It’s important to say that being a government minister is a difficult existence: probably impossible. Lord Salisbury who spent 13 years as prime minister around the turn of the 20th century, said: “Whatever happens will be for the worse, and it is therefore in our interest that as little should happen as possible”.
Difficult though it is, even if you don’t share Salisbury’s brand of world-weary cynicism, the job of government minister remains, in a democracy, accountable to you and me. Not directly, of course, but - as democratic idealists would say - ultimately.
Tell me this: if your child came home from school and used the word “f … ing”, would you be okay with that? To those of a certain generation (not that ancient) it is still a shocking word to hear. Listen to “fly on the wall” football documentaries and everyone seems to use the word in every other sentence; even foreign coaches - which always sounds faintly ridiculous. Mr (Matt not Tony) Hancock’s WhatsApp friends seemed to be using the word in every message when all that unedifying stuff came out a few months ago. A word which has obviously been used for centuries but never publicly is now very much in the public domain. A word which if used in films requires a warning to be issued about “foul language”. So: figures many might look up to, or feel they should, are happy to use “foul” language quite openly. What does that say about us? I’m not sure, but I do know that when the Education Secretary - yes, it really was the holder of that role, believe it or not - is recorded saying what she said the other day I wince and do wonder what we have become. I’m not up to judging her - she’s no doubt a splendid lady and a good minister - but … what sort of example is that?