Reading Rory Stewart’s Politics On the Edge was a slow burner to start with but then it became increasingly hard to put down. It really was one of those books where I was almost disappointed when I’d finished it; I was hungry for more.
The book mostly covers Rory Stewart’s time as an MP from 2010, under David Cameron, through to 2019 when Boris Johnson beat Rory Stewart in the Prime Minister selection process.
It is an easy book for me to read. I think we are on a similar wavelength as far as our use of language is concerned and I can identify with many of the events being talked about, it’s very much a contemporary glimpse into UK politics and into an interesting mind.
His time as Minister with responsibility for Prisons and the Probation Service in 2018 especially caught my eye as his appointment occurred a couple of years after I had resigned from the jolly ol’ Probation Service (I still knew what was going on). He joined at a time when the woes of privatisation were in full swing and perhaps it is no surprise that Rory Stewart was instrumental in re-nationalising the parts of the service which were failing so badly.
In the book he often talks about MPs being promoted to become Ministers or Secretaries of State in departments where they know little about. I was reminded of this when I wrote to my [then] MP, Andrew Selous, expressing my fears about the privatisation of the Probation Service (he was one of Rory Stewart’s predecessors as Minister). Mr Selous kindly wrote back and told me he knew nothing about the service or its privatisation but did forward my concerns on, good constituency MP as he was.
There has to be more than a sense of irony that, shortly afterwards Mr Selous was shuffled into being Minister, into something he knew nothing about and yet went ahead with the privatisation. This, simply shines a light on the dysfunctional nature of government and is echoed in the book, especially when he discusses the slightly bonkers Liz Mistrust. Shuffles and reshuffles seem to frequently go on without giving their incumbents having much time to get their teeth stuck into something. Or perhaps as Grayling (the architect of the disastrous privatisation) simply wanted to make a quick name for himself on his route to the top job?
The book culminates in the selection process to become Leader of the Conservative Party and ultimately Prime Minister in 2019. It was, I suppose, inevitable that he would have always lost to Boris Johnson as the judgements always seems to be on the wrong things. I am sure, in the end, it boiled down to personalities and the weird charisma that Boris Johnson seemed to have over people. And yet I wonder, how would things be if Rory Stewart had won and did become Prime Minister?
The answer to that question has to be one of a different world, albeit in a small but hopeful way. Could he – or anyone – really change the way in which Parliament, the government and the civil service work in such a short period of time? Can anyone really succeed in having the last word on the Sir Humphry’s of Westminster?
Through the book the reader gets more than a glimpse into the trials, the testing times, the frustrations, the achievements and the sheer craziness of political life; it’s a great read and has been all a part of my humdinger treatment plan! A clever, well balanced chap is Rory Stewart, although I would question whether he was in the right party?