May flops as George sends out the girls
UNVEILINg their massive extension of the right-to-buy housing policy, the Tories put Home Secretary Theresa May on t he airwaves t o make the case for what they hope will be an election gamechanger. But May was useless — mumbling and stumbling through radio and television interviews. At times she sounded semidetached from the policy, which could empower up to 1.3 million families in England to buy their housing association homes. So why on earth was she chosen?
Stung by criticism that too few women Tories had been seen or heard, Chancellor george Osborne had decreed that May should do the interviews.
Next, it was the turn of Treasury minister Priti Patel, Environment Secretary Liz Truss and Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, to go on air to reinforce the female-friendly message. Osborne never even considered Culture Secretary Sajid Javid.
Perhaps he should have. The son of a Pakistani bus driver who came t o Britain with £1 in his pocket, Javid grew up in a two- bedroom f l at on a Bristol street that was recently dubbed ‘a lawless hell- hole where murder, rape, shootings, drug pushing, prostitution, knifings and violent robbery are commonplace’.
Javid i s now a self- made millionaire, a shining example of t he s ocial mobility which Margaret Thatcher’s original right- to - buy policy helped to create.
Theresa May, in contrast, is the daughter of a clergyman.
My Tory HQ mole says: ‘ It’s george’s law. He declared it had to be women and that was the end of it.
‘It should have been Javid, but george wasn’t having it. Another wrong call.’