On the record
He will temporise; he will try to give a seemly dress to unseemly matters: to do as much harm as will content the assembly, and yet not so much harm as will offend the nation.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
Source
gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “He will temporise; he will try to give a seemly dress to unseemly matters: to do as much harm as will content the…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot describes a Minister's tendency to navigate political challenges with caution to maintain public favor.
Share
More from Walter Bagehot
And, to the effectual maintenance of such a separation, the exclusion of the President's Ministers from the legislature is essential.
Perhaps such powers as these are what a wise man would most seek to exercise and least fear to possess.
That a House of Commons may work well it must perform, as we saw, five functions well: it must elect a Ministry well, legislate well, teach the nation well, express the nation's will well, bring matters to the nation's attention well.
They have given what I may call a CONFIDENCE IN THE UNIVERSE.
Other voices in this conversation
