Andrea Leadsom got into terrible trouble in the run-up to the last Tory leadership election for hinting that her experience of being a mother and raising children gave her an advantage over Mrs May – a wider experience, a broader understanding of people, greater empathy perhaps. This was most unwise because according to diversity and inclusivity theory, the new religion of our age, all people must be treated equally and can be assumed to be of equal capability in every respect regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social or family background, disability etc. Outrageous, then, to suggest that motherhood – a problematic concept, to say the least – confers an experience denied to others.
But did Leadsom know something we did not about Mrs May, our robotic prime minister, now bunkered down in Number Ten, clinging to office like a limpet mine? Was she trying to convey a coded message, however inept, that May had certain defects of personality that rendered her unsuited for the office of prime minister? What she wanted to say, but could not, was perhaps something on these lines: ‘May is a dominatrix, a control freak, who is incapable of accepting that other people have opinions that might differ from her own, who has a severely limited capacity to empathise with others, who has a talent for lying, deceiving and manipulating people, who is incapable of accepting responsibility for her actions, and who has a pathological indifference to what others think of her’. She was unable to find the words to express her thoughts in a politically ‘acceptable’ manner. But it turned out she was spot on. What a pity we did not listen to her!
No doubt Leadsom has her faults, but she has proved a competent and dignified Leader of the House and has won the respect of all sides, as was apparent in some of the tributes paid her tonight. She is also, by all accounts, a decent and likeable sort of person who can get along with others. And I liked it when, asked to comment on the petition for a people’s vote, which had reached several million, she calmly replied, ‘When it has reached 17.4 million, I will take note’.
Now, unlike her supine cabinet colleagues, she has shown she has some balls, resigning on principle while others continue their manoeuvres. It is reported that other senior ministers asked for urgent meetings today but were turned down, that May has even taken the telephone off the hook. She is ‘too focused on delivering Brexit’ to listen to them. But they continue to stomach it.
Yes, I find I am warning to Leadsom more and more. Subscribe
Andrea Leadsom’s revenge is so sweet I can taste it myself.
Her example should give us courage – the truth will out!
No. Surely we have learned that none of the people who regard themselves as runners have any hope of uniting the party or making headway with the electorate. They are all diminished by association with the past three years as well as the pernicious policies that have let bandits loose in our business and finance and made a walk in the street as dangerous as a visit to a third world hell-hole.
We need to jump a generation and give one of the many talented and life-experienced newcomers a chance
Dead right Michael. Penny Mordaunt, anyone?
That age group certainly if not her. I thought Rory Stewart (though a remainer unlike me) as he seemed to be able to answer questions straightforwardly and was the sort of decent chap that Willy Whitelaw was (whose seat he holds). I also thought his loyalty to May was to his credit when all the others were flailing about but doing nothing. However, he has little support and some enemies I think.
William Hosking: Of the numerous MPs named by the BBC as potential candidates, I’d go for Priti Patel. But, as the great conservative Dr Johnson almost said, Who shall settle the precedence between Remainer Lice and Leaver Fleas?