Solon for now
Politicians accepting Mr Powell's argu- ments, whose legitimacy is most easily chal- lenged, develop the strongest impulse to convert. If it is right that a movement is pioneered by intellectuals, materialised by fanatics, and consolidated by men of action, Mr Heath might make a conciliatory gesture, as a man of action, to the craving for recog- nition of someone whose missionary ardour and impulse to proselytise (itself an expres- sion of some deep misgiving) will help the Conservative party to perpetuate the power so recently won. It has been said that a Bishopric conferred on Luther at a particular time in his career might have cooled his zest for the Reformation. Prussiandom might have won over Karl Marx by giving him a job and a title. It is no time for Mr Powell to tilt at power by interfering with those who create and achieve—his outlets should be within the frame of the Cabinet and his job nothing less than that great task, far too important for the lawyer alone, of Constitu- tional Reform.
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