Oh dear… Two leadership candidates have already declared; Suella Braverman, the appalling Attorney General, who managed to announce her intentions but not resign from Cabinet and Steve Baker, the hard right backbench MP, who pledged unity whilst having actively plunged the knife into the last three leaders. It almost makes you nostalgic for Boris Johnson. Well, not quite.
Goodbye Boris Johnson…
What the last few days have shown us is how unfit the Tories currently are to hold office. Over 50 resignations from government, yet only four from the Cabinet to oust Johnson. We have had months of Johnson’s colleagues repeating untruths, chaotic policy making, the threatened breaking of international law, the resignation of ethics advisers. Taxes, at record levels, have gone up and then down a little, institutions have been trashed, we are still fighting Brexit. The list goes on.
What is clear is that many in Johnson’s Cabinet should not be in a future one whoever is the next leader. Preferably Johnson’s successor should not be tainted by having served under him. There is much talent elsewhere in the Party that should be tapped.
It may well be too late for a Party too long in office and the public will not forget easily the chaos of the last few weeks. But here are a few tips for sorting it out:
- Remove all underperforming cabinet ministers and those who could not see the amorality of Johnson’s reign
- Ban backbench WhatsApp pressure groups for the sake of unity which have undermined leaders since Cameron
- Put Brexit behind us and bring back into the fold those who left the Party either voluntarily or involuntarily on this issue
- Negotiate a settlement with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol and immigration and outline a new constructive relationship with our largest trading partner
- Cancel the Rwanda deal
- Sort out tax policy with a medium (not short-term) plan to reduce taxes
- Clarify infrastructure investment plans particularly in relation to transport and green energy
- Basically, get back to policy making with a longer term focus and keep ministers in their jobs for as long as possible. Rotating ministerial positions (ex the last few days!) do not make good government
- Put ethical standards at the heart of the new administration
- Move the Tory Party back to the centre ground generally both in terms of policy but also choice of language
The divisive, discredited Johnson cannot be a caretaker Prime Minister whilst waiting for a new leader if the Tory Party wants to minimise the damage done to its reputation. We have a Deputy Prime Minister who will do for now. The poetic justice of all this is that if Johnson goes today, his term of office will be 28 days shorter than that of Theresa May’s. Who can blame her if she continues to vote in leadership elections wearing a ballgown…
Inside Right Politics 
As ever Julian this is sound stuff, but as Adm Cunningham said during the Crete campaign in WW2 “it takes 30 months to build a ship but 300 years to build a reputation.
Even having a leader with the obvious integrity of Tugendhat or Ellwood – or for that matter Stewart, Greening or Gauke doesn’t get you out of the hole.
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I can’t disagree and this contest is simply embarrassing!
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