Like most political nerds, I’ve watched the Aaron Sorkin TV classic “The West Wing” many times and I love it. It’s great TV, in a political setting. It’s not dramatised documentary.
Martin Sheen’s President Bartlett is a thinly veiled cypher for what Democrats wished Bill Clinton could have been – without his philandering flaw – but Sorkin always built likeable, credible and strong Republican characters too. It gives us little insight into the battle for the real White House right now. Neither Harris nor Trump would fit in the world Sorkin created. It’s very much ‘of its time’.
On the unrealistic front I’d get irritated as a political journalist at the sheer number of young men and women in the Westminster bubble who would genuinely dream of being a Josh or Toby or C.J. in the future. They never seemed to understand that in real life Sorkin isn’t scripting everyone’s lines.
One thing that was realistic, and relevant today, were the endless scenes of staffers trying to support their principal, on constant call, waking up still in their offices, getting to work at stupid o’clock, leaving, if they did, at even stupider o’clock and generally seeing the inside of their own homes, and if they had one, the family in it, very rarely.
At the risk of writing a concerto on the world’s tiniest violins, working behind the scenes in politics is exhausting. Some take the boot camp approach, that if you ‘can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen’ but this is very short sighted. An irony because outwardly Dominic Cummings gave the impression this is how he saw behind-the-scenes service.
I not asking for sympathy – even though I can attest to it being gruelling, but I think there’s a more important strategic point; exhausted people don’t give you the edge you need.
It’s something people have seen before, even at the top as a piece about Theresa May in the Spectator noted back in 2017, and a sitting US President is not even on the ballot today in America because he was seen as not just old but ‘tired’.
Over the last months I have seen Kemi Badenoch conserving her energy and prioritise her time, not always agreeing to attend everything offered and prioritising what she did, because frankly, if you can’t, you will burn out. Robert Jenrick’s stamina was much admired by his team but I know even with that, they have ‘felt the pace’.
Kemi Badenoch once told ConservativeHome’s Andrew Gimson in a fascinating interview from 2017:
“I feel we are much softer as a generation, and that’s probably a better point to make, it sounds less party political. I think that we have gone a bit soft in terms of how resilient we are in dealing with adversity.”
She will be a leader who expects hard work and dedication but she’s also careful not to wreck her own stamina. She actually asked me at an event recently how long she’d be needed because she wanted to get back to her family and put her feet up. After a very long day this was not rude, soft or lazy, and she did the job that was asked – it was just smart.
In fact, I don’t know any senior politician who really thinks it’s a virtue to work 24/7 and they are right – if you want to do the job properly. It’s why I dislike the constant media stories every time a leader, including a Prime Minister, goes on holiday – you know the theme: ‘surely with X going on they should be back at their desk?’
Everybody needs a break at some point. For some – that’s now.
Again, to flourish the small violin for a moment, many of those who worked in Government for the last two years, have also immediately worked as volunteers on an election campaign they strongly suspected they couldn’t win, and some of those individuals went, unpaid, straight into working on a gruelling leadership campaign.
Whether MP, former MP, former Spad, party or parliamentary staffer, the last five months have been an exhausting marathon. Campaigns can’t run without these teams and the work can be a high-speed roller coaster ride that takes stamina, duty and belief to its absolute limits.
I can see our commentariat gearing up to write ‘so what? Why should we care?’ and yes, there is a bit of me that thinks ‘it’s your job and you wanted it’ but pursue that to its logical conclusion and it is simply a recipe to fail. There’s a reason sleep deprivation is a form of torture. There’s a reason stress is universally thought of as medically bad for you. Nobody performs at their best when run down. It’s even used as an insult towards governments by opponents – “this tired Government”. Even the electorate get’s fatigued. They did with Tory infighting.
Now the race is done, and this ‘renewal’ mission gets underway, the key players behind the scenes should get time to recharge their batteries. This process of rebuilding will require the teams around the leader and shadow cabinet to be at their best. When Badenoch told CCHQ staff yesterday that she wanted their creative juices flowing, she will also surely want them fresh and ready for delivering that.
It’s not just the Conservatives.
Labour had been working relentlessly to win the election for ages before July, with little time allowed for a break. They assumed they might get the summer to get that break, expecting to arrive fresh after an election in November. I know, many of them didn’t get any break and perhaps, just perhaps, their four months of missteps are a result of that.
The team of Conservatives that is going to do the hard yards of getting the party back in contention shouldn’t make the same mistake. Nobody is arguing for sympathy, feather bedding, or being slack, nor that long standing aides and allies should step out of the way. It’s just that public service at this level should be done by energised people ready for the rigours of the job – getting match-fit as the saying goes.
Like incremental advantages that sportsmen work on, to be faster, better and stronger than their opponents, every bit of space to think, room to create, and to be in the best possible condition can be played to advantage in politics. Especially true when it’s a battle with those for whom the relentless grind of government is now becoming a draining reality. It’s simply turning the tables.
Rushing and stumbling seems very much Labour’s problem right now. Let’s not make it ours.
Kemi Badenoch has told CCHQ they can get back in 2029. We are starting to see the team that she is building around her, with announcements yesterday and today. We have two chairmen, a Chief Whip, shadow Education Secretary, Chancellor and Foreign Secretary. All will be itching to get on with the job, but there is time to take time. Not lots of it, there are important local elections in May, but there’s a short time to take some time.
The new leader and her team should grant it, to better take on the government, and start winning again.