Forget speeches and promises – just get to work
ELECTIONS are not the main business of politics. Governments should concentrate on running things, not turn life into an incessant campaign.
Normal people in Britain are thoroughly tired of voting. Four times since May 2015 we have been dragged to the polls. So it is baffling that the political world should already have begun to discuss whether Theresa May will lead her party into the next Election. Why ask now? In any case, who can say? Events, entirely unknown to us, will decide these issues in ways we cannot foresee.
What the country needs is a government getting on with its job. If Mrs May wants to stay in Downing Street, she needs to show she can do that job. If others want to replace her, let them manage their departments so impressively that they are serious contenders. As it is, when the public are asked to choose from a long list of possible new Tory leaders, ‘Don’t know’ comes top and ‘None of the above’ runs close behind the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson.
The Mail on Sunday today reveals a memorandum from Sir Lynton Crosby, the Australian election expert, delivered to the Prime Minister just before she called her ill-judged poll in the spring. It is full of good advice. Voters don’t like uncertainty, and mainly want stability and prosperity. Now Brexit is our aim, they want it achieved.
It was wise counsel then and, if Mrs May had taken it, she would be stronger and more stable than she is now. Its implications for today are much the same. If asked to speculate about the next Election, she should smilingly decline.
Our Survation poll delivers a similar message. Most people don’t want political change at the moment. Even Mrs May’s keenest supporters don’t welcome talk about who will lead the Tories in 2022. And interestingly, Ukip, the force once so feared by both major parties, has shrivelled to a tiny four per cent of voters as the complex reality of Brexit becomes clear.
A period of hard work, good economic management and skilful Brussels negotiation is what the Tories need. We have had quite enough speechmaking and quite enough promises. Just now, competence is better than any campaign.