Nowhere do political leaders have it easy

Opinion and Analysis

British Prime Minister David Cameron. He has been criticised over his recent reshuffle of the Cabinet. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS 

By Mike Eldon

In Summary

• Leadership anywhere is hard, and leaders everywhere are harshly judged.

I recently spent time in London and, as always, I indulged in comparing and contrasting what is happening there on the national political scene with what’s going on in Kenya.

 

Above all it left me feeling sorry for political leaders in both countries – and indeed across the globe. Certainly these days none seem to be judged to have achieved anything worthwhile.

Any action they take or don’t take is immediately condemned by the opposition and by business, trade unions, the media, and of course now the social media as having been plain wrong, and always too much, too little, too late or too soon.

Take British prime minister David Cameron’s July Cabinet reshuffle. Cameron has held back from the frequent changes many of his predecessors indulged in, on the basis that ministers need time to settle into their portfolios and become effective in pursuing the policies that brought them to power.

Now though, Cameron is being criticised for merely moving people in and out of office in order to position himself better for the next election, only a year or so away. It has nothing to do with their suitability for the job, the critics sneer; it’s just a cheap way of seeking popularity ahead of the polls.

Much of the talk was about the appointment of several women into the Cabinet, which hitherto had been dominated by middle-aged men, “the male, pale and stale” as some described them.

“Out with the suits,” shouted one headline. “What’s wrong with middle-aged men?” posed another, defending the voice of experience.

And “Seat belts on as L-Plate ministers take the wheel,” worried a third, concerned that those appointed, most serving their first parliamentary terms, would have insufficient time to master their briefs.

“Massacre of the moderates,” accused the opposition Labour Party, drawing attention to the sacking of pro-European ministers.

All this was happening while Labour leader Ed Miliband was in Washington for a photo-op with President Obama, inevitably leading some to ask why he wasn’t back home hammering Cameron at this juicy opportunity.

Miliband was in America with his shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, whom I watched being interviewed at length – a clear example of the benefits of a shadow cabinet.

You want a comment on foreign affairs? Go to the person who’s covering the substantive minister… and is preparing to take over in that capacity in the event his party wins the next election.

As I looked at the opinion polls I had to sympathise with the leaders of all three main political parties, whose ratings are uniformly low.

“So who’s going to be the next Prime Minister?” I asked politically savvy friends in London. “If they’re all useless, all losers, what will happen?’ To which I got only lame comments such as “I don’t know,” and “It will be a close race”.

A big part of the problem is that many Cabinet and shadow Cabinet members are viewed as “untrustworthy”.