Back ‘rational’ Sunak, Hague urges Tory members

FORMER Conservative leader William Hague yesterday urged party members to back the ‘ highly disciplined’ and ‘rational’ Rishi Sunak.

In a video message addressed to the Tory grassroots, Lord Hague said the former chancellor was the best choice to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister.

He described how Mr Sunak replaced him as the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire in 2015, despite being ‘new to farming issues’ and ‘not local’. Lord Hague said: ‘I have campaigned with literally thousands of candidates. I have mentored dozens. It was soon apparent that this one was the most assiduous and effective I had ever known.

‘If I said he should visit someone in the hills, he would be there the next day for hours, just listening to them.

‘He has a hunger to learn, to understand. One day, when I suggested he take it easy after a late event, he said he was getting up at 5am to join a farmer milking cows. “You don’t really have to do that,” I assured him. “I know”, he said, “but I really want to know what it’s like. I’ve got to understand for myself”.’

The video also featured Richmond constituents, with one saying: ‘He [Rishi Sunak] is an icon up here.’

Lord Hague said: ‘Having grown to admire him through months of touring Yorkshire villages together, I almost don’t wish on him this position, one of the hardest jobs in the world at the worst moment in decades. But then I think about the next prime minister, sitting late at night in Downing Street, working out how to help people with energy bills, sort out the Northern Ireland Protocol, maintain the unity of the West.

‘The best hope is a highly disciplined, rational individual, one who always does their utmost to understand... such a person is a very rare find in British politics.

‘Members should realise that they have one in their midst. His name is Rishi Sunak. He has my full support.’