Political Princes

Back again.

I've been following the Conservative leadership race and have partly been thinking about it in terms of age.

Here's a list of the final eight candidates and their ages:

Jeremy Hunt (55)

Nadhim Zahawi (55)

Penny Mordaunt (49)

Tom Tugendhat (49)

Liz Truss (46)

Kemi Badenoch (42)

Suella Braverman (42)

Rishi Sunak (42)

[Boris (58)]

..and today the two eldest have just been knocked out. So the remaining six are all under fifty.

Younger People Are More Malleable

Ever since Rishi Sunak was raised up, quite out-of-the-blue, to the position of chancellor an instinctive dread has gripped my stomach. I instantly thought, "Oh no, we're getting a Macron". A young, slick banker to set the country straight.

So sitting here with him as one of the favourites to win doesn't surprise me. I've been expecting it.

Now I'm not saying a 40-odd year old should never be chancellor, or that a 42 year old should never become PM, but it's definitely something that you should try to avoid. Younger people are generally less worldly and more pliant. As we grow older we gain experience, and we gather gravitas, and we learn how to say "No" to people. We become less willing to bend with the wind.

There are countless examples of this sort of thing from history. The sturdy old king, unwilling to bend to the wishes of his advisors. Ousted and replaced by his younger and more easily flattered son. Who, enamoured with the fashions of the day, pursues the policies of his advisors - as long as they provide an easy path for him and flatter his ego enough.

In the modern world we have a bevy of these young princes: Trudeau, Jacinda Ardern (who still, even now, is just forty-one), Macron. Obama kinda fitted the mould too.

Tony Blair was arguably the first prototype - he was aged forty-three, and according to Wikipedia was the youngest person to become PM in Britain since Lord Liverpool in 1812.

I say according to Wiki because I'm literally getting these ages straight from there. I don't want to create the false pretence that I'm recalling all this straight from the top of my head. I have no idea who Lord Liverpool is, what he did, or if he was any good. I do know what I've witnessed with my own eyes however, and since Blair we've had these cookie-cutter political princes thrust upon us time and again. Always, strangely enough, pushing the same progressive globalist politics.

And if we ever choose not to vote for them it's called populism.