United we stand... divided we will fall
THE CONSERVATIVE party needs to unite for its own survival and for the good of the country. Britain is in an economic danger zone and the consequences for families who already struggle to pay the bills could be catastrophic. Surging inflation has arrived at a moment of international turmoil. This is a terrible time to also suffer political chaos.
The UK needs leadership and stability – and it is incumbent on the Conservative Party to provide a Government worthy of the nation’s trust.
The nightmare scenario is that Britain tumbles into a recession in which unemployment once again ravages communities.
Economic uncertainty could poison the post-pandemic recovery, and a torrid chapter of political instability would send out the message that the Conservative Party is clapped out and no longer fit to govern.
The leadership election has exposed stark divisions among MPS about the strategy for getting through the present storm.
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak argues that inflation must be brought under control before he embarks on a tax-cutting programme. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss believes bold reductions in taxation are required to jump-start growth.
It is vital that the pros and cons are thrashed out in the coming days and weeks with candour and urgency.
Good people disagree on the best way to tackle Britain’s debt mountain and kill off the inflation threat. This is the time for an honest contest about ideas, not a succession of squalid attempts to smear rivals.
When the new leader arrives in Downing Street it is imperative the party’s different factions do not launch guerrilla campaigns against one another.
New Labour’s time in power was marred by self-indulgent and destructive feuding between Blairites and Brownites.
Voters will be disgusted if Brexiteers and erstwhile Remainers or Boris loyalists and those who engineered his downfall engage in character assassinations during an economic emergency.
Both Mr Sunak and Ms Truss will be acutely aware that neither of them has secured the backing of the lion’s share of MPS, with the former Chancellor backed in the fifth round vote by 137 (38.3 per cent) of his colleagues, with Ms Truss winning the support of 113 (31.6 per cent).
IF THE Conservatives cannot unite around an agenda of economic revival then voters will bring the curtain down on Tory rule. An orgy of blue on blue backstabbing would appal households who are worried about paying for daily essentials. The most powerful argument Sir Keir Starmer can deploy in the looming election is that it is time for a change.
The Liberal Democrats and the Greens will urge voters to eject the Conservative establishment from Whitehall so that fresh ideas can drive government.
Similarly, advocates of Scottish and Welsh independence and Irish unity will point at the scandals and chaos in Westminster and ask: “Do you want to stay part of a union where the choice of PM is decided by the Tory party membership or take control of your own destiny?”
Mr Sunak and Ms Truss would be horrified to go down in history as the last PM of the United Kingdom. But the bonds between its nations are under intense stress and the spectacle of Tory conflict and division is a threat to the union.
Rot sets in when MPS start looking at different wings of their party for foes to be defeated, forgetting that the real Opposition sits on the opposite benches.
When a party takes its hold on power for granted, an odious sense of entitlement can spawn sleaze and complacency.
From day one, Mr Sunak or Ms Truss will have to work to convince voters that the Conservatives deserve more years in power. He or she must persuade you that the NHS really is safer under Tory stewardship; that your children are more likely to thrive at school when a Conservative Government sets policy; and, above all, that your family is better off when a major
ity of seats are painted blue. The Johnson era may be over but the party would be foolish to jettison his best insights.
He understood that people voted for Brexit because they wanted a Government that was unequivocally on their side, and not beholden to the demands of Brussels or big business.
HE GRASPED the reality that people do not measure the success of a Government by tracking the UK’S GDP or the FTSE 100. People living in communities that have never recovered from the collapse of heavy industry want the same prosperity, education success stories and life expectancy that are taken for granted in richer areas.
Candidates from a remarkable range of backgrounds stood in the first rounds of the Tory leadership contest.
Britain is a country that celebrates equality of opportunity and a party that has this ideal in its bloodstream should be able to renew itself and thrive.
This is no time for a Tory civil war. Britain needs a PM and a government that will make us proud.