Age Old Politics          

 

David Seymour

 

email

print

Also in this section:

• Cover feature: Exclusive Gordon Brown interview
• The Hybrid’s the Star Ben Duckworth
• The Secret Failings of American Politicians on the Internet Mark Pack
• Character Test Sarah MacKinlay
• Do our troops mark the X? Ben Duckworth
• Does size matter in public affairs? Jonathan Sheppard

The most revealing interview Gordon Brown has given since becoming Prime Minister was on the Eamonn Holmes Five Live sports show. He spoke animatedly about his great passion – football. Politics was barely mentioned.

 

When he did stray into the territory of his day job, it was to boast of the youthfulness of his cabinet. Seven members, he said, were around 40, adding with a hint of embarrassment: “Of course, that’s not young for football”.

 

On the contrary, Prime Minister, it is; though not for players. But they are the wrong comparison to make with ministers of the crown.

Mr Brown should study the league table on [JAMES FLETCHER TO CORRECT the right, above, below, wherever]. This is the English Premiership at the close of the 2007-8 season. The numbers refer not to the points each team accumulated, nor to the goals they scored.

 

They are the ages of the club managers. The most successful, i.e. those in the top half rang from Sir Alex Ferguson at 66 to the young whippersnapper Alan Curbishley of West Ham, who is a mere 50. What is apparent from is that managers in the top half of the table are significantly older (and more successful) than those in the bottom half of the table.

 

Now consider the ages of the cabinet. They include Andy Burnham and James Purnell (both 38), Yvette Cooper (39), Ed Miliband and Douglas Alexander (both 40), Ed Balls (41) and the old greybeard David Miliband at a venerable 42.

All are close to the summit of political life, entrusted with running crucial services and policies which affect the lives of millions. Yet none would be considered old enough to manage a leading football team.

 

Club chairmen-with the possible exceptions of Middlesbrough and Sunderland-wouldn’t dream of appointing anyone of their age to be in charge of a few soccer players even though Gordon Brown believes they are perfectly capable of managing great offices of state with thousands of employees and budgets running to tens of billions of pounds.

 

This is not to denigrate these ministers. All have intelligence and ability. There should be a role for them somewhere in government. Besides, there is a long parliamentary tradition of advancement at a young age, from Pitt the Younger, who became prime minister at 24, to David Owen, foreign secretary at 37.

But these were isolated cases. What we have now is whole scale promotion of young people as a matter of policy.

 

When Gordon Brown formed his cabinet, it was clear why he had included so many young ministers. He was worried that voters would compare him unfavourably with David Cameron because the Conservative leader is 16 years his junior. So he hit on the very Brownite ruse of stuffing the cabinet with people who would give the government an aura of youth.

 

But, in football management age and experience are essential. The controversy over the appointment of Fabio Capello to manage England was over his nationality, not because of his age. Without a murmur of dissent from fans, Fulham parachuted in Roy Hodgson (60) when they were facing relegation, and he duly saved them.

Even though Alex Ferguson is nearer 70 than 60, no one is suggesting that he should stop running Manchester United (except the fans of other clubs). Harry Redknapp has just won the FA Cup with Portsmouth at the age of 61.

 

These are as successful and admired men as you can find, yet if anyone of their age had wanted to become an MP, let alone a minister, he would have been laughed at for being far, far too old.

This is extraordinary. Surely politics and government require the sort of level-headed, clear-minded thinking which comes with experience and advancing years. And that is particularly true in times of crisis. When the British people needed a wartime leader in 1940, they didn’t summon a callow youth but the 65-year-old Winston Churchill.

 

Young people are supposed to bring vigour, stamina and enthusiasm to their work. Today, those are qualities which last well into the 70s, both physically and mentally. Besides, older people are usually better able to pace themselves and so use those abilities better.

 

The cult of youth has over-run political life in this country since Tony Blair became Labour leader at 41 – the age which David Cameron and Nick Clegg are now. Yet in the aftermath of the 1997 election, the outstanding government performer was Margaret Beckett, who already had 22 years’ experience on the front bench, twice that of Blair and Brown between them.

 

Ken Clarke (soon to be 68) is a dominant and authoritative figure in the House and on the airwaves. William Hague is far more respected now (aged 47) than he was when he became Tory leader (aged 36).

 

Nick Clegg is still under the shadow of Vince Cable (65), who remains the outstanding spokesman on the economy in any party. And no one said Ming Campbell was too old when he dominated the debate on the Iraq war.

This is a peculiarly Westminster phenomenon. It doesn’t happen in local government, admittedly, partly due to people having more time when they are older, though it is also thanks to councillors on the whole not being drawn from the ranks of rabid political careerists.

 

Yet local government doesn’t appear to suffer from being run by men and women whose age would tend to disqualify them from similar positions in central government.

 

The obsession with youth at Westminster not only means that the country is saddled with some ministers who have been over-promoted too early but that a generation of politicians is lost from effective service. Imagine what it must be like to spend a decade or more learning your political craft, mastering parliament and a departmental brief or two, only to discover that your party has decided to ‘skip a generation’.

 

When Alan Duncan was interviewed for the Michael Cockerell documentary about David Cameron, he spoke rather ruefully, though generously, of how the Conservatives had leapt over his generation to go instead for a younger leader.

 

In the current babble over who will replace Gordon Brown should he stand down, the oldest potential candidate is said to be David Miliband. Jack Straw and Alan Johnson are only mentioned as possible stop-gaps.

 

The problem isn’t just for MPs who realise that their government careers are almost over because a young head is considered better than an experienced one. There are many activists throughout the country who realise they will never achieve their ambition of reaching Westminster. One who has worked for his party for years recently told me: “I will never be an MP now. I’m 45.”

 

Yet the people most likely to vote are the 55s. Young people turn out in ever-diminishing numbers.

 

At the same time, the government tells us we must work longer because we stay fitter and more active until later in life. Presumably we are able to carry on doing just about any job except become an MP or, particularly, a minister.

 

It is absurd that football sets a better example than politics, well in the country at least, come November, we may see a 72-year-old ascend to the US presidency.

 

 

Premiership Football Managers
1. Manchester United (Sir Alex Ferguson) 66
2. Chelsea (Avram Grant) 53
3. Arsenal (Arsene Wenger) 58
4. Liverpool (Rafa Benitez) 48
5. Everton (David Moyes) 45
6. Aston Villa (Martin O’Neill) 56
7. Blackburn (Mark Hughes) 45
8. Portsmouth (Harry Redknapp) 61
9. Manchester City (Sven Goran Eriksson) 60
10. West Ham (Alan Curbishley) 50
11. Spurs (Juande Ramos) 53
12. Newcastle (Kevin Keegan) 57
13. Middlesbrough (Gareth Southgate) 37
14. Wigan (Steve Bruce) 47
15. Sunderland (Roy Keane) 36
16. Bolton (Gary Megson) 49
17. Fulham (Roy Hodgson) 60
18. Reading (Steve Coppell) 52
19. Birmingham (Alex McLeish) 49
20. Derby (Paul Jewell) 43

 

Average age of managers in the Top 10 = 54.2
Average age of managers in the Bottom 10 = 48.3

 

Table 2: Cabinet Ministers

61 Jack Straw
59 Paul Murphy
58 Alan Johnson
57 Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman
56 Des Browne
54 Alistair Darling, Hillary Benn, Geoff Hoon, John Denham
53 John Hutton
52 Hazel Blears, Baroness Ashton
49 Shaun Woodward
45 Jacqui Smith
42 David Miliband
41 Ed Balls
40 Douglas Alexander, Ruth Kelly
39 Yvette Cooper
38 James Purnell, Andy Burnham, Ed Miliband

 

Average age = 46.7

Average age of youngest 10 = 41.0