The Conservative party has become a weak tribute act to itself. Candidates in a leadership contest belt out classic Tory tunes to an audience that only wants the oldies and knows the words by heart. Cut taxes; crack down on immigration; slash red tape to unleash enterprise – policy karaoke for wannabe prime ministers with no original material.
Robert Jenrick, the candidate of the hard right, does cover versions of other people’s campaign hits. He promises to “get immigration done” because it sounds like the Brexit slogan that worked for Boris Johnson in 2019. Jenrick was an acolyte of David Cameron when metropolitan liberalism was the available lubricant to his ambition. He voted remain in 2016. Now he makes bizarre claims that European human rights law is responsible for British special forces “killing rather than capturing” terrorists.
