18 june 2011, in celebration of...

Politics needs characters, even if they usually comes with the straight talking that makes them look devious or ideological. None fit that description better than ken clarke and jean claude juncker, thrown together today in a typical juncker aside about how clarke saved the euro. My strongest memory of juncker is when he virtually wrestled with the other jean claude at a press conference over the title of "mr euro", a wonderful vignette about the struggle between what in a normal polity would be seen as an overmighty central bank and a feeble finance ministry. Trichet's trump card was pulling out a euro note and pointing the assembled press to his signature. Juncker's most common (mis)quote is about why prime ministers always duck the hard choices, "we all know what we need to do, but we don't know how to get elected again if we do it" he said, actually about drugs. His harsh realpolitik was at it again recently, on how politics can influence monetary policy (that being outlawed by the treaty), "monetary policy is a serious issue. We should discuss this in secret, in the eurogroup... I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious.. I am for secret, dark debates". Ken is equally open. Like juncker a heavy smoker, he is no hypocrite, "I shan't lose my paunch. I like my relaxed lifestyle. I like food. Because of my relaxed lifestyle I haven't suffered from the stress my colleagues do. I seem able to outlast them all". He's also not afraid to stake out his view of the right thing, regardless of popular consequence. As well as being for the euro, he was against invading iraq, a "disastrous decision" that "made britain a more dangerous place". Displaying another admirable trait, he adapted his views as circumstances changed, later saying "it would be immoral to walk away from the consequences of our actions, leaving behind anarchy and civil war". These two oldies will soon disappear from the stage, but let's hope for equally colourful and honest politicians waiting in the wings.