The failed Hoon–Hewitt coup against the Prime Minister offers a clear Roman lesson — if you strike, you strike early and you strike hard.
The failed Hoon–Hewitt coup against the Prime Minister offers a clear Roman lesson — if you strike, you strike early and you strike hard.
When, for example, the despotic madman Caligula was cut down, the idea was that the republic would be restored. But as the senate endlessly debated the matter, the army moved in. Claudius (nephew of the previous emperor Tiberius) was hauled out from behind a curtain where he had hidden himself — a soldier spotted his feet — and taken to the barracks of the Praetorian Guard (the emperor’s bodyguard). There he promised each of the soldiers a hefty bribe and was duly proclaimed emperor. Result? No change. For the senate, read our dithering Cabinet.
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