THE founder of a pro-Tory blog has said Liz Truss’s leadership is “doomed” if she does not “correct course” as he tore into the UK Government’s tax-slashing mini-budget.
Tim Montgomerie, who founded Conservative Home, said on BBC Good Morning Scotland (GMS) he could not defend the state the party had gotten itself into and insisted Truss must start listening to her colleagues and become a more “consensual person” if she is to survive as Prime Minister.
His staggering comments come after Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had to perform a humiliating climb-down on Monday morning, announcing he will not press ahead with his plan to scrap the 45p top rate of income tax after an enormous backlash from MPs and the public.
Montgomerie said he was relieved the policy had been binned but insisted Truss still had work to do to redeem herself.
He told GMS: “I think if opinion polls don’t improve, I think anyone who has studied the recent electoral history of the Conservative party will know it’s a pretty ruthless party.
“If it doesn’t improve, I think she will be in danger. I think there is a desire for her to get it right, to correct course, to get closer to that manifesto on which we were elected and not get into some fanciful economic experiment.
“If she doesn’t now correct course, not just on the 45p tax issue, but fundamentally her leadership and start listening to some of her colleagues, her leadership will doomed.”
Montgomerie, who is at the Tory party conference in Birmingham, described it as “toxic” the party was focused on helping the wealthiest and suggested they still may need to look at other damaging policies, such as the scrapping of bankers’ bonuses.
He added: “I’m relieved we have got rid of this tax policy, genuinely relieved. I’m in politics for the common good and when you look like you are mainly focused on helping the people at the top of society, that’s always been the most toxic thing for the Conservative Party.
“I think we are still in that danger territory with some of our other policies, like with bankers’ bonuses.”
Montgomerie, who established Conservative Home in 2005, went on to say how he was still worried about the direction of the party and insisted the Brexit debate had become a huge distraction from other important issues.
Meanwhile, he suggested he was not on board with the selection of Jacob Rees-Mogg as business secretary, saying it was a sign the party was “moving away” from where it needs to be.
He said: “I think there is something of a battle for the soul of the Conservative party. It isn’t just a cut in the tax for the top earners, there’s talk about getting rid of workers’ protections.
“This battle on the 45p tax rate isn’t the final battle. I think a lot of us worry that with people like Jacob Rees-Mogg as business secretary, the Conservative party is going further away from where I think we need to be.”
As it was highlighted housekeeping like this normally goes on in the opposition, Montgomerie added: “I should at this point be defending the Conservative Party but I can’t really. The problem the party faces is the Brexit debate has been all-consuming and I think we stopped thinking about the other fundamental issues about how you run an economy, how you balance the rights of capital and labour, and so rather taking place in the opposition which would be ideal, it’s having to take place in the government.”
