The British body politic

Contemporary Review, Nov, 2004 by Michael Karwowski

Who Runs This Place? The Anatomy of Britain in the 21st Century. Anthony Sampson. John Murray. [pounds sterling]20.00. xi 418 pages. ISBN 0-7195-65642.

Anthony Sampson's examination of Britain's institutions has itself become something of a British institution over the years. Anatomy of Britain was first published in 1962, since when there have been regular revisions. In between, Mr Sampson has written bestsellers investigating oil companies, arms dealers and bankers and he is also the authorised biographer of Nelson Mandela. This latest Anatomy marks a nominal break with established tradition by introducing a more colloquial and interrogative title: Who Runs This Place? This is no doubt to underline the vast changes which have occurred in the subject over four decades.

The most fundamental of these changes, in Mr Sampson's opinion, is in the respect now shown for wealth and money-making rather than for professional conduct and moral values. Far from providing confirmation of Napoleon's jibe about the British being a nation of shop-keepers, however, this implied criticism of corporate greed is laid rather firmly at the door of foreigners, many from former colonies. Through a kind of imperial boomerang effect, it appears that a nation which has successfully resisted invasion for centuries has now fallen to Americans, Australians, Canadians, South Africans, not to speak of Europeans, as the English--but not the Scots--have retreated from many of the citadels of power.

Indeed, a good deal of Who Runs This Place? entertainingly chronicles what amounts to a commercial version of backpacking as the high-flyers of this new elite move from one British corporation after another just as gap year students might 'do' first Nepal and then Thailand on their international travels. The difference, of course, is that, in the process, the most notorious chairmen and chief executives amass fortunes which have made them the butt of that other new power in the land, the mass media, and particularly television. As a result, the British have become wearily familiar with constant stories about so-called 'fat cats' milking every opportunity to make obscene amounts of money at their expense. One amusing example offered by Mr Sampson concerns a chief executive who arrived at his annual general meeting to be greeted by a pig emblazoned with his name gobbling swill from a bucket.

In concert with this corporate 'trough mentality', Mr Sampson bemoans the increasingly presidential style of government of British Prime Ministers, particularly Tony Blair, who is also pilloried for his abuses of power in decisively ending this island's delicate balancing act between the US and Europe in favour of the former, particularly with regard to the Iraq War. But if the book chronicles the decline of so much that once defined Britain, it also testifies to the often remarkable resilience of so many British institutions--the Monarchy, the Armed Forces, the Law, the Bank of England, Parliament--in the face of the onslaught from exterior economic forces and interior mass media. In doing so, Mr Sampson explains the increasing indifference of the electorate towards politics by the decline of divisive ideologies and their replacement by a general acceptance of the need for good management, a fact that Tony Blair was the first to appreciate and exploit, together with the relative stability and economic success of the nation. Is it surprising, therefore, that the British are now more interested in sport, showbiz and cultural activities than they are in politics, not to speak of increasing opportunities to make money and to spend it?

Mr Sampson also reveals how abuses of power, whether in Whitehall or in corporate boardrooms, have become more exposed over recent years through the persistence of campaigning groups and dedicated journalists. Even the presidential Tony Blair, with his massive majority in the House of Commons, could never take Parliament for granted.

A work that details every expression of lack of vigour in the different organs, limbs and brain of the body politic, therefore, paradoxically leaves a general impression of rude health. As Mr Sampson points out, the internationalisation of so many of the upper reaches of power shows the pragmatism and tolerance of post-imperial Britain. But continued good health depends on regular 'medicals' in order to identify the many diseases that can assail a democratic nation as a first step to their eradication. 'If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change', as the Prince of Lampedusa wrote in The Leopard. In this respect, this latest Anatomy should be warmly welcomed.