Change and Dignity

On Doing it Well

For all the theatre of the UK election campaign, and the fourteen years of mendacity that fuelled the wipeout that the result became, there was something deeply reassuring about the nature of the civilised handover of power on the steps of Downing St over barely more than an hour.

We have a new Prime Minister taking on a daunting task, accepting it with humility and without triumphalism.

The Outgoing Rishi Sunak had taken on the impossible task of trying to make the Conservative Party look credible after the carnage of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. He probably had a right to feel aggrieved, but he did not show it.

There was something of the MacBeth about it:

MACBETH ACT 1, SCENE 4, 1–8

King Duncan:
Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd? 
Malcolm: My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
With one that saw him die; who did report
That very frankly he confessed his treasons,
Implor'd your Highness' pardon, and set forth
A deep repentance. 
Nothi…