Opinion

There is a lot of discussion in the media about the traffic chaos caused by VIP motorcades in the Pakistani cities. There have been horrific incidents when patients and ambulances could not reach the hospitals.

In Britain, on the 6 th of April, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was to have an audience with the Queen at the Buckingham Palace in preparation for the national elections. It was a ceremonial occasion and was fully covered by TV channels. A helicopter was filming the whole journey from the sky. I was curious and decided to observe closely how the Prime Minister’s motorcade moved between Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. My observations were as follows:

2. The motorcade consisted of just two cars, i.e. one police car leading the Prime Minister’s car. In addition, there were about 5 police motorcyclists, in vicinity, but they were not part of the motorcade.

3. I could observe that one or two motorcyclists would suddenly accelerate and overtake the Prime Minister’s car. These motorcyclists would then take positions at the next traffic junction where they would stop the traffic for about a minute, to let the Prime Minister pass. Meanwhile, the other motorcyclists would overtake the VIP car, to take positions at the following junction. Thus there was hardly any inconvenience to the general public. The whole system worked like clock-work.

4. The Prime Minister was accompanied by one staff member and one driver only. At the palace, he came out of his car and was received by the Queen’s Private Secretary.

When I lived in Pakistan 40 years ago, we found it hard to believe that the leaders of other nations lived their lives without pomp and show. One of my colleagues in the WAPDA House, Lahore, would always recall that he met the Swedish Prime Minister everyday in Stockholm while both walked to their respective offices. We always found it hard to believe that. More recently, I met a friend from Sweden. He stated that he saw the Swedish Prime Minister buying a gift item in a shop. While paying for the item, the Prime Minister told the cashier that he was in a hurry as he could get a parking ticket!

In the UK, in 1980’s, Nigel Lawson, the Chancellor, lived in 11 Downing Street next to Margret Thatcher’s residence. He wrote in the Daily Telegraph, about an interesting incident that shows the domestic lifestyle of political leaders:

Nigel Lawson hosted his birthday party on 11 th March 1984, at 11 Downing Street attended by Mrs Thatcher. Next year, he decided to have no such celebration. He went to bed early, then heard someone ringing the doorbell. As per the normal practice, there was no household staff, so he rushed downstairs wearing only a vest and shorts, thinking there was a messenger from the Cabinet Office on the door. He opened the door and lo and behold, his next door neighbors, Mr and Mrs Thatcher were standing in front of him, elegantly dressed for the birthday party. As they looked at each other with their mouths open, everyone burst into a loud laughter. Alas, there was no photographer present to record the scene.