Government Affairs Blog

Strange Days

The last week has been rather strange to say the least.  Everyone knew that Gordon Brown was about to become Prime Minister but no one predicted a Tory MP would defect to Labour.  The leadership transition, when it happened, was swift.  Within a couple of hours of Tony Blair standing down he was photographed at a London train station holding his own bag, all the trappings of power gone, just another commuter travelling home.

Then as the new PM was putting together his Cabinet, one with some of the talents, the terrorist threat reared its ugly head partly thwarted by a traffic warden.

There has been much debate about what Britain is and what it is to be British in the last few years.  There was a clue to the British nature in all these events.

The British aren’t stoical because stoicism involves having a clearly defined philosophical viewpoint.  The British prefer understatement.  What better way to illustrate that than seeing the man who sups with world leaders, who was a world leader, waiting for a train to take him back to Sedgefield? 

It might have happened somewhere else in the world but it seems very British that the much-hated traffic warden helped to stop mass murder on our London streets.

As for Quentin Davies, his main reason for switching parties was because of David Cameron’s anti-EU stance.  While many people in Britain are uncomfortable with much that comes from Brussels, for now at least, they take a common sense view that we cannot afford to leave the European enterprise.

Understatement, common sense, these are British characteristics and the way we express them makes them part of our values.  They make not be ‘big’ themes but that is the point.  They serve us all and help us get on with our lives. 

Simon Goldie is Head of Communication at The Chartered Institute of Taxation – www.tax.org.uk - and a member of the CIPR GAG committee

PS Quentin Davies is parliamentary adviser to The Chartered Institute of Taxation which is a politically neutral professional body.