What traits make a politician successful?

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Ambition and "narcissism" are common traits of politicians, reveals new research.

But humor, charm and raw courage along with being a great speech-maker are among the most important characteristics of successful political leaders, according to the study.

Professor Bill Jones scoured biographies - including those of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair - as well as interviewing key political figures to understand the kind of people who enter politics - plus the strengths and frailties of those who occupy positions of power.

Jones said: “Why do aspiring politicians embark on such a perilous journey, involving hugely long hours, no real job security, and, on occasions, high degrees of self-abasement, just to have the chance of making it to the first rung of the ladder?

"What kind of person, then, wants to become a professional politician?”

He argues in his new book ‘Just Like Us?: The Politics of Ministerial Promotion in UK Government' that choosing a career in politics is unlike choosing another profession.

Jones, Honorary Professor of Political Studies at Liverpool Hope University, said: “Political activity is essentially about the winning and retaining of power to change the way other people live their lives.

"Some would say – and this is the dangerous bit given the vagaries of human nature – it is also about the acquisition of power for its own sake.”

Jones describes politicians as a "strange, special people" while many "appear to be a near narcissistic interest in themselves".

But he says that most politicians he has studied do not enter politics "because they are venal, egotistical or ruthlessly selfish" but instead because they "genuinely believe they can ‘make a difference’ and fulfil an idealistic sense of service to the local or national community".

Prof Jones said: “So success in politics seems to be an admixture of driving ambition, narcissism, genuine idealism with, perhaps, a dash of daring and necessary ruthlessness."

He studied biographies of former Prime Ministers, MPs and Speakers - including Harold Wilson, Norman Tebbit, Thatcher and Blair - to analyse consistent traits.

Despite their different motivations, Jones says there are some "inherent skills" he suggests are important for political success.

Among these, he lists charm, optimism, academic ability, memory skills and good decision-making skills.

He also stressed the importance of humor.

Jones said: “We forgive people who make us laugh a great deal and it might be argued that Boris Johnson based his political style to a large extent on his ability to amuse voters: in amusing them he avoided making politics as deadly boring as a majority seem to think it is.”

He suggests a strong constitution is an "oft-forgotten requisite key quality" for those looking for leadership positions in government, as you need "an extremely robust constitution and willingness to work long days stretching into the night".

Jones said: “I leave until last the most important quality of all – mastery of the spoken word – because, without a high level of verbal skills, politics in the UK can never provide any kind of career for its ambitious participants.

“Since 1945 all our PMs have owned a selection of the requisite key skills but the major one still has to be speaking skills.

"Some ministers have proved lackluster verbally, their periods in power proving short.”

Jones also credits particularly women and working-class MPs with having courage:

He said: “It also has to be said that female MPs have to survive and try to prosper in a Commons culture that is more male-based than receptive to females.

"Finally, MPs recruited from working-class backgrounds also find the Commons intimidating given the large percentage of privately educated MPs on the Conservative side plus the domination of those educated at Oxbridge and other universities.”

Jones points out that although politicians "might resemble ‘us’ in many ways (…) in certain important ways they are very different".

He added: "They often seem to be addicted to or infected by a ‘politics bug’, which drives them to compete against fellow addicts for the limited places available at the very top of the nation’s political elite.

“It seems weird to those of us outside looking in on the political world to discover there is no real preparation for the job of a minister in a department, despite it possibly handling a budget of billions of taxpayers’ money and affecting the daily lives of everyone.

“In business, a new recruit spends years at lower grades acquiring knowledge of the company before being promoted to a level of substantial responsibility.

“By comparison, a junior minister is often thrown into the deep end, with huge responsibilities, with no knowledge or relevant skills within an organization employing hundreds and serving millions.

”Given the widely accepted critique of our ministerial recruitment pool as too shallow and lacking in specialized expertise, something radical is required to attract those people of real ability into the insecure and relatively poorly paid profession.”

Jones suggests that measures that could improve ministerial quality include removing the need for parliamentary membership qualification for ministerial office and ending leadership elections by party members.