Tusk’s tale of pride and prejudice in Bath
Former president of the European Council is scathing about his time in the city in his memoirs
SINCE Roman legionaries lounged in its spas, few places in Britain have been as desirable a destination as Bath. Steeped in history and elegant Georgian architecture, it is judged by Unesco to be “one of the most beautiful cities in Europe”.
Unless, that is, you are Donald Tusk. The former president of the European Council pulled few punches as he reflected on his time in the city in his recently published diaries.
In January 2016, he attended a language school in the region to “polish” his English, as David Cameron conducted last-ditch negotiations with the EU before the Brexit vote that June.
Unfortunately, however, the qualities that earned Bath World Heritage Site status did not cast the same spell over the hard-nosed Polish politician.
Mr Tusk recalled a visit to the historic circle of town houses known as the Circus, which he knew to be considered “one of the best works of British architecture”.
“God knows why,” he wrote in his memoir entitled Szczerze, which means “frankly” in English. “A circle of boring, identical facades.” He continued:
“A few hundred metres away there is a small Jane Austen museum, she lived here for several years. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ would make a good motto for Brexit.”
His stay at the language school – which The Daily Telegraph established to be Linguarama, near the village of Box, Wiltshire – was no happier.
“It’s cold, it winds mercilessly, and it rains almost all the time... the nights are black, the days are dark grey, and I am suffering from fever and cough,” Mr Tusk wrote. “I might just as well go and hang myself.”
His withering assessment of south-west England yesterday provoked a backlash, as Bathonians leapt to their city’s defence – and even questioned Mr Tusk’s taste.
“I am staggered that
Tusk would say it was boring,” said David Crellin, of the History of Bath Research
Group, regarding his criticism of the Circus. “Its repetitiveness and common nature is its strength, not its weakness – it is a pity that Tusk does not appreciate that vision as it overwhelms many people when they look at it for the first time.” Sue Swainbank, of Bath Tours, was more frank: “I am quite insulted by the comments actually. I think it shows a lack of appreciation of splendid Georgian architecture.” For others, it was Mr Tusk’s slight of the British weather that particularly stuck in the craw. Kathryn Davis, CEO of Visit Bath, said: “It was unfortunate that when Donald Tusk was in Bath there was inclement weather. When you come to Bath there are other things you can do which do not involve good weather.” Robin Moss, a local councillor, added: “Tusk must be used to this type of weather – is he not from Poland? It’s not as though he comes from Italy.”
At the Linguarama language school, based in a grand Jacobean manor house, memories of Mr Tusk’s visit have endured. Jon Waring, 48, taught the politician grammar and vocabulary and recalled how he was keen to “brush up on his language and negotiating skills” to talk to Mr Cameron about the impending Brexit vote. “[He was] practising a lot of diplomatic language – so instead of saying ‘that is impossible’, you would say ‘that would be difficult’,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “You do not say ‘that is crazy’, you can’t upset people by using direct language.”
He described how the “natural and normal” Mr Tusk was stopped for autographs by Polish people in the streets of Bath, where he spent time hunting for tea to buy his wife. “He went to one of those classic tea shops and bought back two massive bags of tea, [enough to fill] half a suitcase.”
Mr Tusk gave his tutor the impression he “liked being back in Bath after 20 years” and cheerily joined in with social activities at the school.
Mr Tusk was said to have spent around six hours a day in one-to-one lessons focused on different areas and was accompanied throughout his stay by a bodyguard.
‘The nights are black, the days are dark grey… I might just as well go and hang myself’
Poor Donald Tusk was not consoled by the glories of Bath on a visit in 2016 as president of the European Council to polish up his English. It was a rainy January, the days were grey and he had a cough. He knew the Circus in Bath was admired as a piece of architecture, but all he could see, according to his newly published diary, was “a circle of boring, identical facades”. Mr Tusk was not indifferent to buildings. He liked London’s railway termini and “at King’s Cross I always try to find Platform 9¾ that Harry Potter used to go to Hogwarts”. He might have found the Circus more magical if he’d known the architect had intended its diameter to be that of Stonehenge, which he thought the work of Druids. In any case, boredom with the Circus may not warrant a “special place in hell”, but it does indicate a certain want of soul.