Obama’s wisdom on interior decoration

IT WAS interesting to note the Code of Conduct for MPs, the general principles of which list selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership, the latter being defined as “promoting all principles by leadership and example”. With these principles in mind, is there a more specific job description for MPs in general and a PM in particular? You know the sort of thing, essential and desirable experience, skills and qualities?

I am currently reading volume one of Barrack Obama’s presidential memoires, A Promised Land, which in my opinion is an honest, candid and detailed introspective account of his presidency. Obama believes that “democracy is not a gift but something founded on empathy [the ability to identify with a person and so understand his or her feelings], common understanding, and built together day by day”.

However, I am drawn to page 252 of a chapter that describes Obama’s and his family’s arrival at the White House where he notes, as an aside, that the First Family pays from their own pocket for any new furniture, alongside groceries, toilet paper and extending to extra staff for a private dinner party. Obama reveals there is a White House budget for a president to “redo the Oval Office, but despite worn upholstery on the chairs and sofas I decided that a historic recession wasn’t the best time to be going through fabric swatches”.

Fast-forward to the pandemic and the impact on all of society, especially the desperate and devastating economic repercussions. Perhaps Boris Johnson should have taken a leaf out of Barack Obamas book, both literally and metaphorically?

Carol Turvey Ammanford