Post by Nuala Forsey

Barry Gardiner said something this week that deserved more attention than it got. A long-standing critic of his own party’s leader, he was careful to insist that whatever the political outcome, the man should be allowed to leave with dignity. As someone with a family. With children. With intentions that were, in his own telling, good. That distinction, between judging the performance and rejecting the person, is one we are losing the muscle for. It is easy to demand accountability. It is harder to extend dignity at the exact moment someone has lost the power to demand it of you. Andy Burnham, if this goes where it looks like it is going, will inherit more than a job. He will inherit the chance to set the tone for how his predecessor leaves, and the precedent for how he himself will one day be treated. The clearest version of this I have ever seen wasn’t British. It was the Obamas, handing the keys to the Trumps, after years in which the very legitimacy of Barack’s birth, his name, his right to be there, had been needled at relentlessly. They did it anyway. With grace. Because grace under provocation is the only kind that means anything. Leadership transitions reveal character. Not just the character of the person leaving. The character of everyone watching. What would it take for us to expect this as standard, not exception? #BeingTheChange #TheInnerArchitecture #WarmSpineSoftCentre #LeadershipTransitions