Apparently, like many males of a ‘certain age’ in the UK, I’m a listener of the country’s most popular podcast, The Rest is Politics.
Starring Labour’s former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, and former Tory minister Rory Stewart, they discuss the political stories of the day with some honesty.
So it was with some interest that I dialled into one particular conversation about ex-military personnel becoming Members of Parliament.
Stewart, a former soldier, provided his view when asked a question from a listener:
“This is a question from Bob, which has come in, which is, do we think we should have more soldiers in politics? And this is a big issue in the US.
“There are huge political action campaigns, which are just about funding, getting more veterans into politics. And I’m a bit divided on this. There were 51, I think, Members of Parliament in the Conservative Party when I was there, who had been in the army, even if they’d just been there for a very short period like me.
“We all turn up to Remembrance Day services together. But some of them, like Bob Stewart, was a kind of full colonel. He’d spent an entire career in the military.
“But I’m not sure that it’s always the answer. And I think there’s a risk that if you’ve been in the military and you’ve seen combat, you begin to think that’s the most important thing in the world. And it’s the thing that really makes you better than other people.
“And there’s a risk that you end up kind of looking down on other people, purely on whether or not they happen to have been shot at or not.”
He’s right, and that last line sums it up.
However, the point is, it’s not the issue of being shot at that makes you a good candidate, but rather having rounded management and leadership experience. And it’s an experience that is suited to so much of the commercial world.
This is the focus of my forthcoming book, Ground Truth, which looks at what the commercial world can learn from the military.
By the way, the piece came from the episode of The Rest Is Politics: Question Time: Julian Assange, firing your friends, and why Labour should raise taxes, which was aired on 26 June 2024. Here is the link to the full episode.
It’s here if you want to listen.
Ground Truth is scheduled to be released at the end of the year. To reserve a copy, please register here.