Britain | Bagehot

Scottish nationalism and the politics of patience

The biggest prizes go to those who wait

PATIENCE IS A virtue underrated in politics. The business has always been full of young men and women in a hurry, who run even faster these days thanks to the 24-hour news cycle. Yet many of its giants played a long game. Disraeli did not lead the Conservative Party to victory until he was 69. Big political ideas often take time to mature. Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher both rode to greatness on the back of theories which, a generation before, had been regarded as bonkers.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Patience wins”

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