My part in the forthcoming downfall of the Republican Party

Great news yesterday, as my appointment as Co-Chair of the Foreign and Military Policy Commission of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) was confirmed. As a result, I shall be in Washington, D.C. from June 21 to 24, attending the 60th Annual Convention of this august American liberal group. Those of you who know me will be slightly puzzled on a couple of points, i.e. I’m not American, and I don’t tend to do policy – I’m a bureaucrat.

In fairness, my first ADA Convention was in 1991 when Rachelle and I attended as part of our honeymoon (the first week was spent at Walt Disney World in Florida). I enjoyed a week of being quizzed by senior activists to ensure that I had only honourable intentions towards their National Board member - a bit like meeting the prospective in-laws for the first time, except that there are about two dozen of them.

Over the years, I attended when it could be fitted in around Rachelle’s increasingly hectic political travel schedule and enjoyed the academic environment – ADA has a membership whose views, particularly on foreign and military policy issues, would fit fairly comfortably into the Liberal Democrats, although their links with the unions are far stronger than we could dare dream of.

After Rachelle and I separated, I was slightly surprised to receive a handwritten note from their stalwart Executive Director, Amy Isaacs, passing on her condolences but expressing the hope that I wouldn’t give up ADA. So, last June, I attended the conference on my way back from Fiji and had a blast. Three years of rebuilding my political self-confidence, allied to the networking skills gleaned from Rachelle, allowed me to impose myself to just the right extent and clearly caught the eye of the ‘powers that be’.

Thus, the invite to be Co-Chair of the Foreign and Military Policy Commission. I freely admit that I consider it to be a huge honour, and will be spending some of my next holiday doing preparation work (that’s what flights are for, isn’t it?) to make sure that I’m ready to hit the ground running (albeit a bit jetlagged) on 21 June.