Just keep chipping away…
I learn from every book I read, I think it’s fair to say that this one falls into my top few given the amount of wisdom I feel I’ve taken away. Whilst it is about politics and government, it is also about people and organisations and how to try and make a difference in the world. I suppose you could say that it’s quite negative at times, but also inspiring. The tenacity of the man is remarkable. How he keeps going, even against what, at times, sounded like very difficult circumstances and feeling relatively helpless.
Rory Stewart clearly is a man of detail who wants to deeply understand the problem prior to working on it. He comes across as someone who wants to make a positive change in the world without necessarily being specific to one party’s ideology. But the reality of UK politics is that the parties are so strong that they influence almost everything you do.
One of the main themes that comes out is around competition, promotion, and ambition. The need to keep your job, to progress, to elevate an individual’s career means that many people acted—or reported to have acted—in ways that would not seem sensible when written out like this.
It’s possible to think that the whole system is absolutely insane. How on earth are these people put into the highest offices in the country when they don’t have any qualifications for it? Stewart clearly is a man who cares deeply about doing a good job, and yet he was moved from department to department, many of which he had no prior experience in—while in other fields, he already had enormous experience. Yes, there is something to be said for the value of a newcomer working in a field, rather than a person who comes with preconceived ideas, but there’s no way that is the best option in all cases, particularly with the rapid reshuffles.
Clearly, Brexit was a major component of his time as an MP. But it’s also amazing to think that he didn’t have to go through COVID-19 and the chaos in central government around that. However, his book does clearly highlight the main characters, whose personalities were demonstrated to the whole country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
You could read this book and come away saying, “Well, you have a clearly intelligent, hardworking individual who got battered down at every opportunity and was just trying to do the right thing and wasn’t let through, so that’s how life goes.” Alternatively, you could take the approach that life is hard, and people will stand in your way. Yet, if you continue to chip away with the best intentions, keeping your principles straight and being honest, then you can make a difference. Whilst Rory Stewart didn’t make a difference in everything he did, he managed to make some substantial differences. There was certainly a period of time when he was a breath of fresh air and an enlightening political character in an otherwise relatively homogeneous set of faces.
I feel like I’ve learned a bit about how the machine of government works, but also how people can respond to being put into such an organisation and the consequences that can have on the outputs, as well as the individuals. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.
More books like this:
The rational optimist by Matt Ridley
Value(s) by Mark Carney
Principles: life and work by Ray Dalio
