If only dogs could vote...

So Gail, I gather that we in the UK will shortly have a new Prime Minister?

Yes Bertie, that is correct, Theresa May has been forced to stand down as leader of the Conservative party, and the process of electing her successor, who will be our new Prime Minister, begins this week. 

You know what, Gail? I have a theory about why Mrs May failed as PM.

(Gail groans silently.) Er, do tell me Bertie.

Well, it seems to me that it would all have gone so much better if she had a dog.  After all, Winston Churchill (who needs no introduction) was well known to adore his poodle Rufus. Clement Attlee, whose government founded the NHS and the welfare state, was also a dog lover. Awesome achievers, both PMs.  So I'm thinking, which of the many contenders for the Tory leadership is particularly fond of pups? Surely that would be a promising sign?

Churchill and Rufus

Clement Attlee and Ting

Well Bertie, it's an interesting theory....

So anyway, I've researched the issue thoroughly, it seems to me the best choice would be either Michael Gove (owner of Bichon Frise Snowy, whose name may or may not be a coded reference to Gove's recently admitted history of cocaine use) or Rory Stewart, who adopted a dog, Babur, when he walked across Afghanistan, as described most movingly in his book, 'The Places in Between'. A book that you read and, I believe, enjoyed. Incidentally, both of these contenders are Scottish, and Michael Gove was even brought up in Aberdeen, surely a point in his favour?

Michael Gove and Snowy

Rory Stewart and Babur

Slight problem Bertie, only Members of Parliament and, ultimately, members of the Conservative party, get to vote for their leader, so neither you nor I qualify.

Oh, that's a shame Gail. Who do you think will win?

Bertie, the bad news is that it's almost certainly going to be Boris...

Boris Johnson and twin..

Shy, undramatic and without a trace of egotism

Gosh it has been proving hard to get Gail out of bed these last few dark and frosty mornings.

In truth, usually she is up and raring to go while I am still curled up snug and sleepy. But the combination of a sinus infection (Gail's Achilles heel, if that is not too medically confusing a metaphor) combined with what she says is a most fascinating book, have meant the roles have been reversed - one suspects temporarily - this week.

So the subject of the book that's been keeping me from my customary early attendance in Duthie Park is former UK Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. Perhaps you have heard of him, perhaps not.

Well it seems that when Attlee was deputy to Winston Churchill during the Second World War, he was considered by some as Churchill's lapdog. Leaving aside the implied slur against lapdogs (a status to which I aspire), this, according to biographer John Bew, was very much not the case, and Mr Attlee was in fact most influential despite (perhaps because of) being "shy, undramatic and without a trace of egotism".

Post-war this supposedly meek and ineffectual man defeated Churchill in the general election and became Prime Minister, and his Labour government introduced the National Health Service and laid the foundations of the modern welfare state.

Oh yes, and I should also mention that as a young man Attlee fought bravely and with distinction in the World War One, and was injured in the Battle of Hanna in Mesopotamia (now Iraq).

Not bad for a 'lapdog', I say!

And what a contrast, in both style and achievement, to certain of today's politicians on either side of the Atlantic..

PS from Gail: do we get a prize today for efforts in making the most unpromising subject matter 'dog relevant'???