Why our next PM should be Sunak

As most readers will recall, I did not support Rishi Sunak’s bid to become Prime Minister in the summer. I repeat, I do not regret backing Truss. Her vision of a low-tax, high wage, high growth economy, unlocked through supply side reforms and cutting taxes was, and remains, fundamentally correct and proper. That vision was, however, derailed by woeful communication and an abject failure to reconcile massive spending to significant tax cuts.

It is my belief and hope, that sometime in the not-too-distant future, the Conservative Party will take a good hard look at itself, purge itself of the cancerous factionalism and formulate a positive, radical, ideas-led vision for  21st century Britain. The time for that debate cannot be at this time.

We need to stop talking to ourselves and get back to the day job; governing and leading this country. In turbulent and unstable times, we need to steer a steady course in which businesses and people can have confidence. The only person who can even hope to achieve this is Mr Sunak.

Traditionally, one of the Conservative Party’s greatest assets is its nominally sound stewardship of the economy. Whilst Sunak presided over the earlier stages of big-state spending, it is clear that his pragmatic plan for the economy is the only serious avenue facing the party and the country.

Nor is the idea of a liberalised economy entirely dead in the dirt. Sunak pledged to unleash a wave of deregulation and actively encourage private investment as well as creating tens of freeports around the country as Chancellor.

On tax, I’ll not forget that the Truss administration ended up postponing many of Sunak’s planned tax cuts. It may be that the Conservative Party still enters the next election having made some progress toward a lower tax burden.

But perhaps the greatest skill a leader needs is the ability to communicate, to inspire, persuade and explain. Nobody could question that Sunak has invested considerable time and effort into refining and honing this skill. In what promises to be a challenging task, the value of this cannot be understated.

It is also increasingly clear that the parliamentary party wants Sunak to led them into the next election. This matters. We need a leader who can command respect and authority with their fellow MPs who sit behind them. For all the protestations of Mordaunt, it is Sunak that can best unite the party, manifest in the sheer diversity of support. From Baker, Swayne and Badenoch to Shapps and Gove, the majority of Tory MPs are uniting behind the only credible candidate. In the nicest possible way, party members like myself would be well-advised to take note.

Though it may be tempting, make no mistake: Back Boris and the Party will bust. I admire Boris Johnson on many counts. In many ways, he is a politician in a class all of his own. To put him back in his old job in the space of just 7 weeks would be immense folly. Not only would it make the entire summer and months of uncertainty, plotting and division an utterly futile farce, he, and the party, would have as much credibility as King Canute’s plan to stop the incoming tide. Policies would be clear as mud and we’d run the risk of the PM being suspended from the House and return to the unhappy internecine Tory psycho-drama. No, bring back Boris stinks of a party terrified of losing the next election. Of a membership casting around for something familiar, something popular and somebody who turned the Party around so remarkably, skilfully and successfully in 2019.

The question of “What of Penny?” is then posed. As I write this, Ms Mordaunt has just given an interview with the BBC. In this interview, any substantive question on policy- and therefore solutions - was batted straight back with a point-blank refusal to “go into any detail on this”. Then, of course, there are questions over how straight Ms. Mordaunt was with the party and public over her tenure in the Equalities brief and the true extent to which she could unite the party. For me, there is a degree of she who walks down the middle of the road gets run down by both sides…either way, given the very low volume of Tory MPs publicly supporting Mordaunt, the prospect of her reaching the final ballot seems to be remote at this stage.

For the sake of the party and above all, the country and the people’s need, I’ll be backing Rishi and encourage my fellow members to do the same.