Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/278185
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 MARCH 2014 Opinion 26 I t is not an everyday occurrence that former British Premier Benjamin Disraeli gets mentioned in a set of rousing speeches during a local public activity. It is even more unusual when those speeches mark the first anniversary of a Labour government in power. But that is exactly what happened just before the Maltese Prime Minister took the stage to deliver what must have been one of his most forceful, robust and energized forward-looking speeches since the general elections were held. Although the name Disraeli is familiar to many people, few are those who know anything about him except that he served as British PM. Even though he must have been one of the least successful Prime Ministers in Britain he remains one of the best and most quoted, right across the political spectrum. It is reported that there must be some 88 quotations of his in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. This definitely made him the most quotable Prime Minister in the UK. Compare this to Gladstone's 20 quotes, Churchill's 50 plus, and a handful by Sir Robert Peel and no more need be said. What remains a mystery until the present day is how Disraeli, a bankrupt Jewish school dropout and trashy novelist, come to exert such a hold on the Victorian Conservative Party, a hold which has stretched to the present day. Apart from becoming the first (and possibly only) Jewish Prime Minister of his country, he is also often referred to as the one who inspired the modern day compassionate Conservative slogan – "One Nation Conservatism". Ironically he was not by any standard a One Nation Conservative, and he rejected the idea of a more classless society. Neither was he a believer in mass democracy. In foreign policy, he achieved great popularity and made many rousing speeches, but his policies had a negligible impact on the balance of power. Until the present day, no one can really explain how his career, remarkable as it may have been and equally erratic, has become the subject of such an extravagant posthumous mythology. He was often given the accolade as the greatest Leader of the Opposition who ever existed, yet he lost six general elections as a leader of the Party and won only one. What arguably made him stand out was that he was tolerant in an age when intolerance was normal. He was marvelously witty at a time when pomposity was treated as a virtue. While others tended to get bogged down in the details of legislation, he emphasized the importance of individual and national character. In summary, he made and still makes, after all these years, politics exciting to people who otherwise find it dull. Not only imaginative to excess, he believed that this point about imagination was vital. He rejected the spirit of the Victorian age, with its emphasis on science, technology, progress and steady reasoning. He preferred such forces as faith, religion and the social utility of belief. He disliked intellectuals but in his mind he developed a set of powerful ideas. He spoke of national unity at a time when Britain faced deep social difficulties. But the words 'one nation' had never appeared in his lexicon. In a 1994 poll of Conservative MPs, he came top as the most popular source of inspiration, ref lecting the shift away from Thatcherism within Major's Conservative Party. For a party searching for an identity, Disraeli seemed a useful starting point. What struck them most was that in a way, he had managed to charm and persuade his party into adopting the centre ground, which held greatest appeal for those now seeking to reinvent it. Michael Portillo also used these words when David Cameron got elected Conservative Leader. His main argument was that there is no shame in adapting. Parties that fail to evolve become extinct. When singling out his favourite Disraeli quote, the current British Prime Minister Cameron explained that Disraeli had said that the Conservative Party should be the party of change but change that goes along with the customs and manners and traditions and sentiments of the people rather than change according to some grand plan. One might argue then - why is a social democrat like Muscat bothering to focus so strongly on a Conservative who has long since passed to another world? The reason is that, in my opinion, there is a bit of Disraeli in every political leader, past and present, irrespective of political leanings. The ultimate example of Disraeli's pragmatism was that he changed his religion when he felt that he did not stand a chance of making it in the political world as a Jew. Yet instead of keeping Jews at the bottom of society, as had traditionally been their lot, during his time he placed them at the forefront, indeed in the dominant position. That seems to say it all. Leo Brincat is Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change In my opinion, there is a bit of Disraeli in every political leader, past and present What made him stand out was that he was tolerant in an age when intolerance was normal Leo Brincat The legacy of Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli