His critics generally ignore the nation as it is, and keep their eyes fixed on the nation as it ought to be.
Whether writing, speaking or negotiating, he puts on a performance which the spectators enjoy all the more because it horrifies the guardians of convention.
And why the liberal idea of journalism is so wrong.
The task of choosing the final two runners must remain with MPs, who know them better than the members do.
It was the brainchild of Rab Butler, set up to educate Tory members. 54,000 Conservative activists, agents and other students took courses.
He was murdered by terrorists 40 years ago today. Now there is a new, exemplary biography of him.