The quirky and unexpected hobbies favored by modern politicians

“I love London”, wrote the impressionist painter, Claude Monetwho visited the city three times between 1899 and 1901, creating 94 paintings. In September, an exhibition of Monet’s London paintings will open at the Courtauld Gallery, including one, London Bridge, which belonged to Winston Churchill. The painting was a joint Christmas and 75th birthday gift from literary agent Emery Reves – a gift chosen to reflect Churchill’s passion for paintingnot just as a connoisseur, but as a practitioner.

Churchill began painting in 1915, after losing his post as First Lord of the Admiralty following the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. He later wrote that he felt “like a sea beast fished from the depths… and it was then that the Muse of Painting came to my rescue.” The muse became his companion for life (and perhaps beyond: “When I reach heaven, I intend to spend a considerable part of my first million years painting,” he wrote).

Modern politicians love to invoke the Churchillian spirit, but the idea of ​​an extrapolitical interior as a necessity to counter the inevitable demands of public service has diminished, even as social media has intensified the tension of being constantly in the public eye.

Dennis Healey (who, like his political contemporary, Edward Heath, played the piano “with passion, if not always with precision”, according to his obituary) identified what he saw as Margaret Thatcher’s lack of an “inner” – a absorbing pastime beyond politics – like a failure. But in modern politics the opposite seems to happen.

The only permitted exception appears to be writing: from Disraeli to Nadine Dorriesfiction pours from the Palace of Westminster (not to mention the memoirs of former MPs). But Churchill, himself a prolific author, made a clear distinction between relaxing hobbies and writing (or reading), which only served to further tax the overactive brain.

Search the current Westminster register for evidence of a cultural hinterland and some interesting and quirky examples will appear: Andrew Bowie (Con), assistant conductor of The Garioch Fiddlers Strathspey and Reel Society; jazz saxophonist Darren Jones (Lab); Vince Cable (Lib Dem), agile former Strictly contestant. But in a political era where the arts have been seriously undervalued, it would be good to hear the Prime Minister, a talented musician who attended the Guildhall School of Music, champion the crucial importance of the countryside.

Tax relief

Among the facilities in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s private bathroom is a porcelain urinal. It is of little use to the current chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who considered removing it, only to discover that the 100-year-old convenience has associations with Churchill (more practical than – in the spirit of Marcel Duchamp’s notorious 1917 masterpiece, Source – cultural), and that its removal would require listed building approval, at an initial cost of around £8,000.

There is talk in the Treasury about hiding the item with a potted plant. But given the findings of the Engaged Project, which concluded in 2022 that the provision of high-quality public toilets would contribute significantly to the regeneration of the country’s struggling high streets, the Chancellor could do better to keep the urinal – an elegant, almost artistic one. Design Deco – to remind you that there is more than one type of fiscally important relief.

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