can beat Mr Biden in November. And, at least as I write, Mr Biden is inclined to hang on. My pocket diary begins each week with an adage, aphorism, or piece of wisdom from some prominent sage, and it so happens the week beginning December 9th features Joe Biden: “Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.” No doubt he is applying this adage to himself. He has said that nobody short of the Almighty will persuade him to give up. Kirsty Wark, on Paddy O’Connell’s Broadcasting House (BBC Radio 4) yesterday quipped that this was why the President was aboard Air Force One yesterday. He hadn’t heard from the Almighty, and was going up to find Him and crave an audience.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, took a call from the President yesterday. It must be slightly surreal suddenly to be propelled into that world. “Mr Prime Minister? It’s the White House. Can you take a call from the President?”
“Of course.” (I’d have asked, “Is it collect?”)
“Patching you through to Air Force One.”
The President sounded pretty jaunty. “Congratulations, Mr Prime Minister. That was the helluva result!” Or words to that effect.
It is said that all political careers end in failure. The minister in Dunblane Cathedral preached on failure yesterday. The lectionary featured Mark Chapter 6. Jesus visited his home town of Nazareth and found that none of his miracles would work there. He was mocked and derided. It’s the tall poppy syndrome. The villagers remarked, “Ah kent ’is faither.” The minister recounted the old story of King Robert the Bruce following his crushing defeat at the Battle of Methven in 1306. He had to flee for is life, and is said to have sought refuge in a cave on the west coast of Arran, where, at his lowest ebb, he is said to have taken inspiration from observing a spider making repeated attempts to spin a web, and finally succeeding. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.
I thought, good heavens, in evoking one of the great proponents of Scottish Nationalism, is the minister making a barely oblique reference to the General Election, in which the SNP took a drubbing (or, Andrew Neil’s word, a skelping). Some people in the congregation might take offence. I could imagine some droll wit posting an aphorism in my pocket diary, along the lines of, “If at first you don’t succeed, pack it in.” Winston Churchill, with characteristic pugnacity, told the boys at Harrow, “Never give in, never give in. Never never never never…” But even Winston had to add a rider – “…except for convictions of honour and good sense.”
The turnout at the General Election was 60%. You can imagine the remaining 40% saying, “Why bother? They’re all the same. In it for themselves.” I’m told the Labour Party got approximately 60% of the seats with 34% of the vote. Reform UK got a large popular vote, and won only 5 seats. Nigel Farage is calling for electoral reform. Meanwhile the new government has hit the ground running. I doubt if electoral reform will be high on their agenda.
Turnout in yesterday’s French run-off election was much higher than in their first election last week. The centre left, and hard left, conspired to thwart Mme Le Pen. Consequently, there is a hung parliament, and it is anticipated French politics will become gridlocked. In this year when more people in the democratic world than ever before are exercising their franchise, there is a frequently expressed view that democracy is under threat, because of irreconcilably deep and toxic divisions.
Here, one thing we must be grateful for is that the General Election result was accepted without demur. I rather enjoyed the elaborate gavotte of the transfer of power; the gracious farewell from the Downing Street lectern, the trip to the palace for an audience with the king. For about half an hour we were without a Prime Minister, yet the wheels did not come off the jalopy. Then Sir Keir was asked to form a government, and it was his turn to say gracious words from the lectern. The outgoing PM did not incite an insurrection, and nobody tried to invade the Palace of Westminster.
But I rather wish Sir Keir hadn’t hit the ground running. I wish he had dissolved parliament for the summer recess, and, like Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, had gone off to Marienbad for six weeks to read novels. And not taken his mobile. We should run the show like a golf club, with a captain, secretary, treasurer and committee, each member serving a single term out of a sense of civic duty. Surely one term is enough. Was it Calvin Coolidge who said, “I do not choose to run”?
Perhaps the First Lady will have a word with the President. There’s another great aphorism in my pocket diary, this one from Jim Carrey, week beginning December 23rd:
“Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.”
jamescalumcampbell 