Johnson is gone – long live Johnsonism!
Within days of the prime minister’s grumpy resignation, the candidates to succeed him have pledged to retain one of his craziest and most offensive policies. Look around – dead cats are springing back to life.
Boris Johnson’s wretched plan to export refugees to Rwanda was perhaps the most extreme of his many populist attention-grabbers. It was, as with so many of his half-inflated schemes, designed to get him out of a hole, and should have disappeared into the waste bin of history along with the unlamented ex-PM.
And, yet, all the runners and riders have committed to continuing with it – indeed, the others had done so even before the hardline Home Secretary Priti Patel had decided whether to join the race.
The Rwanda scheme is facile, underprepared, expensive, morally offensive and, on the basis of the first attempt to deliver it, which resulted in an empty aeroplane flying to Africa, unworkable. Yet such is the expectation that, when it comes to immigration, a Conservative leader must be a total bastard, it will be carried on. That clanging sound you can hear is alarm bells ringing.
How low can taxes go?
On tax, up there with Brexit as a Tory psychosis, there is something of a manic reverse auction going on. Each candidate is promising to outdo the last with the range and depth of their cuts, and promising various eccentric ways of paying for them.
How low can you go? Income tax, VAT, National Insurance, corporation tax – they’re all for the chop, apparently. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has promised to begin cutting on day one. Jeremy Hunt says he wants to slash “all taxes”.
I have a clear vision for our country and economy – and the experience and resolve to deliver it.https://t.co/koPyqw4wIG#lizforleader pic.twitter.com/V9jENJmyj6
— Liz for Leader (@trussliz) July 11, 2022
Nadhim Zahawi insists, with a straight face, that he will fund his tax cuts by slashing 20% from the civil service, which might, in fact, pay for a new photocopier for No 10, even if there would be no one left to work it.
Suella Braverman, the attorney general, says she will scrap all existing taxes and bring back the cowardice tax which, under Henry I, was levied against knights who did not want to fight for the sake of the King. OK, perhaps not, but, really, these are early days.
Some know their limits – the rest go into politics
Were it not for the various, profoundly serious crises facing our country, the contest would make for quite an entertaining spectacle. There are those in life who know their limits, and those who don’t – the latter often go into politics.
I read that someone called Rehman Chishti is running, but I remain to be convinced that he exists
Ben Wallace, the impressive defence secretary, has ruled himself out of the race, I suspect because he is aware of what he’s good at and what he’s not. A televised grilling on economic policy from Andrew Neil will not have appealed.
Others are less self-aware. Braverman is a nonentity whose most consistent feature has been how consistently unimpressive she is.
Kemi Badenoch is an interesting and transgressive thinker, represents a new generation, and has secured the backing of Michael Gove. But, she has almost no experience of government and could do with a tough few years in the Home Office or running the NHS before we place the entire country in her uncalloused hands.
I read that someone called Rehman Chishti is running, but I remain to be convinced that he exists. If the awful Priti Patel wins, I pledge to march on Derby at the head of Nicola Sturgeon’s army.
Ready for Rishi?
In the end, the real contest is likely to be between the most obvious contenders. Rishi Sunak has been quickest out the blocks, has the benefit of already having gone through his personal scandal, and seems least likely to be blown about by the more eccentric obsessions of the party membership.
I’m standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and your Prime Minister.
Let’s restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country. #Ready4Rishi
Sign up 👉 https://t.co/KKucZTV7N1 pic.twitter.com/LldqjLRSgF
— Ready For Rishi (@RishiSunak) July 8, 2022
This will probably work well for him in the country, but only if he can squeeze by the Cerberuses that are the local association majors and matrons.
Penny Mordaunt has stayed relatively sensible during the Johnson years, and has clearly built a following in parliament, even if her public profile has been low. She offers something of a clean skin. Liz Truss, meanwhile, is likely to battle it out with Zahawi among the economic and Brexit hardliners.
Tory party has lost its sense of purpose
If I was to place a bet on the final two, I’d go for Sunak and Truss. But, such is the animus between the candidates and their camps that any one of them could be taken out by a well-timed leak or briefing in the coming weeks. This isn’t so much Wacky Races as Jason Voorhees versus Michael Myers.
Let’s get this leadership contest over and done with, and then consign the lot of them to the opposition benches
The final truth is that the Tory party is an exhausted volcano. It has been in government too long – this will be our fourth prime minister in 12 years – and has lost its sense of purpose.
Let’s get this leadership contest over and done with, and then consign the lot of them to the opposition benches where they can do less harm.
Chris Deerin is a leading journalist and commentator who heads independent, non-party think tank, Reform Scotland
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