Illuminati-R-Us

Reading through the draft of a student's dissertation, an interesting issue came up: the influence that politicians and other public servants may have long after they have retired. Some have more than others: few would argue that Tony Blair continues to have much greater influence than David Cameron, despite having left office almost a decade earlier. What do others think - are there former politicians, civil servants, judges that have significant influence in your countries despite having left office / retired 10 years or more ago?

Lee Kuan Yew

Helmut Schmidt was kind of a sage of rationality after the end of his Chancellorship in '82. Always shrouded in smoke, he was like a Pythia telling modern politicians where they went wrong - and he lived until 2015! But his influence was kind of a journalisitc one, he did not hold any sway over people actually in high office.

Same goes for former Presidents Richard v. Weizsäcker, Roman Herzog and Joachim Gauck. They are/were figures to turn for for general advice and general analysis of the situation. A notable exception is Willy Brandt, who was an influential figure in German and European politics after he stepped down as Chancellor. But then, Willy Brandt actually continued to hold high offices, as Social Democratic Party chairman and President of the Socialist International. In the latter capacity he helped Felipe Gonzalez of Spain and Mario Soares (and successsors) of Portugal to success in stabilizing their respective democracies in the 70s and 80s and facilitating Spain's and Portugal's entry into the EC in 1985.

In general, I get the impression that in Germany we expect polititcans to pull back from current issues after their offices have ended. Most comply, and quite a few turn either to a journalistic/professorial/advisor kind of life style or try to actually make real money off their experience and networks. We had a few who tried running things from the back room after retirement, and they were very quickly ignored (Konrad Adenauer, Helmut Kohl, and a few regional figures).

Footage of Gordon Brown having been asked to intervene in the independence debate yet again.