Above are four of the greatest American leaders. It is certainly true that to rise into a political leader of any party the possession of a good deal of self confidence and belief is essential. The more nuanced and interesting question is when does that turn into a liability? The leaders above mixed that belief with humility and grace. That is the challenge for the political leaders of the UK.
Recent UK Political History
Nick Clegg was a charismatic leader who was clearly the best performer in the televised debates for the 2010 UK General Election and managed to become the first leader of the Liberal party to wield any significant power for many decades.
David Cameron and Tony Blair were also charismatic and achieved outstanding initial success. All three of them are now in the political wilderness well before it would have been predicted, ditched by huge swathes of supporters of the three most significant UK parties of the past hundred years.
It is interesting that all three are bitter opponents of Brexit. For Cameron his irrational and unnecessarily partisan and biased efforts to bully and cajole the British people into accepting his will did for him. The other two, even now, openly fume and fret at the stupidity of the people and do everything conceivable to frustrate their will. All three could not or cannot believe they may be mistaken and for Clegg and Blair it is not the first time this tone has cost their parties.
Clegg's capitulation over tuition fees in his grab for power and Blair's calamity with regard to the Iraq war and reckless open door immigration policies both contributed to the Liberal and Labour parties becoming more and more irrelevant.
Rejection of Democracy
The bottom line in each case was a fundamental rejection of democracy.
They may argue that they are representatives and this requires them to follow their own conscience, make their own decisions and try to persuade voters. This is true if the issue is unclear and before the voters have expressed their will, but it is a false premise and a get out when the votes have been counted and decisions are expected to be implemented.
They may argue they must still agitate for their own constituency whether that is geographical or political. But this again is untrue. When seventeen million people voted out against fifteen million voting in, both groups can't be accommodated and the will of the majority must be supported by all who believe in democracy.
But no. The three leaders named as well as many others including Corbyn and McDonnell present leaders of the Labour party, Heseltine and Clarke significant figures in previous Conservative governments and Surgeon and Farron present leaders of the Scottish Nationalists and Liberal Democrats, could not and cannot accept democracy because they do not have the grace to concede that they must step down for a while from the role of cause leader and into the role of implementing the peoples will.
Right Leader/ Right Time
The right leader often emerges at the right time and it is to be hoped someone wraps Teresa May in cotton wool so that she can lead us through the next several years. She voted to remain but immediately had the grace to accept the will of the majority and is fighting for it tenaciously within her party, within the UK and within Europe. I see no one else with the inclination and the capacity to do this as effectively anywhere on the political spectrum.
More power to her.
