WIsn't William Hague not just the Prime Minister of Oxford but also the leader of the Conservative Party? At 63 years old, he is fit and healthy. Has David Cameron also reached the peak at the age of 57? Speaking of which, where was 66-year-old Tony Blair when the Labor Party elected Keir Starmer as its leader? True, they have “failed” in some respects during their time in power, but they know the ropes and have the wisdom of experience. A coach will not be fired just because he loses a game. Are the leaders of the past essentially useless given the current talent available?
It is said that all political careers end in failure. However, this is a recent phenomenon. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were leaders under the brutal circumstances of coronavirus and its aftermath. Neither was successful, but I hope they both come out wiser and older after this experience. And that wisdom is valuable to the nation. We did not expel William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli, Ramsay MacDonald and Stanley Baldwin, Winston Churchill and Harold Wilson because they lost an election. All of them went on to win their parties back into power.
Most retired prime ministers say the same thing, as do many in top positions. That is, if they had their time again, they would do things differently. Most of their mistakes were due to lack of experience. Leaders should not have the right to serve a second term, but to deny them is to deny a country the ability to choose experience over newness.
As it stands, Britain has recently been ruled by four virtual apprentices: Johnson, Liz Truss, Sunak and Starmer. Each is forced to learn on the job and govern through trial and error. They lack wise advisors and are slaves to media pressure. It's hard to imagine a company being run by a board of directors whose members have little experience with what they're producing. Only three members of the current cabinet have previously held ministerial positions, and none of them include its leader.
Britain's democracy is parliamentary rather than presidential. This is a precaution against the kind of populist hijacking of Downing Street that could occur in France or the United States. However, this would significantly limit the options available to voters and limit the voting power to decide the leader of the party to party members. It is depressing to think that the four candidates proposed to be the next Conservative Party leader are truly the best that British politics has to offer.
We may not want to go back to the days of Blair and Cameron, Gordon Brown and George Osborne, John Major and Hague. But that would be assuming that they learned nothing from their experience and therefore have nothing to offer. It is noteworthy that very few people park their cars in the purgatory of the House of Lords. It's as if they are waiting for a higher level call.
So, if they agree, why not put Prime Minister Cameron and Prime Minister Hague on the list for leadership, for example? I might not vote for them myself, but it would be a reasonable option. What will happen in public opinion polls?
