Morality lesson
Stepping into a time machine always prompts a sense of adventure but it can also foster idle – and sometimes pointless – speculation. Joyce Mcmillan invites us to wonder what the post-war world might have been like if voters had taken the cynical approach in 1945 as they appeared to do at last December’s election by giving Boris Johnson and the Conservatives a huge majority (Perspective, 6 March).
I think it is important to look at this matter not in terms of personalities but in the light of what was troubling or inspiring voters at the time. So far as I am aware there have been no opinion polls asking people to adjudicate on the prime minister’ s private life or marital status. But as in 1945, people were asked nearly three months ago now to determine a clear way forward. The parliamentary hiatus over Brexit which had lasted three years was causing such disillusionment that people yearned for certainty; just as after the war they sought the basics of a decent home, health care free at the point of delivery, a secure job and some dignity at the workplace.
It was not the personalities of the victors – Clement Attlee for Labour then or Boris Johnson for the Conservatives recently – that were crucial. It was what they stood for and the expectation that it would be delivered that gave both figures their massive majorities.
Too heavy an emphasis on the Prime Minister’s perceived morality is unlikely to score many political points. Mr Johnson may yet be the architect of his own downfall. It will be political failings rather than personal ones that will be the decisive factor. Lloyd George was a serial philanderer and maintained a mistress for much of his time in Downing Street. This has not diminished his reputation as one of the founders of the welfare state and as a wartime leader. In the end, he was brought down because he failed to maintain the loyalty of his own party and coalition partner. It will be political manouevres rather endless moralising that will determine his future in office.
BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes