DAN HODGES: The Tories have just 48 hours to save themselves from Armageddon… the last thing Britain needs is Boris Johnson back in Downing Street
Boris Johnson’s friend sounded emotional. ‘The thing he has to realise is that a large number of us who are close to him and have nothing but his best interests at heart think he shouldn’t run.’
They proceeded to list the reasons. The Privileges Committee investigation that is set to regurgitate and relitigate the Partygate scandal.
The threat of large-scale resignations and even defections of Tory MPs.
And, crucially, the very real danger of renewed turmoil in the financial markets.
Today, Tory MPs face the most momentous choice of their lives. Who they nominate as next Tory leader and Prime Minister will decide the fate of a nation.
‘Boris likes spending,’ the ally explained. ‘He’s upbeat. He’s not an austerity politician. I can’t see him wanting to make public expenditure cuts like Jeremy Hunt tells people must be made.
‘I don’t see how they can work together. We need Jeremy to stay in place. But I think if Boris became Prime Minister, he would try to sack him.’
Today, Tory MPs face the most momentous choice of their lives. Who they nominate as next Tory leader and Prime Minister will decide the fate of a nation.
If they get it right, a line could start to be drawn under the anarchy that was the Liz Truss premiership.
If they get it wrong, the country could be plunged into a new period of economic and political crisis that would finally sound the death knell for their party.
It would be nice to be able to report that each of those MPs are approaching decision day with clear heads and stout hearts, but many are not. For some, the issue is solely a matter of personal survival.
What leader would be best placed to wrangle enough voters back to the Tory tribe to save their own seat and skin? Then there are those for whom it is a question of ideology.
Which candidate is a true believer? Who has the bluest Conservative blood in their veins? Who would Margaret Thatcher endorse?
And finally there is petty vengeance and spite. What scores can be settled?
What act of betrayal – real or imagined – can be repaid in kind? Whose ascent can be stymied because they are not a member of the right clique or tribe?
For the rest of us, it’s a case of no more internal Tory party games, please. No more psychodramas. No more playing fast and loose with the hopes and lives of the people.
If Tory MPs want a leader who has any chance of reversing their political fortunes, they have a simple choice.
They need someone who can now deliver a period of sober, stable governance. That is what voters want.
Not someone who can make them laugh or who has ‘the X-factor’. But someone with the maturity and judgment to finally bring some order to the chaos.
Meanwhile, if Tory MPs want to restore ideological purity to their party, they also have an easy choice. They should opt for the candidate who’ll reacquaint Conservatism with its core mission.
That means delivering sound finance and fiscal probity. Providing level-headed statesmanship.
Having the strength and courage to take hard decisions in the interests of the nation as a whole.
Because the brutal fact is that this is no longer just about the Tory party. They’ve had their fun – debating arcane subjects such as the juris diction of the European courts or making speeches about ‘the tofu-eating wokerati’.
The only thing that matters now is that Britain has a Prime Minister who has a single focus on tackling the major issues of the moment.
Interest rates. Wages. NHS waiting lists. Crime. The £45billion budget black hole. Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling.
All Tory MPs need to ask each other during their interminable WhatsApp debates is: ‘Who is best placed to manage the country out of the benighted mess we are in?’ Do they honestly believe there is only one man who fits that bill?
A lone, blond messiah who – with a cheeky grin and dollop of Latin – can make all of Britain’s ills vanish in a puff of smoke?
The Conservative Party has to stop taking everyone for fools. It was only last month that its MPs unceremoniously bundled Boris Johnson out of Downing Street.
The Conservative Party has to stop taking everyone for fools. It was only last month that its MPs unceremoniously bundled Boris Johnson out of Downing Street. Now are they seriously contemplating saying to the nation, ‘Ooooops. Our bad. Let’s bundle him back in’?
Now are they seriously contemplating saying to the nation, ‘Ooooops. Our bad. Let’s bundle him back in’? How can grown men and women even think like that? Or, more importantly, how can they think like that and genuinely expect to ever again be taken seriously as a party of government?
Despite its best kamikaze efforts, the Tory party is not yet dead. There are good, competent people who can still be trusted with the reins of power. Rishi Sunak. Michael Gove. Penny Mordaunt. James Cleverly. Grant Shapps. Kemi Badenoch. Dominic Raab. Tom Tugendhat. Michelle Donelan. Nadhim Zahawi.
All these have steady enough hands to collectively guide Britain through difficult and dangerous days ahead. Boris Johnson does not.
We don’t need to stare into the crystal ball to see how his return to Downing Street would end. We just need to read a book of recent history – one whose pages are filled with court infighting, dysfunctionality, duplicity and hubris.
The next 48 hours represent the final chance for Tory MPs. Britain is on the brink of giving up on them. Indeed, it may already have given up on them.
Sir Keir Starmer’s staggering 38- point lead could well prove unassailable. But the political fortunes of the Conservative Party are of secondary concern now. There is a country to be governed.
Sir Keir Starmer’s staggering 38- point lead could well prove unassailable. But the political fortunes of the Conservative Party are of secondary concern now. There is a country to be governed.
Four weeks ago I wrote how Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng had gambled everything on their mad ‘dash for growth’.
The gamble failed. Tory MPs must stop rolling the dice. They must stop staking the mortgages, jobs and pensions of the British people in increasingly frantic attempts to turn the electoral tide.
After the mayhem of the past month, the nation desperately needs a period of stability and security. Which means the last thing Britain needs is Boris Johnson back in Downing Street
Source: Read Full Article