‘The British Way’

Jeremy Hunt is a veteran Conservative politician in Britain. In the recent government, he was chancellor of the exchequer. His concession speech was notable — at least to my American ear. He said he had a message for his children, “who I sincerely hope are asleep now.” The message was as follows:

“This may seem like a tough day for our family as we move out of Downing Street, but it isn’t. We are incredibly lucky to live in a country where decisions like this are made not by bombs or bullets, but by thousands of ordinary citizens peacefully placing crosses in boxes on bits of paper.”

Hunt continued,

“Brave Ukrainians are dying every day to defend their right to do what we did yesterday. And we must never take that for granted. Don’t be sad, this is the magic of democracy.”

Mr. Hunt’s wife, Lucia Guo, was born in China. He said, “I’m so proud of my wife. Despite not being born in this country, she’s turned out to be the most formidable canvasser I know.”

Then, this:

“I was incredibly proud to serve under Rishi Sunak, but I wish the incoming Labour government well. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are decent people and committed public servants who have changed the Labour Party for the better. Whatever our policy differences, we all now need them to succeed.”

(Starmer has become prime minister, and Reeves chancellor.)

I know what a lot of people here in America would say about Jeremy Hunt: “Loser, loser, loser. Wimp, wimp, wimp.” No, not at all. He is a man who understands and appreciates democracy — political freedom, the rule of law. We could use more of that.

• There are big differences between the Conservative Party and our Republican Party — most dramatically, on Ukraine. The Conservatives are strongly pro-Ukraine and anti-Putin. Moreover, both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are strongly pro-Ukraine and anti-Putin. Evidently, British policy will not change at all.

A message from the new PM:

Our equivalent of Nigel Farage, Donald Trump, will almost certainly be president (again) starting in January. The GOP at large is closer to Farage than to Sunak, Hunt, et al. In America, Farage has won, if you will. Whether one welcomes this development or recoils from it, it is true.

• About a year ago, I was with some Brits and made a comment about Sunak — Sunak and Britain. I said something like this:

“I think we should pause, just for a second, to reflect that someone of Indian background is prime minister. This testifies to something great about Britain: its liberality, its status as an open society. A man like Sunak is PM and no one bats an eye. It is perfectly normal. I think Britons can be proud of this, even if quietly.”

(Which would be British.)

A couple of people present were mad at me, saying I was stupid and so on. Fine. But I’m glad to see that Mr. Sunak agrees with me. On Friday, he said,

“One of the most remarkable things about Britain is how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become prime minister and that I could watch my two young daughters light Diwali candles on the steps of Downing Street.

“We must hold true to that idea of who we are. That vision of kindness, decency, and tolerance that has always been the British way.”

• There’s one in every crowd (and maybe more than one). During the campaign, Channel 4 aired remarks by someone canvassing for Farage, a canvasser who said, “I’ve always been a Tory voter, but what annoys me is that f***ing Paki we’ve got in. What good is he?” Sunak felt obliged to respond. (For news stories on this, go here and here.)

• More remarks from Sunak, speaking in front of 10 Downing Street on Friday:

“Whilst he has been my political opponent, Sir Keir Starmer will shortly become our prime minister. In this job, his successes will be all of our successes and I wish him and his family well.

“Whatever our disagreements in this campaign, he is a decent, public-spirited man who I respect. He and his family deserve the very best of our understanding as they make the huge transition to their new lives behind this door, and as he grapples with this most demanding of jobs in this increasingly unstable world.”

Geezum.

• All of my life, I have read reporting from Boston. I lived in the area myself, for a while. But not until a week ago had I read any reporting from Boston, England. The Wall Street Journal ran a story headed “Brexit Backlash: Brits Now Regret Their Populist Revolt.” Here is a portion:

“I’m angry,” says Steve Jackson, a burly taxi driver and part-time construction worker in Boston, a town of 70,000 in eastern England. Boston is known in England for having the country’s tallest parish church, as the birthplace of several founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and as the country’s euroskeptic capital, with 75% of voters having chosen, eight years ago this month, to leave the EU.

But many people here who backed Brexit feel betrayed. Jackson said that none of the promises made by politicians who lobbied for Brexit have come true: higher wages, cheaper food and energy, more money for healthcare, and less immigration. “We’ve been lied to — lock, stock and barrel.”

• Have you seen the video of Theresa May, door-knocking? Charming. And very, very British, in my eye. A Labour politician commented on it:

• Long ago, from wise heads, I learned a political lesson: There is such a thing as staying too long. Mrs. Thatcher stayed too long, some said. Mario Cuomo stayed too long, some said. It’s hard to win four terms in a row, you know?

One of the catchiest slogans in political history was the Republicans’ in the 1946 midterms: “Had Enough?”

The Conservatives were in power in Britain for 14 years. That’s a long time. Almost unnaturally long, in a competitive democracy.

“Time for a change” is an effective political pitch, and a common sentiment, in elections all over. I have a memory of 1992 — a bitter one.

I had a co-worker and friend who was voting for Clinton. I could not budge him, with any argument I made. “Time for a change,” he kept saying. Immovably, he said, “Time for a change.”

I said, “Really, Johnny? Why don’t we go out and drive our cars off a bridge? That would be a change. How about that?”

With a grim grin, he said, “Time for a change.”

• Say this for the Brits: When they change, they change fast. I mean, there’s hardly any transition period at all. It’s wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.