Our Business Editor, Mike Hughes writes a letter to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson - and asks him "has he forgotten to lead?"

Boris Johnson

The Garden Party

10 Downing Street

London SW1A 2AA

Dear Prime Minister,

Hope all is well, relatively speaking, and that you don’t mind me dropping you a line.

I’m fairly sure you’re doing your best there, but things seem a little more challenging lately (Trevor the landlord at the Relentless Cockup say it’s an absolute Ship Show - whatever that means!) so I hope you’re up for a bit of well-meaning advice.

You are the country’s leader, after all, so if any of us can help you do that a little better, I know you’ll take it on board.

The thing is, I like a bit of leadership. I like showing it, I like watching it and I like receiving it.

You apparently lead a lot of people, so you’ll know it comes in many forms - advice, mentoring, encouragement, redirection... but it also has to have a spine.

Following a leader shouldn’t involve downright horror at what they will do next. Done well it should engender a respect for what is being done.

In the nicest possible way....how can I say this constructively....I think you may have forgotten how to lead.

I know...it’s been a busy time for you (and I hope you find a way to thank your staff for their hard work - remember, it never hurts to relax and chill out in these heartbreaking, shattering, tragic and life-ending times), so maybe it has slipped your mind or dropped a few places down the list of priorities.

Maybe looking back at a few of the previous PMs might help. I’m sure a lot of them had their own issues, but most of them seem to have come out of it with a shred or two of decency and I would suggest some of them (not all of them, there are probably some real rascals in there!) as examples of leadership you might learn from.

People like Theresa May, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, John Major, Margaret Thatcher, James Callaghan, Harold Wilson, Sir Edward Heath, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Macmillan, Sir Anthony Eden, Sir Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee or Neville Chamberlain.

Or how about Stanley Baldwin, James Ramsay MacDonald, Andrew Bonar Law, David Lloyd George, Herbert Henry Asquith, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Arthur James Balfour, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Archibald Primrose, William Ewart Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli, Edward Smith Stanley, Lord John Russell, Henry John Temple or George Hamilton Gordon?

Perhaps Sir Robert Peel, William Lamb, Arthur Wellesley, Charles Grey, Frederick Robinson, George Canning, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Spencer Perceval, William Cavendish-Bentinck, William Wyndham Grenville, William Pitt, Henry Addington, William Petty, Charles Watson-Wentworth, Lord Frederick North, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, William Pitt ‘The Elder’, George Grenville, John Stuart, Thomas Pelham-Holles, William Cavendish, Henry Pelham, Spencer Compton or Robert Walpole could help. Never be afraid to learn Prime Minister - we’re always here to help build a better Boris!

What they showed, at various times and in their own ways, was the sort of character that people wanted to follow. A determination - perhaps not a crazed suicide mission - to take the country forwards, make it a better place and be proud of what they leave behind.

Leaders have to be seen as a better bet than the people they lead. That’s sort of the point.

We’ve got some great ones here in the North East if you’d like another list, but the point is (I bet you’re anxious for to get to it!) that we’re struggling and we need some help.

We don’t wart to spend our precious time worrying about our leader. We want to be led.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve got more important things to do than listen to someone like me blather on about decency, leadership, conscience and betrayal of standards.

All the best,

Mike.

 

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