Wednesday 3 March 2010

Two feet in the grave

Another politician bites the dust. This time it's Michael Foot, former leader of the Labour party.

There's an argument to be made for Mr Foot being the missing link between the long-gone soapbox era of policy exposition and the current obsession with personality and celebrity.

Mr Foot's adherence to socialist policies, genuinely felt, lead to the 1983 Labour manifesto, dubbed the longer suicide note in British political history. His other claim to lasting media fame was the 'donkey jacket' he wore to the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

And yet he fulsome tributes given today go beyond the usual clichéd platitudes. The politics of Michael Foot's youth was a very different country.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails