Leadership requires passion and persuasion

It is some months since I felt moved to write something but the Coalition Government's early weeks have produced the most exciting political landscape in my lifetime.

What is so refreshing is the willingness to think the unthinkable. Possibly as a direct result of the dire economic situation, probably because of the compromises of coalition, but hopefully because of conviction, the Government is rethinking two decades of received wisdom on such matters as police numbers, the prison population, and the welfare state.

For too long politicians of both main parties have been in hock to the tabloids, short term political advantage and a belief that voters are too stupid to weigh up arguments for themselves. The worst offenders were New Labour which had a two pronged approach to "government" - rule by unchallenged "belief" (eg the Iraq war) or rule by focus group (almost everything else). Neither amounted to leadership, and ultimately neither were successful.

True political leadership requires an underlying belief system, an openness to new ideas, and a willingness to engage in debate and to persuade.

It will not be enough for the Government to assert that we need prison reform, or that there is no simple correlation between police numbers and crime, Ministers must engage with voters in a rational debate. Their case is a good one but they must persuade, and win hearts and minds. If they fail to do so they will not achieve the step change in political thinking the country needs and future government will just reverse their changes.