If nothing else, you have to admire his honesty. Yesterday Lord Pearson announced he was stepping down as Ukip's leader, because he was "not much good at party politics". He added that he didn't even enjoy it. He had been in the job for less than a year.
This sort of public self-immolation is rare in public life, although a select few have similarly bared their souls. Kevin Keegan, for example, who in 2000 packed in the job of England coach with the words: "I have had all the help I have needed to do my job properly, but I've not been quite good enough." Two years later, Estelle Morris apologised to Tony Blair for not being "as effective as I should be". Resigning as education secretary, she told the PM she had achieved more as a humble schools minister.
Whether your field is politics, plumbing or plastic surgery, unless you don't actually need to work, it's rarely a good idea to admit to total incompetence, especially to your boss or competitors. If you're a politician, that's pretty much everyone: the electorate, the backstabbers in your own party and those with a rival agenda.
Now Pearson intends to focus on his "wider interests . . . the treatment of people with intellectual impairment, teacher training, the threat from Islamism and the relationship between good and evil". And one thing about his resignation is strictly routine: like the millions of soon-to-be-ex-politicians before him, he plans to spend more time with his family.
