Diary – 12 July 2018

Well, we did it. No, not Brexit, the World Cup or my (somewhat less) ambitious scheme at Legal & General to interest the nation in investing. Not yet at least. But we did reach the end of term — and the end of the school year. With three out of our nine children leaving their respective schools, my husband, Richard, and I have been staggering towards the finish line, with the usual sports days and summer concerts interspersed with leavers’ picnics, drinks, dinners and cricket days, all of course held in uncharacteristically glorious sunshine. On occasion we had to draft in the cavalry: one daughter took my place at the mothers-and-sons tennis tournament (a welcome substitute for the son in question, since she can actually play). Older siblings have generally stepped up when we ‘ran out of parents’. Now to the matter of packing for the summer holidays.

Despite the ominous news from Chequers, the feel-good factor continued into Saturday, thanks to England’s resounding performance in the World Cup quarter-finals. Whatever happens next, Gareth Southgate’s rallying cry to ‘own the process’ has to be the leadership mantra of the decade. He has a clear and bold plan, the ability to set the agenda, to keep his team calm, to silence the critics, recover from setbacks and to carry the nation forward, united. Those of us old enough to have witnessed Southgate’s missed penalty at England’s Euro ’96 semi-final against Germany are particularly impressed. In today’s transparent — and judgmental — world, effective leaders in sport, business and politics are those who can inspire rather than merely try to tell people what to do.

And so on to the main event. Last week’s fabulous Spectator party was, with hindsight, a prelude to the current political dramas.