DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The Tories have one last shot at redemption. This is it — the time for egos and petty feuds is over
In recent days, Boris Johnson has been rising with the Caribbean dawn and taking to his keyboard to complete the manuscript for his much-delayed book on Shakespeare.
If the words flowed and he managed to complete a chapter, he might allow himself a little leisure time — a swim perhaps or a puff on a Cuban cigar as he contemplated the meaning of life.
Money is beginning to come in, too. A six-figure sum for a 30-minute speech in the U.S. and plenty more in prospect. Astronomical sums predicted for a personal memoir.
In a year or two, a rosy financial future for himself and his family should be assured.
Why on earth then, would he want to give up this idyllic life to re-enter the gory, real-life Shakespearean tragedy that is today’s Conservative Party?
Mr Johnson was elected with a landslide majority. As he was deposed by the political class rather than the people, it may be argued that he still carries that popular mandate
Mr Johnson was flying back from the Dominican Republic today to a government so self-indulgent and so racked with internal strife that it has effectively ceased to function. Even the Bard himself would be hard-pushed to come up with such a baleful plot.
Yet it seems Boris is set to stand again to be Tory leader and Prime Minister. If he were to succeed, it would be the greatest comeback since Banquo’s ghost.
It’s just 45 days since he left Downing Street, driven from office by his own MPs in what can only be described as a fit of collective hysteria.
In the intervening time, Liz Truss crashed and burned in the most ignominious fashion and the party is currently awaiting the anointment of its third leader in under two months.
Not surprisingly, voters look on in horror and are turning away in their droves.
The greatest indictment of this omnishambles is that it has made even Sir Keir Starmer — Labour’s version of Mogadon Man — look electable.
So is there any salvation? Only if all Tory MPs wake up and face the brutal reality of the situation.
They must decide whether they want to be a genuine party of government, or suffer being banished to the margins of British politics. If it’s the former, they must rediscover the meaning of loyalty.
Whoever wins the leadership election, the whole parliamentary party must coalesce around them. Democracy depends on the losers accepting the result.
Rishi guided the economy skilfully through the pandemic, preserving businesses and livelihoods with the furlough scheme and other vital support measures
The time for egos, petty feuding and the hunger for 15 minutes of fame on social media or Sky television is over. The country needs and deserves better.
Let’s look at the potential candidates. At this moment, only three appear capable of clearing the initial hurdle of gaining the support of at least 100 MPs.
They are (assuming that they all stand), Mr Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.
Miss Mordaunt was briefly a favourite in the last leadership election. But after two former bosses criticised her for lack of application and a poor work ethic and questions were raised about her ‘woke’ attitude to trans rights, her star faded.
She also has precious little experience at the highest level.
In these perilous times, is the party really ready to take a punt on an unknown quantity? The careers of the other two main candidates, by contrast, were forged in the fire of Covid.
Both are serious players, both have served at the heart of government and both can point to considerable achievements.
Rishi guided the economy skilfully through the pandemic, preserving businesses and livelihoods with the furlough scheme and other vital support measures.
Boris — who almost died from the virus — drove through the world-beating vaccine programme, which saved thousands of lives.
In all the cacophony over Downing Street parties and a birthday cake that never came out of its Tupperware box, the huge debt owed to both men is often forgotten.
They can also make their own claims to legitimacy.
Mr Johnson was elected with a landslide majority. As he was deposed by the political class rather than the people, it may be argued that he still carries that popular mandate.
It’s just 45 days since he left Downing Street, driven from office by his own MPs in what can only be described as a fit of collective hysteria. In the intervening time, Liz Truss crashed and burned in the most ignominious fashion and the party is currently awaiting the anointment of its third leader in under two months
He made many mistakes, of course. But the Mail believes a series of political molehills were heaped together and fabricated into a mountain by his many enemies to force him out.
In similar vein, the Privileges Committee currently investigating whether he misled Parliament over Partygate, has on it members who openly despise him — including its Labour chair Harriet Harman.
There could hardly be a more obvious kangaroo court. How can its verdict not be tainted?
Coming on to Mr Sunak, he was runner-up in the last leadership contest and had a majority of MPs behind him. Following Miss Truss’s downfall, he could claim to be heir apparent. He has been proved right about the dangers of Trussonomics (though we still believe that with better execution, her tax-cutting agenda would have stimulated growth).
He did show a tendency to be thin-skinned during the leadership election and was less than wholly open about his wife’s non-dom tax status. But he has certainly shown himself to be a politician of substance.
There were tantalising indications last night of a rapprochement between these two ‘big beasts’.
They were friends and solid political allies until Mr Sunak wielded the knife, Brutus-like, against his boss with his carefully choreographed resignation.
Let’s hope they can again find common cause. A Johnson/Sunak ticket could be a potent force both internally and at the next General Election. It would surely steady the Tory horses.
The thumping 2019 Conservative majority was built on an unprecedented alliance of traditional shire county seats and those from behind what had been Labour’s Red Wall of mainly northern working- class constituencies.
The interests of these two groups haven’t always coincided but they were drawn together by Mr Johnson’s charisma, determination to get Brexit done and promise to unite and level-up the country.
Mr Sunak was his foil throughout the first two years and their poll ratings soared. He is a Brexiteer and represents a Yorkshire constituency — both significant advantages.
Boris famously acknowledged after his historic 2019 election triumph that the Red Wall had merely ‘lent’ him their votes. Fail to help them, and they would take their votes back, he said.
Right now, with inflation and interest rates soaring and a fragile pound being buffeted by the markets, those Red Wall voters are turning away in their millions. Tory heartlands, too, are heartily sick of endless infighting and instability, allowing the Liberal Democrats to turn safe Conservative seats into marginals.
There has never been a more important time for the party to stand together. We have a global economic crisis, a war in Europe and a chimera coalition of Labour, Lib Dems, the SNP and a ragbag of fringe parties waiting to seize the reins of government by default.
If that happens, it’s not just the Tory Party which may be consigned to history but also many of the freedoms and institutions Britain holds dear.
Although the situation is bleak, however, it is not irretrievable. When MPs gather on Monday to cast their votes, they must also reflect on duty, on loyalty and on respect.
The candidates should also play their part, making it clear to their supporters that whatever the result, it has to be accepted with good grace. No more bickering or tearing lumps out of each other.
Mr Johnson will no doubt include in his Shakespeare book Brutus’s words to Cassius before the Battle of Philippi. Conservative MPs would do well to mark them.
‘There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat.’
The Tories have one last shot at redemption. This is it.
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