Johnson must heal divisions to move on
Boris Johnson gathered the Cabinet together yesterday to pick over the ramifications of the vote of confidence in his leadership. He won with support from 59 per cent of Tory MPS, which many observers felt was the worst of all worlds for the party – a Prime Minister who is badly wounded but still in place.
However, apart from exposing the depths of disgruntlement on the backbenches, the vote did not change any of the fundamental issues facing the Government. There is a looming economic crisis which is developing into the sort of stagflation last seen in the 1970s, with rising prices, no growth, poor productivity and large numbers of people without jobs and on benefits.
In addition, the public services on which we rely are falling apart, either because they are structurally flawed, like the NHS, or because they remain locked into a way of working that took hold during the pandemic.
These difficulties are sapping support from the Conservatives and yet it is within their capacity to deal with them. First, however, they have to acknowledge the scale of the problems the country faces.
Mr Johnson told the Cabinet that the Government will be able to deliver tax cuts which will, in turn, drive economic growth. That is indeed the way forward, and yet his rhetoric is confounded by everything we have seen so far, with taxes and spending going up to record levels.
The Prime Minister is preparing to make a major speech on the economy but if this is to act as a relaunch then it requires an honest analysis of the position we are in. We have a high tax/low growth economic model. If Mr Johnson is to turn that around by the next election he had better start now.
The leadership contest displayed divisions that have been exacerbated by Mr Johnson’s governing style. If the Tories are to be a true broad church, he needs to bring into the Cabinet MPS who are not his natural bedfellows, even his stoutest critics.
As we report today, it is being suggested in a spirit of rapprochement that Jeremy Hunt, who came second in the last leadership contest, should be offered the post of Chancellor.
It is reminiscent of when Gordon Brown brought Peter Mandelson into his top team. Nonetheless, if the Prime Minister is eager to “draw a line” under the leadership question maybe this is one way of doing it.