Politics & Power Quote by Patricia Hewitt

There is a particular kind of political praise that doubles as a permission slip, and Patricia Hewitt is writing one here: a defense of staying home framed as moral seriousness. On the surface, she’s backing “him” for skipping the UN. Underneath, she’s laundering a tactical retreat from the international stage into an affirmative story about virtue, proximity, and trust.

The phrase “absolutely right” shuts down debate before it starts, a preemptive strike against critics who might read absence as negligence. Then comes the pivot: “First things first” isn’t an argument so much as a reordering of obligations, designed to make global engagement feel like a luxury item. By pairing “values” with “people here,” Hewitt implies that international commitments risk diluting authenticity, as if diplomacy is where principles go to get compromised.

“All politics is local” is a familiar truism deployed as a shield. It flatters voters by casting them as the real center of gravity, not the UN chamber. The key move is in the last clause: “trusting people more.” That line borrows the language of decentralization and democratic renewal, suggesting that skipping a high-profile forum is actually an act of respect toward communities. It’s a clever inversion: distance becomes care.

Context matters because this is the kind of rhetoric that surfaces when elites need to reconcile outward-facing responsibilities with inward-facing anxiety: voters who feel unheard, institutions that feel remote, and leaders looking for a narrative that makes opting out sound like listening.