Strayside Sunday: Thank God he's gone. Now who's for the top job?

Strayside Sunday: Thank God he’s gone. Now who’s for the top job?

Last updated Jul 9, 2022

Strayside Sunday is our political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party.

So, he’s gone. To coin a phrase “thems the breaks.” What a remarkable week it’s been in our national life. The man who delivered an 80-seat majority for the Conservative Party less than three years ago, the man who “got Brexit done” and the man who led the country (many, including me, say successfully) through the pandemic and vaccination rollout was dragged, kicking and screaming, from Downing Street. In my piece following the recent vote of confidence which Boris Johnson won I concluded that we were probably stuck with him for another year. I could not have been more wrong. A woeful Number 10 mishandling of the ‘Pincher by name, Pincher by nature’ affair brought the Prime Minister low – in brief, more lies and dissembling from the boss and his team about what was known of the sex pest’s historic misdemeanours before he was appointed Deputy Chief Whip.

In the end the Prime Minister lost the regard and trust of a staggering number of his ministers (over 50 of whom resigned within 48 hours) and he had to go. I’m glad. Boris Johnson was doing lasting damage to government, infusing it with his own Walter Mitty-like lack of integrity, lack of grip and inattention to detail. In the end he was indeed unfit for office. His colleagues knew it and finally grew the pair required to commit regicide. Fitting for the man-child who, as a boy, proclaimed he wanted to become World King.

The keen-eyed amongst you will have spotted Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, among those in Downing Street, supporting Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he gave his “resignation” speech from the government lectern. Mr Adams has been a staunch supporter of BoJo throughout his tenure, serving latterly as a Cabinet Office Minister. At one point Mr Adams reached across to the PM’s wife Carrie, offering his hand in sympathy. Having already announced his intention to stand down at the next election, Adams will thus be spared the verdict of the electorate on the wisdom of his choice in political friends. That verdict is likely to be damning indeed.

Ripon MP Julian Smith (sitting on a majority better weighed than counted) was, on the other hand, in no way supportive of the Johnsons. In an interview on the Today programme on Wednesday Mr Smith said the Prime Minister had suffered a “catastrophic loss of confidence” among Tory MPs, that his behaviour was Trumpian and, by refusing to step down, that he was causing a “constitutional crisis.” Smith, a former Northern Ireland Secretary, will no doubt be hopeful of renewed ministerial preferment under the next leader, whoever that may be…

Since the Brexit referendum British politics has seen one of the most turbulent periods in modern political life. Boris Johnson is now the third leader despatched by the Tory party in six years. Notwithstanding the poison in the chalice, at time of writing there seem to be no shortage of contenders-manque willing to vie for the crown.

It is often said that those who wield the dagger don’t inherit. If that’s true then neither Sajid Javid nor Rishi Sunak will win the leadership, even though arguably they both acted with principle in leading this week’s tidal waves of resignations from the Johnson government. Both are serious minded and would represent a significant upgrade on their predecessor. Other contenders have less to recommend them. Liz Truss is mad as a March Hare and thinks herself a latter-day Mrs Thatcher. Nadhim Zahawi still looks like a decent bet, although his contortions this week in accepting the position of Chancellor from Johnson one day, going on the media rounds to support the PM the next morning, before telling him to resign the following evening made Houdini look like a cheap carnival act.

The googly eyed Brexiteer Steve Baker was one of the first to declare (please God no; I don’t want government as yet another sinister “research group”), along with Attorney-General Suella Braverman (who’s that??). Grant Shapps has declared his intention, although he might well be too tarred by the Johnson brush for comfort – no one has been on the airwaves more in the past year defending the increasingly indefensible. Jeremy Hunt, who came second last time around will no doubt be in the running. Another serious person who should warrant serious consideration. Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat round out the field. Both are eminently presentable, full of personality and would represent a generational fresh start that might well benefit the Conservatives come the next election. I want Rishi Sunak.

One man who will most certainly not be standing for the leadership is Harrogate’s own Andrew Jones MP. Having finally and belatedly come out against Boris Johnson he popped up again this week to support a Harrogate Borough Council bid for levelling up cash to fund the proposed redevelopment of the town’s white elephant Convention Centre. The council is understood to have bid for £20m from the government’s (no longer Boris Johnson’s) Levelling Up Fund. This would certainly take a useful bite out of the reported redevelopment budget of a staggering £47m, the costs for which will otherwise fall squarely on local taxpayers. Whether the project would, as Mr Jones says, “help provide a platform for Yorkshire and the Humber businesses domestically and for export, help to drive inward investment and support extensive employment opportunities” is open to conjecture. That Harrogate and surrounds is the type of place for which levelling up is designed, is not. This is a relatively wealthy place, so one admires Mr Jones’ chutzpah in making a public claim on a fund designed to address national inequalities. With the Tories trailing in the polls and the Liberal Democrats resurgent locally it might not be a coincidence that our local MP has found his campaigning voice. Like his Conservative colleagues in government, better late than never.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.