COURAGEOUS political leadership requires a “decisive vision”, shown by the likes of former Prime Ministers Churchill, Thatcher, and Blair; “resilience”; and the desire to challenge the establishment, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
Related to this, the subsequent General Election, he said, needed to set out a vision for the UK’s “place and prominence” on this planet.
Archbishop Welby was giving the keynote address on the theme of courage on the Royal Society of Arts, last week — the primary in its 2024 series.
Corrupted courageous leadership — looking for power without restraint — could have “probably the most terrible consequences in world affairs,” he said. “The Nineteen Thirties opposed weak and frightened leaders to powerful and courageous tyrants. Courageous, but of the dark side, as they are saying in Star Wars, and evil rule.”
But, he continued: “The courageous leadership that’s required needs various facets if it isn’t to be corrupted by the exercise of its own strength. It must carry a decisive vision. We saw that in Lincoln, Rostock, Kennedy, Reagan, Churchill, Attlee, Thatcher, Blair; we observed it in Monet, Agnard, de Gaulle, and plenty of others. We may differ with all or any of them, but they set out ideas well formulated in opposition and in government.
“Certainly obstructed by events, inevitably failing in a lot of their dreams, they didn’t consider in their very own infallibility, and were accompanied, like Lincoln, by an organization of rivals. They drew on deep pondering in quite a few areas from philosophy through the sciences to philosophy.”
These leaders were also honest and had achievable goals, Archbishop Welby suggested. “Courage must relate those goals, especially once they’re overseas, to the needs and hopes of domestic life. . .
“The next election here poses questions in economics, of productivity, stagnation, equality, infrastructure, and plenty of others. It poses questions of rearmament of the means and ways to peace, and a foreign policy on which depends not only our security but our contribution to the remainder of the world. It has high challenges in health, housing, university, and other further education.
“It has . . . to not less than set a vision for this nation’s place and prominence on this planet.”
Archbishop Welby was speaking, he said, because the leader of a Church which had “serious internal differences on a spread of issues. I won’t discuss them. And on this we’re an example of a much bigger social truth. The undeniable fact that the flexibility to disagree as fellow human beings somewhat than as enemies seems increasingly elusive in our culture, and never only our churches.”
Courage rested on absolute values, equivalent to “loving your enemy”, and required the will to serve, not be served, he said. “A political culture that sees politics as a step along the option to wealth is built on sand, and will probably be corrupted. We see each.”
He concluded: “I think passionately [that] there is no such thing as a problem so bad on this country that we’ve got not shown previously that we’ve got the capability to beat it. We have a unprecedented story of overcoming the best obstacles, rising above our worst selves, and coming together when we’d like to.
“We can achieve this again; but, to achieve this, we must set our sights on developing courage of the suitable kind across our society.”
