alan johnson's problem

Pic: Guardian/Nadav Kander

For eighteen months or so Alan Johnson has been the man tipped by the press and some of his peers to be the next leader of the Labour Party. It's not so much a hope as the solution to an emergency: his boosters think that the party is in the event of one - and that Labour should smash the glass box and pull out the postie. The press want another twist to a pre-election narrative that's getting rather predictable. Much attention, therefore, has been paid to this:

"Gordon's indomitable spirit and self-belief is quite inspirational." Does he share that self-belief? "Oh, I don't, no, I don't have it. Christ, no. Wish I did... I do think someone from my background can do it just as well as anyone else. But I haven't got the ambition, and I haven't got the self-confidence, and I haven't got that real aching desire to lead. Which really is an essential quality in a leader. So I don't think I'll ever be leader of the party. But I'm not willing to rule myself out for all eventualities in the future."

Everyone's been reading this passage and assuming the last sentence is the significant one. It's AJ's wink of availability: reach out, I'll be there.

But to me it sounds like the least convincing part: formulaic, half-hearted, tacked on.

It's the preceding sentiments that resonate. Do they sound like the words of a man mentally gearing himself up for a shot at the top job? No they don't. They sound like a man frantically signalling that he's not up for it, and not up to it. And if Johnson doesn't believe in himself, nobody else will. I know he's got a practiced line in self-deprecation. But that doesn't mean he doesn't mean it.

The one indispensable thing a good political leader needs is rock-like self-belief. It's just impossible to navigate your way through the daily shit-storm without it. Though Johnson applauds his boss, GB is a prime example of someone who, despite enormous confidence in his abilities, somehow lacks belief in himself as a leader. You can of course possess awesome self-belief and be a terrible leader. But you can't be a great or even a half-decent one without it.

Even if I'm wrong and Johnson somehow allows himself get carried away by the demands of his colleagues and runs, he'll be a flaccid candidate (he's quite right to point out, as he has done, that he couldn't even win the deputy leadership contest). And if by some fluke he becomes leader, he will be a disaster.

Comments

[ejoch]

Alan Johnson seems a very pleasant and intelligent man, but his attitude is a puzzler to me. The business of getting into - and surviving in - politics seems to be a horribly hard grind. I can't imagine why anyone would want to go to all that trouble, without a real driving ambition... a belief that they can - and they want to-put their ideas into practice from the highest possible level.
(It does also beg the interesting question, if you don't see yourself as a leader, how does that impact the management of opinionated civil servants?)

[Irene]

He would be worse than Gordon - God help us!

[Lyle]

I'm sorry, but what is up with the ghoulish, green side-lighting? This photo makes Mr Johnson look like he's either one of the Munsters or a waxwork at Mme Tussaud's. I don't care about the poor fellow's politics; he needs a better mugshot than this horror-fest.