经济学人下载:托利党巨人退休 才华横溢国会议员告别

Bratain
英国

A Tory titan retires
一托利党巨人退休

William, it was really nothing
威廉，真的没关系

The Conservatives bid farewell to a talented parliamentarian
保守党向一名才华横溢的国会议员告别

THE high esteem in which William Hague is held was evident on March 26th even amid the Conservative leader of the House of Commons's shabby last act. To mark the end of the parliament, which also concluded his 26-year-long career as an MP, Mr Hague launched a surprise, failed, bid to oust the speaker, John Bercow, who many Tories dislike. It was typical of the Tories' bungling in Parliament; but, MPs tutted, also an unseemly exit for one of its best performers of modern times.
就算这位下议院保守党领导人在3月26号的最后一举显得低劣，威廉·黑格享有的崇敬还是显而易见的。为了标记议会的结束，也将他26年的议员生涯画上句号，黑格让人们大吃一惊，他企图将不受托利党人欢迎的约翰·伯科赶下台，但失败了。这是托利党人在议会拙劣之举的典型，但对于近代最佳演员之一的黑格来说，引得议员们嘘声一片，这也是一个不体面的退场。

They were wrong. Because the 54-year-old Yorkshireman was following party orders—and that, even more than his laconic drawl and brilliance at the dispatch box, epitomises his career. The episode was also typical of the sort of orders Mr Hague has often had to follow, as an absurdly young Welsh secretary under John Major, as his successor as party leader, and, between 2010 and 2014, as foreign secretary.
他们错了。因为这位54岁的约克郡人执行的是党的指令——这一举甚至超越了他简洁、慢吞吞的调子和在政务上的傲人之处，成为了他政治生涯的标志。这一插曲也是黑格经常需要遵从的典型指令，无论是作为约翰·梅杰手下年轻得不可思议的威尔士事务大臣，或是梅杰的继任党派领导人，还是作为2010到2014年间的外事大臣，都是如此。

So what did he achieve? In an interview in his parliamentary office, Mr Hague names, without hesitation, a law he got passed in 1995 to outlaw discrimination against the disabled as his proudest legislative achievement. His spell as party leader (“I don't regret taking the leadership on, or giving it up; somebody had to do it”) is harder to enthuse about. After a stab at forging a kinder Conservatism—which remains elusive—he fell back on Euroscepticism, was humiliated in the 2001 election and resigned. That he remained an MP was an act of courage, which he burnished with dazzling speeches and unshakable loyalty to his successors. David Cameron, who took the helm in 2005, called him the Tories' deputy leader in all but name.
那他到底获得了什么成果呢？在他的议员会议室里进行的一次采访里，黑格毫不犹豫地将1995年他推动通过的一项禁止歧视残疾人的法律视为他最值得骄傲的立法成就。他作为政党领导的魅力（“我不后悔扛上领导的担子，或者将它卸下来，总有人要做这件事”）更难笼络人心。在试图创造一个更为温和的保守主义（仍令人难以捉摸）后，黑格又回到了欧洲怀疑主义，在2001年的选举中颜面全失随后辞职。他仍留任议员实属勇气之举，他用言辞闪闪发光的演讲和对继任者不可动摇的忠诚来修饰了这一行为。2005年掌权的大卫·卡梅伦称其为托利党非名义上的实际代理领导。

This made Mr Hague the most powerful foreign secretary since Tony Blair, a globe-trotting prime minister, emasculated the job. Even in a time of cuts—which Mr Hague ensured were lighter at the Foreign Office than they might have been—he had an opportunity to strengthen his office (“the best job in the world”) and Britain's place in the world. He did not really take it.
这使得黑格成为了最有权威的外事大臣，因为托尼·布莱尔这位游历世界的总理无法胜任这份工作。即使在预算削减的时期（黑格保证外事办公室的削减程度比想象中轻），他仍有机会加强办公室的力量（“世上最好的工作”）并提升英国在世界上的地位。他并没有把握住这个机会。

He did some excellent things—restoring confidence to a department he found to be “shockingly” demoralised, including through a renewed emphasis on learning languages and other lapsed skills. He also expanded its operations, opening 20 missions, especially in India and China, the focus of a commercial push. He was also bold, early on, supporting Mr Cameron's championing of the Arab spring, including the intervention in Libya in 2011. Mr Hague describes their failure to win parliamentary support for strikes on Syria's regime in 2013 as one of his “worst experiences”.
他做了一些了不起的事：重塑这个他发现道德”惊人“沦丧的部门的信誉，包括重新强调学习语言和其他失效技能的重要性。他还扩大了部门的运作范围，新派出了20个驻外使团，特别是在印度和中国这些商业动力的中心。早些时候，他也十分大胆地支持卡梅伦对阿拉伯之春的拥护，还包括2011年对利比亚的干预。黑格认为他们在2013年没能赢得议会对叙利亚统治下罢工的支持是他”最糟的体验“之一。

But after that setback Mr Cameron seemed to lose interest in the world. And Mr Hague did nothing obvious to fill the gap. He did not demur when Mr Cameron ordered a pullout from Afghanistan more abrupt than Britain's allies wanted. “We would have been there for decades” otherwise, he says; NATO only wanted Britain to stay, with a tiny force, for a year or two.
但那次挫折之后，卡梅伦似乎对全球事务失去了兴趣。黑格也没有做什么明显的事来填补空白。当卡梅伦以超乎英国盟友期望的速度突然命令从阿富汗撤军时，黑格并没有提出异议。他说，不然“我们本可以在那儿呆上几十年”。NATO希望英国仅在那儿保留少量武力一到两年。

Mr Hague's absence from the early Franco-German efforts to end the Ukraine crisis seemed similarly indicative of shrunken ambition. “You can't be everywhere”, he protests. But when it comes to tackling the continent's biggest security threats, Britain should always be with its main European allies. That Mr Hague was meanwhile more prominent in campaigning against rape in war, often alongside the film star Angelina Jolie, seemed a bit odd. The cause was important, but there was little in the history of such campaigns to suggest it would succeed, and the foreign secretary was required elsewhere.
在早期法德希望结束乌克兰危机的努力中，黑格的缺席似乎同样是其野心缩减的暗示。他抗议道：“你不可能无处不在。”但若到了处理这片大陆最大安全威胁的关头，英国应该始终与主要的欧洲同盟站在一条线上。黑格在反对战争强奸方面似乎更为闻名，他经常与电影明星安吉丽娜·朱莉一起参加相关活动，这看起来有一点奇怪。原因很重要，但历史证明这种活动鲜有成功，其他地方更需要外事大臣操心。

He retires to a pile in Wales and the 18th century, about which he writes fine books. It has been a thoroughly commendable political career; but, especially when set against Mr Hague's gifts, not a great one.
他在威尔士衣锦而归，还写了一些关于18世纪的好书。这是一段完全值得赞赏的政治生涯，但与黑格的天分相比，这又略显逊色。