Chirac/Blair

This month has seen the departing of a European political dinosaur (Chirac) and the almost simultaneous departing of someone who was rapidly becoming one.

Chirac embodied for me all of the things that are going wrong with France. An adherence to old sixties Gaulist politics and a complete unwillingness - or more likely fear - to embrace the realities of the new world. Ironically many french business people were treating him as irrelevant and getting on with the job of reaching out into the real economic world. Carrefour for example is the world's second biggest supermarket chain and France has four of the biggest energy companies in the world. What france lacks is any sense of personal dynamism. As a country it seems to have no discernable charisma.

Sarkozy has made lots of positive noises and, had I had the vote there he would have got mine. He has energy and ideas. The left wing press has dubbed him some sort of neo-con or Thatcherite figure and he is neither of those things. What he has I think is a willingness to take the flak for the pain which France will now have for the next 5-7 years as it gets itself out of its moribund state.

Tony Blair goes in a few weeks (why not now?). I sense that in thirty years time history may reflect kindly on him but of course, at the moment he is defined by Iraq and the unending carnage there. What Britain has had over the last fifteen are two excellent Chancellors - Kenneth Clarke and Gordon Brown - and I think much of its economic strength has come from their strong stewardship rather than Blair excellence. I do not see Brown as a Prime Minister though.

Gordon Brown has big problems now due the dreadful lack of talent in the cabinet. Mowlam, Dewar and Cook all dead. Imaginative thinkers such as Frank Field newtered and bruisers such as John Reid opting for a 'rest'. I find Ministers such as Ruth Kelly and David Milliband (a potential 'leader' - surely not)so uninspiring and I cannot escape the feeling that they are out of their depth.