Wannabe prime ministers are nakedly ambitious to run the UK, but why? That is the burning question | Stefan Stern

"The what are you in it for? question gets to the heart of personal ambition. Of course we all tell prospective employers that we are hard-working, able, conscientious and ambitious. But that last claim, in particular, needs to be followed up and tested a bit. Ambitious for what? Ambitious for whom? This period in Westminster is being fuelled by naked ambition: either the desire to stay in office or the determination to get to the top."

"One way of looking at the disastrous catalogue of bad government we have endured for over a decade now is as an exercise in bad ambition running riot. Politics sometimes unfairly disparaged as show business for ugly people does not always reveal humanity at its best. But the motives behind political careers can be stripped down to the pursuit of power, regardless of the language used to justify it."

"The rivals will use respectable-sounding language, invoking duty, public service and even honour. Some leading figures may have convinced themselves that their motives are essentially worthy. But, in truth, Westminster is a battlefield where power is sought and exercised. Sometimes this truth is acknowledged."

"When he appeared on Desert Island Discs over 20 years ago, Boris Johnson was candid enough to admit what drove him on. My silicon chip, my ambition silicon chip, has been programmed to try to scrabble up this cursus honorum, this ladder of things, he said. One of Johnson's former employers, Max Hastings, once gave the former prime minister a less-than-glowing character reference along similar lines."

Ambition in Westminster is framed as a driving force behind personal advancement, either to remain in office or to reach the top. Claims of being hard-working and conscientious are common, but the meaning of ambition is questioned: ambitious for what and for whom. Politics is compared to show business, yet the focus is on how motives can become self-serving. Bad government over more than a decade is portrayed as bad ambition running riot. Even when rivals use language about duty, public service, and honour, power is still sought and exercised. Boris Johnson is cited as candid about his ambition, and a former employer is referenced with a critical view of his character.

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