But politicians never do. They run round like headless chickens, they close ranks, they panic, they go round television studios looking stunned and saying they`re listening, they`re listening, but they`re not you know. Something happens to perfectly ordinary people once they become elected MPs and it happens again only double when they become Ministers. They lose the use of their ears. They forget that they are still ordinary people, that they do not walk on water, and they certainly forget how the rest of us live. Takes half an hour after they get in. But it is one of the most gratifying things about living in a democracy that we actually do have power which is greater than theirs and that we can watch them walk out of the door carrying their own suitcases and into oblivion. No matter how big for their boots they become and how arrogant and supercilious, how many mistakes they make and how much they muck things up, they can be kicked out. I hope those left have been watching carefully. Ken Livingstone did some good things quite early on in his reign, though he was never to be trusted. Why do I think that ? Because years ago, he said so himself. He said 'Just don`t turn your back.' It was not the revelation that he had several children by several women, nor the congestion charge nor the bendy buses that did for Ken, it was not even the huge tide against Labour in general because Ken has always sat uneasily as Labour; he was kicked out of the party for some years, remember. No, it was the corruption, the dodgy dealings, systematically and patiently uncovered by Andrew Gilligan, first for the Evening Standard, then in a TV programme. People mind their hard-earned being syphoned off out of the back door to line the pockets of cronies, those who stood on the PC high-ground while heading non-existent or non-functioning organisations to which Ken gave fat grants. And where did the money go ? Where does it ever go ?
But let`s look at the others. Do you know, I find I can forgive a great deal. I can forgive Gordon`s fatal indecision about whether to hold an election or not. I can sympathise with him that he finds himself caught in the eye of the sudden combination of whirlwind, hurricane and tornado which is the global financial meltdown. I think Gordon is a man of probity and of conscience who is not in power for power`s sake. I don`t think he is much good in a crisis but I don`t actually expect him or his team first to walk on water and then turn it into wine.
But like most people I know, I mind the way I am spoken to. I mind the tone of voice which so quickly becomes their badge and symbol of office. I mind being treated and addressed like a half-wit. I mind being patronised and talked down-to. I mind the 'we know best, that is something you cannot possibly understand, just accept that we are right' tone these people use whenever they open their mouths. And I am sorry to say that the women are the worst. How dare Hazel Blears and Yvette Cooper and Ruth Kelly speak to me like that ? I want them to get on with their jobs. That is what I am paying them for. When things go wrong, I want them to be called to account and I want an explanation - and I will listen to it, which is more than they will do to me. I will not be addressed in a contemptuous and pompous tone and told it has nothing to do with me. Oh, but the joy when they get their come- uppance is very considerable. It is precisely because I know they will be brought down to earth and that the ministerial car and chauffeur will no longer be at their disposal if they cock things up, that I still smile through my rage when they do address me in that tone. (And also, why I am a Republican. But that is a subject for another day. )
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