As a coda to my last post, it is surely worth remembering that the last time the Conservative Party performed this exercise, they managed to select someone who was absolutely brilliant at making up policy on the hoof and charmed all those tories in the shires and on their golf courses, but turned out to be absolutely hopeless at government and that almost everything he said was horseshit.
So, the one thing these debates make me think is that it could be good to have a Prime Minister who seems to be universally regarded as decent, but dull, as if this is a terminal handicap to his chances, but at least he might have the virtue of thinking before he speaks.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Charles, I join many others in hoping that your covid experience remains very mild and that Romilly recovers fast.
We all greatly enjoy your blogs and the wisdom and views you share with us.
However I wonder if others share my dislike of your digressions into political matters.
Your past “partygate ” blogs I felt was an area you should not go and while many shared your views I felt it diluted your authority in areas of your true knowledge and enlightenment.
I hope you might reflect on this..
I do hope this will not continue as this countries long leadership battle ensues…
and I was certainly surprised that in the above piece you eliminated the possibility of a female prime minister !
Dear Piers, You may well be right and I have not made political comments for quite a while. It is certainly not my area of expertise. Charles
Charles, first, I am sorry to see you and Romilly are facing the Rona; good luck with it. Second, I appreciate your political comments immensely, please don’t stop publishing them. It gives me comfort when I see people I respect agree with me, and it makes me challenge my own views when I find they don’t. I think it is an absolutely essential part of any democracry that none of us should ever feel unable to say what we want about politics, which, since it governs our health, wealth and much else, is ultimately the thing which affects us more than anything else. Because we are all – or should be – equal under the political gods, with our solitary vote, it is wrong, indeed dangerous, to pretend that some of us are more qualified to write about politics than others. That you don’t like (say) Boris Johnson makes no difference at all to your authority on matters of art, indeed it is really absurd to suggest it does; what possible affect could your views on Brexit have on your appraisal of a Renaissance Madonna? None at all, and if anyone feels your views on such a Madonna are diminished because of your views on Brexit, then I’m afraid that only reveals something about them.
Dear Bendor, A bit of me agrees with you ! But I tend only to comment when my blood boils over and otherwise I tend not to, particularly when lots of other people are saying what I think. Charles
Charles – best wishes to you and Romilly and I’m glad the blog produced some action. I enjoy your political posts, so please don’t stop them. We are all amateurs in this game! And I am keen on a good PM, not necessarily a female one. Bridget