Quick-review: Gladstone

Gladstone, by Roy Jenkins

Several years ago I read Jenkins' Churchill, which I really enjoyed.   have to say Gladstone wasn't quite so compelling.  Perhaps because the grandnarrative of WWII which held anticipation throughout Churchill was absent, along side events being more distant.  But also because his style seemed more verbose and smart-alec.

Even so I'm glad I pursued it (small type and many pages) to the end.  Here's why:

1. So many events in his time connects with ours, sometimes creepily so:  solving the "Irish problem" and dealing with terrorism; attempts to develop a 'moral' foreign policy; war in Afghanistan; balancing budgets and so on.
2. It pulled back the image of arrogant Victorian Imperialism.  Whatever idea we may have of Gladstone he believed: the empire was too big to manage and British gung-ho jingoism needed to be nailed; he despised war and expansionist foreign policy;  he attempted time and again (and indeed wrecked his government over the issue) to solve the humiliating mess of Ireland - and his proposals were incredibly close to what actually came to be in the 1990s.  Given that he was probably the most sincerely religious PM ever, this gives the lie to Christianity driving imperialism.
3.  His unstoppable energy, which only failed him in his 80s (he cut down his last tree - tree-felling being his equivalent of Churchill's brick-laying - in his early 80s) inspires to achieve more;  but also reminds most of us aren't made like him with his boundless force - so maybe we should get on and do the things we always said we would, because maybe we won't be tree-felling in our 80s.