Following her
Times are tough, but we can get through this together: the Elizabethan message our politicians should be giving in the wake of the last two weeks.
HOW on earth do you follow that?
Try following in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch now recognised as one of the greatest leaders this country has ever seen, the woman whose passing has cut through the last living, public thread to the wartime generation.
How do you pick-up the baton after the last 10, extraordinary days? That vast wave of mourning which rose up in Aberdeenshire nearly two weeks ago and broke upon London so spectacularly last week.
How does one respond to that unforgettable, sun-dappled Monday just 48-hours ago as a nation bade its farewell in scenes that will, perhaps, never be seen again on such a scale nor carried off with such solemnity and reverence?
Yet, for our political class, they must, and quickly. Party conference season begins at the weekend: we will shift swiftly from the sublime to the dull routine of British politics. For our new barely known Prime Minister, for the Leader of the Opposition, and – here in Scotland – for the SNP leader and First Minister, they now have to tear up everything they had planned over the summer months and reflect the national mood, one transformed by the Queen’s death. How to follow that?
Here, I think, is what they need to reflect upon. Firstly, it may only be fleeting, but this is a rare moment of national unity for our country. From the tight medieval streets of Edinburgh to the grand avenues of London, we uncovered something special since the Queen died on September 8: a country surprised by the amount it shares. Over the last ten years, as we have staggered through a seemingly endless trail of divisive referendums, bitter elections, and here-today gone-tomorrow Prime Ministers, we have become defined by who we’re not: by Yes or No, by Leave or Remain. With London’s Lamborghini class living alongside families in grinding poverty, we’ve also become a country marked by increasing social divisions, too.
Yet that 10 day mourning period has witnessed a coming together; a reminder that the vast majority of people in our country aren’t those at the extremes of politics and wealth, but those of us who live our lives in the middle. And just like the rifles held in reverse by our magnificent armed forces as a mark of respect to their commander in chief on Monday, so our own political arms have been laid down as well. Here in Scotland, SNP voters stood alongside Conservative voters on the streets and realised, perhaps, that they are more than just voters after all. In short, the Queen’s slow 10 day passage to her final resting place in Windsor Castle allowed the country to breathe again, to remind us that we are less defined by our politics, more by our shared traditions and culture.
Yes, of course, the cynics will scoff. But even cynics pause from updating their Twitter feed when confronted by the enormity of death. And here is the point: whatever people’s views, whether Monarchist, Republican, or somewhere in between, we have all gone through the same national experience over the last two weeks and, in some way or other, been affected by it. We have all had a holiday from the humdrum. We have parked our politics. To suggest the United Kingdom is a country united in grief may well be over-cooking it, but that we are a nation united by a common story which has now turned another chapter is indisputable. You can scoff at that, but you can’t not be a part of it.
And then there’s something particular about the life we’ve come together to mourn. I imagine the Queen would giggle into her first heavenly gin and Dubonnet at the suggestion she was some kind of modern-day saint, but I’m surely not alone in feeling that we have marked the passing of a very special set of values over these last few days. They roll off the tongue easily enough: service, duty, selflessness. Simple, when said. But what marked out the Queen was the seriousness, the stoicism, and the constancy with which she applied them to her life. Never putting a foot wrong. Never saying an unkind word. Doing so for 70 years. So while the last two weeks has been a national event, it has also been a deeply personal one too. We have marked a life well lived and all reflected on what that really means. We have paid heed of the Queen’s Christian ethic and been reminded of just how much our religious institutions still contribute to our national “wellbeing”. We are reflecting on whether our modern secular society has those values in such abundance. We are, I suspect, looking to our leaders to see if they can grasp all this with the same moral seriousness that the Queen displayed in such quantity.
Politicians can always go too far when seeking the moral high ground of course: let us remember how, in the wake of the 9/11 bombings, Tony Blair went straight to his party conference that autumn to declare famously that “the kaleidoscope has been shaken” and that we must now “make this world anew”. There followed the calamity of Iraq. But as Truss, Starmer, and Sturgeon prepare to pick up their political batons this autumn, there’s a temmplate for how they should act.
That sense of national unity is a call to them. They must now speak beyond their own tribes. They must try to speak to us all. And they have a chance not just to reflect that national mood but to steer it.
First, they should be honest about the challenges we all face. They are many. From the debilitated state of our NHS, to the anaemic growth rates of our economy, to the lack of cheap available energy to heat our homes this winter, the list of problems that will fill our headlines over the coming months is not a short one. Like the Queen, our leaders need to show a steady gaze in the face of an unsteady world.
Second, accept there is no quick fix. It is all very tempting to promise everything tomorrow but – as the Queen’s example showed us – our political leaders would be better to acknowledge that only stoic constancy and serious application can produce a more secure and prosperous future. Whether that means building more nuclear power stations, steadily reforming our NHS, or constructing the new homes our country desperately needs, just stick with it. Focus on the long-term for once (memo to N.Sturgeon: that means dumping the fantasy notion of a referendum this time next year and working to get Scotland back on track).
And, grounded in that realism, show some optimism. Modern Britain has shown this week that it is far from the self-loathing basket case of the New York Times’ imagination. Rather, it is a lucky country with a remarkable history that can bring the world together. Give it decent political leadership, and imagine what can be achieved.
Nearly a year ago, the Queen spoke sharply to world leaders gathered in Glasgow for the COP 26 summit. “What leaders do today: that is governing and politics. What they do for tomorrow: that is statesmanship,” she declared. The United Kingdom’s greatest stateswoman has now passed into history. Following in her wake this week, our political leaders must aim for the same serious, steady and constant statesmanship themselves. Times are tough, but we can overcome them. That is the message our leaders should give as they attempt to follow greatness this week.
ENDS
This article first appeared in the Scottish Daily Mail, 21st September 2022