Can a politician be normal?

I think that I have some understanding of what it is like to be a senior politician. I worked full-time for one in the 1970s, two years in the House of Commons, two years in the Northern Ireland Office and two years in the Home Office. Since those days, I have met many Members of Parliament and a lot of Ministers.
When I read about the set-backs facing figures like Gordon Brown in the UK and Barack Obama in the USA, I wonder how these politicians manage to cope with the pressures, especially today with 24/7 media coverage. In some walks of life, one can lie low for a while and recover one’s confidence. In politics, there is no time and no space to suffer privately. It’s amazing that more politicians do not resign or suffer mental illness or even commit suicide.
I guess that politicians survive by being emotionally tough and resilient. In part, this involves the capacity to create an alternative reality so that, however bad things look to others, the politician can battle through pressured times. I spoke recently to someone who worked very closely with Tony Blair in his final years as Prime Minister and he told me that Blair was amazingly up-beat and confident throughout his tribulations.
Yet, if the ability to create an alternative reality is essential to political survival, it can also have dramatic consequences. For many months, Gordon Brown was in total denial about the impact of abolishing the lower 10p tax rate. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair convinced himself that there were weapons of mass destruction in the country and, for months after the invasion, maintained that stance in the face of clear evidence to the contrary.
So, how can a top politician hold out against all the day-to-day criticisms but maintain a clear view of the essential reality of the situation? I think that part of the answer is to have some trusted advisers who can tell it as it really is. I worked as a national trade union official for no less than seven different General Secretaries, many of whom were tough operators. Part of my task, especially in my last seven years as Head of Research, was to say to the GS: “Look, I know you don’t want to hear this, but …” It was uncomfortable for him and for me.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 7:10 am and is filed under World current affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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