An endearing underachiever

‘I am beginning to see that brain counts for little but that character counts for everything,’ wrote Harold Nicolson, in one of those flashes of self-perception which from time to time brilliantly illuminated his life. ‘It is not a pleasant thought as my character is weak and easily influenced.’ He was only just 17 when he articulated that particular piece of self-deprecation; he would have said exactly the same 60 years later and been right on both occasions. His ability to diagnose his weaknesses, coupled with a total inability to do anything to rectify them, was one of his most endearing characteristics; it also explained why his various careers, in terms of what his talents entitled him to expect, were signal failures.

Most popular

Freddy Gray

Trump shock: is there method behind the madness?

His flirtation with Oswald Mosley illustrated both his fundamental benevolence and his capacity for fatuity. Like many others, he admired Mosley’s energy and self-confidence and joined the New Party in the belief that it offered Britain a chance for regeneration which was not to be hoped for from any of the tired and traditional parties of the past. He deplored Mosley’s attitude towards the Jews but still felt a sneaking sympathy for the sentiments that underlay it: ‘Although I loathe anti-Semitism,’ he once admitted, ‘I do dislike Jews.’ But he shrank from the violent side of Mosley’s politics and soon found the party vulgar and slightly ridiculous. When Mosley asked for suggestions for a suitable uniform for his party members, Nicolson characteristically suggested ‘grey-flannel trousers and shirts’. He disengaged himself from the New Party before the going got too hot. Mosley had no political judgment, was his final verdict. ‘He believes in fascism. I don’t. I loathe it.’ But when Mosley was interned in May 1940 Nicolson was one of the few active politicians who risked his career by offering to visit him in prison.