Boris versus Frank Field

The trouble with Boris, regardless of whatever political talents he may have, is that he's a 'character'. Andrew Roberts discusses this in The Times, though the word he uses is 'maverick'.  Roberts is right to complain about the grey, whipped conformists who have no life other than politics and who now form the vast majority of MPs. But he is utterly wrong to regard a 'colourful character' like Boris or the late Alan Clark as the opposite of this. The opposite of the grey ones is, in fact, Frank Field. Field may look and sound grey but he does two things neither the 'characters' nor the whipped ones ever do: he works very hard, reading everything, and he thinks for himself. He is also very courageous. Celebrating 'character' as the antidote to conformity further marginalises politicians like Field. It is the easiest thing in the world to be a 'character', a role that is in danger of becoming the default mode for people who want to be in politics to be famous but not to work very hard or think very deeply