There is no grimmer epitaph for Boris Johnson’s Tory leadership than the parade now eager to succeed him. On coming to power three years ago, he decapitated his party of talent. Like a new emperor fearful of rivals, he threw out the Hammonds, Rudds, Gaukes, Clarks and Greenings – anyone who offered an ounce of competence and dignity to his administration. Instead, the path to Downing Street has been crowded with a jostling rabble of second-raters. The party should narrow down its choices as swiftly as voting allows. Then Johnson must go.
The current auction of tax-cutting promises by the various candidates illustrates the evils of the Conservatives’ “primary election” approach to party democracy. It is Johnsonism without Johnson. Lower taxes are the crudest way to secure votes, with consequences horribly visible now in Sri Lanka. No matter that you sat in a cabinet that raised them. No matter that you have no idea how to cut spending – though George Osborne could tell you how. No matter that you may have no intention of honouring the pledge. You are alumni of the Boris academy of populist rule. You can say what you like, what looks good in a headline. You are the new politics.
