Arabella Byrne

How do politicians switch off?

  • From Spectator Life
Image: Getty

‘Like a sea beast fished up from the depths, or a diver too suddenly hoisted, my veins threatened to burst from the fall in pressure. I had great anxiety and no means of relieving it […] And then it was that the Muse of Painting came to my rescue – out of charity and out of chivalry.’ 

So said Churchill in 1915 after the disaster that was Gallipoli. Salvaged by the Muse, Churchill found solace from the pressures of political life in art. Last week, another sea beast emerged from the depths, consoled this time not by a Muse (he does, however, like to paint) but by the Sirens of the sea. To watch Boris Johnson plunge into the waters of Carbis Bay before a tense day with Monsieur Macron at the G7 is to gaze through the small aperture of a politician’s private life, offered up to the public briefly and tantalizingly before it snaps shut and the mask of office is restored.

GettyImages-1233404268.jpeg
Getty

But just how do politicians relax? Looking at the summer holiday snaps of various leaders it is clear that some have mastered the art better than others. Take Tony Blair for example, whose lavish holidays on board his friends’ yachts on the Med in his crumpled linens gave one the distinct feeling that he had left the cares of his Sedgefield constituency far behind him. Not so Gordon Brown who looked like he would far rather be back in Downing St than sitting on a deckchair in Southwold, however much his advisors may have wanted him to grin, or give something, anything away for the camera. 

Times were of course far simpler when aristocratic Prime Ministers could disappear to their grouse moors in August and everyone knew where they stood.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in