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Divinely conferred power or talent; capacity to inspire followers with devotion and enthusiasm…..that’s what charisma is.

It is very encouraging, therefore, to hear that according to a recent poll this is the only quality which most people think David Cameron possesses more of than Gordon Brown. Great admiration for it has never been characteristic of the British, as we demonstrated in 1945 when we wisely rejected the most charismatic leader of our country in the twentieth century—to whom we owed an enormous debt—for a man who had no charisma at all. God forbid that Cameron’s undoubted charisma will enable him to lead the Tories to victory at the next election.

I said “leader of our country” because of course the most charismatic of all twentieth-century leaders was not British. It was said that he admired us, but we never really took to him.