Most Prime Ministers are removed directly or indirectly by General elections and referendums. In the post war Conservative party only two Prime Ministers have been removed by the party despite being big election winners, Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson
Edward Heath was a one term PM. He used a lot of political capital forcing the U.K. into the EEC against the wishes of a substantial portion of his party. He imposed a ludicrous range of controls on the economy Ā to try to control inflation Ā and picked a fight with the miners he was unlikely to win. Electors despatched him.
Mrs Thatcher won three great victories in a row. The experience of government and the evolving EU power grab changed her from Europhile to Eurosceptic. She was brought down by MPs in her own party led by Europhiles.
John Major won an election in 1992 and ploughed on with the deeply damaging European Exchange Rate mechanism policy which duly wrecked the economy. The party foolishly kept him and he went down to a predictable defeat. So comprehensively Ā had he trashed the Conservative reputation for economic Ā competence that he suffered the biggest post war defeat of any Conservative leader in 1997. It was only when Labour did worse by the economyĀ 10 years later that the Conservatives had a chance to win again in 2010.
David Cameron won a good victory in 2015. Misunderstanding the importance of the EU referendum to the win, he backed the wrong side in the popular vote he had granted on the EU and lost. He accepted his defeat and resigned.
Mrs May fought and lost an election in 2017 and then persisted in backing a Brexit sell out to the EU. When she stubbornly insisted on her poor deal for a third time and lost the Commons vote she had to go.
Boris Johnson won a great victory in 2019 by backing Brexit fully.He was then brought down by a range of different MP groups for a range of different reasons.
The common thread seems to be the Eurosceptic PMs were more successful in elections with the public but more vulnerable to party dissent.The more popular PMs faced a much more vitriolic barrage of criticism from Opposition parties, the BBC and the rest of the Establishment. Two of the Europhile PMs, Theresa May and David Cameron were brought down directly by the EU issue, and John Major indirectly as it was his support for the European economic policy that did the damage. The party ratings fell when we were evicted from the Exchange Rate Mechanism and could see the damage, and never rose again in the following 4 years.
July 9, 2022
Good morning.
My recollection differs with our kind hosts version of events on past PMās but I do agree with this :
And the reason for this is, the political class know what will get them elected and so will sail close to that wind when campaigning. But as soon as the election is over, and we have seen this with, Alexander Johnson MP, they abandon most, if not all, their promises and do what their paymasters and / or supporters (other MPās) want. That is why I believe all this Net Zero nonsense gets through easily, as our kind host has pointed out here in the past. Ie There are 500 MPās who want to keep the Climate Change Act which ties us to this nonsense.
The question therefore is what to do ? Once solution is to have manifesto promises made a legally binding agreement between the electorate and the government. Another is, and this is my preference, is to become a Direct Democracy and remove most, if not all, the power away from the political class and the Establishment.
Things will only change when we do.
July 9, 2022
I think calling Margaret Thatcher a Eurosceptic is a bit of a stretch.
She was no leaver, though no great fan of the E.U either.
Heaven knows where we will end up on Europe. I have a sneaking suspicion that May identified the only possible landing strip we had and we’ll end up with her deal in ten years time, while calling it a different name.
But we will see what we will see.
July 10, 2022
Read her Bruges speech and you will understand why they brought her down. They feared she might not sign up to Maastricht and then worse. Of course she would have been a Brexiteer. She saw the problems in the EU and explained them to the Americans before many people did. The May agreement was worse than full membership.
July 9, 2022
A good summary. I would argue that John Major’s election win was almost entirely due him being seen as a Thatcher continuation candidate but with a new gentler face. Alas he was nothing of the sort and the people realised this very quickly. He was a foolish anti-democratic, EUphile, dishonest & an unapologetic man. They duly buried him and the Tory party (for three+ terms) in a landslide victory for Blair. The Blair/Brown periods did massive damage – botched devolution, gross economic incompetence, disastrous losing wars, his ECHR act, the one sided US extradition treaty, even more EU lunacy, climate alarmism claptrap… can anyone one give me one positive from the Blair/Brown era?
Cameron wasted a golden opportunity against sitting duck Gordon Brown he pretended to be a low tax at heart EUsceptic to become Conservative leader then turned out to be another tax to death EUphile. Even appointing the appallingly incompetent chancellor George Osborne.
It is surely vital we do not suffer a Labour/SNP/LibDim government in two years time. All that is needed is for the government to cut taxes hugely, cut the vast government waste, kill net zero, reduce the size of government by 50%, stop illegal immigration, deregulate hugely, sort out the mess in NI, undo all Sunak’s manifesto ratting and vast tax grabs, kill HS2, get fracking, drilling & mining, sort out the inflation mess created by Sunak/Andrew Bailey, stop vaccinating other than perhaps in a few special cases (figures seem to suggest it is doing and has done net harm).
Should keep them busy.
When Sunak announced in advance the proposed large increases in Corp. Tax was this done to deter investment by businesses and inward investments? What possible purpose did the advance notice serve?
July 9, 2022
@Lifelogic +1
In a nutshell.
July 9, 2022
Ted Heath did indeed used a lot of political capital forcing the U.K. into the EEC against the wishes of a substantial portion of his party and without the consent of voters. Also he lied to voters that “There is no question of Britain losing essential sovereignty.” which he clearly knew was totally untrue.
Plus as you say he imposed a ludicrous range of controls on the economy to try to control inflation and picked a fight with the miners he was unlikely to win. Sunak has alas tried similar idiotic gimmicks.
July 9, 2022
Nice analysis. Of those currently declared, there isn’t a single candidate without a major flaw. I hope that some more lesser known MPs will give a thought to standing.
July 9, 2022
A Prime Ministerās qualities may be likened to the nationās most popular box of chocolates. The finest combination of flavours, hard and soft centres are drawn out according to each consumerās preference. Some melt in the heat or go stale early. Some try to force their kippers and custard flavoured fancies down the throats of others. We need a better box.
July 9, 2022
So Steve Baker backs Suella Braverman and drops his own leadership bid – but will this help or hinder her? I like her but then few lawyers have been good PMs the last one was the one did vast damage to the UK from which we are still suffering hugely with his idiotic wars, open door immigration, botched devolution, almost all shall get a worthless degree at Uniā¦ one Sir Tony Blair KG.
Will the many lefty/remainer Tory MPs keep her off the final two and give members a dire choice between the letās get back into the EU remoaners like Jeremy Hunt or Tom Tugendhat?
July 9, 2022
LL,
Braverman is probably the closet to a Tory among the bunch and she has determination to get Brexit done.
July 10, 2022
Sir William Cash is a lawyer. They aren’t all liars.
July 10, 2022
I would guess the media want to manipulate the Conservative Party into having Sunak and Tugendhat as the last two.
July 9, 2022
It is so very sad that a foreign power is capable of destroying the trust and honesty necessary for the smooth running of a country.
So many lies have been told regarding the EU, the nature of its intentions and who does or doesnāt really support it.
And now some 4 decades on we are again in chaos over it.
Parties split and the country at war with itself.
July 10, 2022
Yes, and that is not all it has done to our country.
July 9, 2022
Would it not be appropriate for Boris Johnson to go on a worldwide farewell tour?
He could safely leave Dominic Raab to mind the shop, that has been done before.
July 9, 2022
I am not sure I agree with your verdict on Heath. Because General de Gaulle said āNon!ā to Britain joining the Common Market for so long and because the economies of those six nations were advancing quicker than Britainās, joining could be offered as an achievement. So I donāt think I would see it as using up political capital – certainly not with the voting public at the time.
July 9, 2022
Rishi and Javid are no leaders and not in the same league as Boris. Do they really think the will have support after joining the media led coop and stabbing Boris in the back. If we get a remainer replacement we will be in trouble. Itās about time the party expelled those that cannot accept the democratic decision to leave. Starting with T May.
July 9, 2022
+100
July 10, 2022
+ everything – Are they deliberately destroying democracy in the UK?
July 9, 2022
Good morning.
What an insightful summary.
It tells me that Braverman should be the next Conservative PM.
Of course she won’t be, and the party membership will be denied any say in the matter.
July 9, 2022
JR,
Sunak claims he wants to bring back trust, he moved out of Downing Street to position himself- did someone have a quiet word in his ear, hid his wifeās non-Dom status and kept a US green card while in cabinet. He made his promo video for leadership when Johnson still in place, how about trust and loyalty to Johnson?
He obviously forgot he should instil trust with the electorate to implement manifesto pledges of No tax rises! Is he an idiot to promote a theme of trust when he resoundingly failed on every front. This is before you pointing out his economic incompetence!
Unfortunately the egos of those seeking to become PM in your party is far far larger than their ability. Ministers have shown to be utterly useless and untrustworthy from manifesto pledges ie Brexit, N.Ireland protocol, fishing grounds, borders, immigration and illegal immigration, deficit debt, tax rises, useless public services without any value for money, spaffing our taxes by the billion around the world while we have the worst cost of living since 1950! Net stupid, paying farmers with our taxes not to produce food but to go wild while people on food banks! I think all ministers considering applying for PM need to look in the mirror and reach the conclusion they were not fit to be a minister let alone a PM.
I do not think your party of MPs ought to be telling us what is good for us as a PM when you produced three dullards in a row.
July 9, 2022
I suspect you are right. The system gives the party members very little say. I certainly do not want to have anyone who ever wanted to remain in the EU not any of the many net zero climate alarmist loons.
Sunak to would be a very poor choice electorally given that he has ruled out tax cuts, has been an appalling tax borrow and piss down the drain Chancellor, has increases taxes hugely, has his wife NonDom tax avoidance issue history and for many voters he is far too rich & so will perhaps not understand the real world.
He does have four houses and flies rather a lot of air miles so I assume he does not believe in the net zero lunacy. But then perhaps he is another Prince Charles type of hypocrite – perhaps during the voting process we will find out if he and the others carbon āpollutionā believers & appalling hypocrites or are climate realist.
July 9, 2022
It’s rather more outrageous that the country will not be allowed any say in the matter.
July 9, 2022
agreed.
July 9, 2022
Not dissimilar to Gordon Brown.
July 10, 2022
And even if there were to be an election, most of us would still have no say thanks to the dire FPTP electoral system.
July 9, 2022
If Suella(n) becomes PM do you think she will reconcile with JR?
July 9, 2022
Thank you for this informative piece, Sir John. It certainly helps to unravel some of the hysterical and inaccurate propaganda spewed by the opposition and some in the Media.
I am in my late 60s and can remember pretty clearly the events that you have mentioned.
I also remember the embarrassing arrangements that a Labour Government had to make with the IMF and the consequent chaos with pay and prices. In the early 1970s as a young apprentice in the Merchant Navy I received ‘COLSA’ payments (cost of living supplements) which almost doubled my meagre salary in the period of one year, so I well understand the problems with inflation. I also remember the pain in later years as a mortgage payer, so I hope that economic matters are not left to fester.
It is clear that the Conservative Party is still vulnerable to self inflicted wounding over EU membership and all due to a failure to accept the compromises demanded by Democracy; by Heath who got us in by stealth and by the ‘Establishment’ who tried to keep us in by political scheming.
The Party has shown scant evidence that it learned many lessons over the past 50 years or so but I wish to be optimistic that it might now.
July 9, 2022
@NOTA – The triumph of hope over experience.
Even if our host were PM there would be no change because the party has been infiltrated by the WEF.
July 9, 2022
Good morning
If the party elect a Europhile and a ‘social progressive’ the British people will deliver into government Neo-Marxist, progressive Labour who will then duly drive the final stake into the heart of our civil space. They will finally finish what they had intended to achieve when they entered office in 1997
The State’s thirst for power and control has become disturbing and Tory leaders have done nothing to reverse this trend, indeed they have actively facilitated it. I find that utterly repugnant.
MPs are complicit in the rise of authoritarianism. Only Lord Frost it seems truly understands that existential threat to our freedoms from a progressive, woke Client State that has hate in its heart. A hatred for freedom and liberty
I for one am not the property of the British State
July 9, 2022
No, you’re not the property of the British State Dom. But we are, it appears, considered to be the property of the WEF, WHO, UN and other assorted Globalists.
July 9, 2022
Yes but we have taken back control now so whatever we get up to we cannot blame it on the EU anymore.
July 9, 2022
Europhiles are smothering Brexit. We will no doubt see the pattern Sir John describes continue with the next PM.
July 9, 2022
Graham,
We have neither ātaken back controlā nor āgot Brexit doneā.
Thatās the problem.
July 9, 2022
Dear Graham–That is baloney–the EU have been and will continue to be inimical to us in any way they can dream up. We are superior to them and their hodge podge creation in so many ways they cannot bear it. Maybe when they have all learnt Englsh properly matters will improve. Didn’t see too my responses the other day when I asked why Canada gets on famously with the much bigger US.
July 9, 2022
We can however blame it on Tory and Establishment Remainers who refuse to accept the result of a democratic vote. And governments who follow WEF globalist policies.
July 9, 2022
The point is that some ministers who support the EU can easily cause unrest.There is still article 39.
July 9, 2022
Please don’t foist another dripping wet europhile OM on us.
Unless you get to grips we will finish up with an unholy coalition dragging us down.
July 9, 2022
I thought at the last election, Boris made it a condition of candidacy that every Tory MP would pledge to brexitā¦.there shouldnāt be any europhiles in the partyā¦kick them out
July 9, 2022
Another Europhile PM is likely to bury the Conservative party permanantly. Please give us an actual conservative this time.
Johnson was a PM who seemed to believe in everything, but in the end he believed in nothing at all, except himself.
July 9, 2022
Must not ever have supported remain, must deliver lower taxes and far less government and gov. waste and must not be a net zero religious zealot loon either. A Lord Frost type please.
July 10, 2022
Frost supported remain while he was working for the Scottish drinks industry.
July 9, 2022
+1
July 9, 2022
Boris Johnson “was then brought down by a range of different MP groups for a range of different reasons” – but all handed their opportunity by the man himself burnishing his character flaws on peripheral issues of comparatively trivial importance. Boris has let us down. He might retain a veneer of dignity (and thereby give us some even if he does not want it himself) by at least clearing off now without delay.
With the Conservative Party likely about to foist one worse than Major and May upon us, Boris might soon drop from the headlines.
July 9, 2022
+1
July 9, 2022
Boris was “brought down” because he disregarded Ronald Reagan’s favourite maxim: “you gotta dance with the one that brung ya”. Boris was elected by Brexiteers, but he governed as a Left-wing liberal Remainer. He therefore betrayed all those who voted for him, both inside and outside the party. He had no support from the Left, as he had campaigned from the Right, and when he betrayed the Right he had no support from them either. So he had nobody. What a total moron.
Anyway, we can now forget Boris the Traitor and focus on who should replace him. I am sorry that Steve Baker has decided not to stand. I think a completely fresh face from outside the Cabinet is exactly what was needed. A new broom who could be trusted to govern from the Right. I cannot say any of the declared candidates excite me very much, but let’s wait to see what they have to say. The one who has said the most – Sunak – is the one I like the least! He is NOT a Conservative, and Tory MPs should make it clear that they will not accept him as leader given that he is determined to put up taxes. The man is a socialist stooge.
July 9, 2022
Very nicely put.
As a conservative-libertarian Brexit supporter, I consider he CONNED me.
July 10, 2022
He also used to be a climate realist until Carrie came along, with her expensive wallpaper tastes and her other juvenile delusions.
July 10, 2022
100% correct Boris is not a conservative
July 10, 2022
+1
July 9, 2022
The candidacy of Tom Tugenhat, allegedly supported by Damian Green and his one party group, the one party being the EU, thrown out for breaching the Ministerial Code for a couple of separate naughties sums it up.
We get Brexit rhetoric to get elected then they crumble.
Could someone please put Major and Heseltine back in a museum.
July 9, 2022
Care Home?
July 10, 2022
And Blair, Brown, Lord Adonis, Soubry, Hunt…
July 9, 2022
Mr Johnson may have certain talents, but they do not include (and never have done) managerial competence or a capacity for the kind of consistent hard work that the electorate has the right to expect from Ministers, particularly the person at the top.
Far too many of those interested in politics – regardless of Party – naively plead for someone to stand as Leader or Prime Minister who shares their beliefs; they ignore that individual’s personal record of both integrity and intelligence, their capacity to attract and keep loyal supporters within the Commons and in the wider Party, and the traits I mentioned above.
July 9, 2022
All such a mess.
For the past few days I seem to have been blocked from posting.
It works for a bit and then I am blocked again.
Maybe I am banned?
Trying a borrowed e mail now.
July 9, 2022
I wonder if the site has been hacked as I noticed several +1 comments awaiting moderation attributed to me which I didn’t make. Luckily they were all comments I agreed with. I expect Sir John is very busy at this time and maintaining his diary isn’t top of the list. I find some detailed posts I make often get held up in moderation for a long time but eventually get through.
July 9, 2022
Where do we go from now? Get Brexit finished, continue to try and shift refugees to Rwanda. Sensible monetary policy. Continue to support Ukraine. No more woke, cancel culture , gender defining, get a strong useful police force- Unafraid to tackle protestors Cut back on green xero policies. Get fracking started. Really get back to the manifesto promises. Unostentatious spouse in Downing Street for the next leader would be helpful; we need a safe, experienced person in Downing Street who can take the inevitable flak which will come in doing policies which BBC,journalists, various groups do not like. It is an exhausting job. There are likely to be more strikes in the offing. Tories have just a few short months to get this right before the next election. Innate Conservative policies would help and not listening to loud vested interests and pressure groups. Civil service sorted out.
Some cool, experienced heads are needed with sharp financial minds and staying power, but this is perhaps their time? People who can talk equably to all and sundry and who support North initiatives.
Rees Mogg, Davies, Preeti Patel, Truss, Suella, Ben Wallace, John Redwood come to mind? Rishi, Savid, Zahawi all should be in government, but not necessarily leader. One thing Boris was noted for – was locating bright talents. It would also be helpful getting Lord Frost in the government and getting Farage on side too. Is it possible to get Cummings back – he would put fear into the Civil service. Being in this Cabinet, and also leading it is a thankless task, but so important. I hope John Redwoodās financial and economic knowledge and experience is really made use of. I think the Conservatives will be out at the next election, so they must makes the next few months count. We do not need closet Remainers running government policy.
July 9, 2022
There still is and will always be a democratic deficit until brexit is achieved in full to the whole of the UK equally
July 9, 2022
All my posts are moderated, no idea why. (shrug).
JF
July 9, 2022
JF it clearly states on the home page “The moderator reserves the sole right to decide whether to publish or not”.
If you want carte blanche to publish all your thoughts, then start your own blog – you might be flooded with responses.
July 9, 2022
Perhaps if the Conservative party could elect a truly Eurosceptic leader who went on to take FULL advantage of being free from EU control, the Conservatives could actually win the next election and the support of much of Britain.
As I asked yesterday. Will you stand Sir JR?
July 9, 2022
Agree Albion. My choice would be Steve Baker if he is running. I’ve just been listening to him being interviewed and he’s impressive in that he is clear and concise in what he says abd how he comes across. A true Brexiteer abd someone who can see through all the climate crap. A low tax supporter too.
July 9, 2022
I’ve just read that Steve Baker isn’t running for PM. I’m very disappointed.
July 9, 2022
Agree its very disappointing – we’re going to left with the usual, press hungry, woke globalists
July 10, 2022
He’s too highly strung to be PM and is wisely backing Mrs Braverman.
July 9, 2022
He’d get more support than he realises, especially from the membership if in the last two
July 9, 2022
No JR will surely not stand. The Conservative MPs are so daft they even preferred John (ERM fiasco) Major to JR in the no change no chance leadership election. So the fools thus buried the party for three plus terms and we suffered Blair, Brown and the Cameron Libdim Coalition.
He should however be used as the next PMās compass instead of the totally broken socialist green crap ones used by Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, May and Boris and all their duff Chancellors.
July 9, 2022
@Old Albion
I find it fascinating the different take people have on things. Do you seriously believe that a real Eurosceptic would win an election? Do you not take into account that 48% didnāt want to leave. Now, with the mess the Tories have made of it, I think 60% would vote to remain.
Donāt get me wrong. I am a rabid Brexiteer. I admit it. Iād go straight to WTO and invest in British industry. Iād have us as self sufficient as possible in food, energy and manufactured goods as possible. I would stop all immigration. I would limit how much banks can lend on mortgages and get house prices under control. Iād give state pensioners a 59% increase – apart from those with private or public sector pensions over Ā£8k a year. I would never get elected.
July 9, 2022
Why is there such a lack of respect for democracy in Parliament, both the Commons and the Lords. Democracy only gets a look in at election time, and even then most candidates feel no pressure to be honest and will pretend to have the same cares as the electorate in order to get elected, but those same cares get abandoned the day after.
People will always have differing opinions, and I have no problems with campaigning for change, but I do have a problem when MP’s use their privileged positions to sabotage democracy and the electorates choices, and damage the UK’s interests in the process. I refer to the Benn Act. The backers of that bill should have been prosecuted, or at least thrown out of Parliament. Surely it cannot be legal for MP’s to support a foreign government over a national government, and give that foreign government huge additional power in the negotiations with the UK. If is legal, then it should be made illegal.
July 9, 2022
Everhopeful using borrowed account
I just canāt post on here any more.
As if I have been blocked/banned?
July 9, 2022
Everhopeful
Refuses to accept/retain my details as well, eventually postings get published, but usually very late in the day, not sure if it’s my end (after a software upgrade) or if diary settings/requirements have changed.
Also used an alternative posting name and e mail address, but no difference.
Notice when save my name box is ticked, posting is not retained and disappears from view.
When Box is not ticked posting is still visible and awaiting moderation as used to be the norm.
July 9, 2022
You seem quite new on this site, unless youāre an old poster with a new name? Weāve all been held up in moderation, what do people expect Iām sure John is super busy at the moment, and comments have to be moderated. If you want your own blog they are free such as WP. John even allows people to link them in their name, just put a few words on here and if people are interested they can go through to your blog and read.
July 9, 2022
Is hope fading?
July 9, 2022
The poor quality of the candidates is worrying. Part of Boris’s appeal was that for better or worse he was a heavyweight. There is a bandwagon for an ‘Asian PM’, which for some unknown reason would in itself be a great thing for the country, but does anyone think that Sunak or Javid will take measures to reduce immigration, particularly from the Indian subcontinent? More likely we will be subjected to so-called ‘trade deals’ which include people trafficking. Many on here have proposed right wing programmes to save the country, but the Tory Party is split and the successful candidate will have to appeal to the Rejoiners, ruling out the better ones such as Steve Baker.
July 9, 2022
beresford,
For many, the best two options are not even MPs. They both have surnames beginning with the letter āFā. They are well-reported and sound on Brexit and economic and social issues.
In contrast, the likely candidates have either blotted their copybooks, or are unknown on key issues, or simply lightweights.
July 9, 2022
Mr Baker has committed to supporting Ms Braverman’s candidature, according to ConservativeHome.
July 9, 2022
Sunak and Javid are actually useless. Javid failed in every department he served. Sunak has presided over the worse debt, deficit, highest taxation, worse disposable income, highest inflation and all against manifesto pledges! His record is abysmal. Tory party now elect by quota not ability. Those talented souls from minority backgrounds totally undermined by the quota system of election in the party because it is not known they were selected because of who they are rather than what they can do. That is wokery for you. Look to public services from Tories and is embedded. That is why they are useless.
July 9, 2022
Too true….the election hasn’t even started and its becoming ‘woke’
July 9, 2022
Boris a heavyweight what? Thinker? Planner? Manager? He had an engaging and likeable personality which, due to his total unsuitability for the job and his narcissistic behaviour, has now gone and a huge number of people despise him.
July 9, 2022
Heavyweight? King Log maybe. What worries me is King Stork.
JF
July 9, 2022
Boris had a vision to become PM and that involved getting Brexit over the line. Once this was done he had no more vision.
Borisā premiership was hijacked by his wifeās wealthy Richmond green friends, by big pharma covering up lab leaks and pushing medical products, by other self interested politicians trying to transform the UK to their own image through mass migration, by the Chancellor wasting billions during the pandemic to grease his way into number 10 which has now caused very high inflation, high taxes and signs of economic stagnation.
I do think it was time for Boris to go as Government no longer looked anything like the manifesto they promised and Boris no longer had his hands on the rudder.
July 9, 2022
Javelin, I totally agree with you. Boris has turned out to be a weak person. It was only his ambition to become PM that drove him on. Aside from Covid where he had numerous advisers he had no further ambition to try and deliver the 2019 manifesto. Why are we still waiting for some relief from the cost of living crisis? Who is/was holding things up? Boris or Sunak? Itās a bit late now!
July 9, 2022
Javelin
Agreed, Boris would also seem to have a very short attention span, with little eye for detail, so many projects were never seen through to the end or to completion, Brexit being the prime example.
He also seemed to agree to everything being proposed or put forward, without thinking of the end consequences.
Shame, he certainly was a larger than life Character (of which there are few) but those character traits and failings lead to his own downfall.
July 9, 2022
+1 spot on. But those in cabinet causing the mess should not get a second chance to make it even worse!
July 9, 2022
The political scene seems full of self-interest, whatever happened to those who really wanted the best for the country and the generations to come.?
July 9, 2022
why not publish?
July 9, 2022
He had no vision to āget Brexit doneā. He saw Brexit as an opportunity to further his career. Donāt forget the two articles – one supporting Remain, one supporting Leave. He is an opportunist who only believes in advancing himself. He couldnāt give a toss about Brexit. It got him elected and he has made a complete mess of it.
July 9, 2022
M Wilson,
Agreed.
July 9, 2022
Sunak for PM and Sir John as chancellor would restore confidence. Ā£ would rise 10% on the news. Boris is promoting an anti Sunak campaign for personal reasons, but Sunak seems to me the most likely to stop the threatened Labour-LibDem-snp coalition in all but name.
July 9, 2022
@ Richard1 “Sunak for PM” – that part of your equation does not contribute at all to the restoration of confidence.
It would show though how modernly non-judgemental has the Conservative Party become that one who as Chancellor made maladroit move time and again to create the Sunak Slump could find that signal failure as no bar to advancement.
July 9, 2022
No , he had his website up a day after he resigned and a day before Boris Johnson resigned , in fact it is being shown he had a website up 7 months ago at the end of December 2021 , which makes you wonder if his actions as Chancellor recently were being motivated by personal ambition. As has been debated here his response to the cost of living crisis was a little odd, all bits and pieces and much of it deferred , when the help was needed now, with tax rises looming that could only suck the life out of the economy .
July 9, 2022
Sunak has been the worst chancellor this country has had since 1950. He must remain as a back bencher.
July 9, 2022
No chance. His record against manifesto shows he is not fit for the job. It also shows his lack of strength of character by not imposing manifesto pledges. He is not trustworthy as the facts show, non Dom status of wife while imposing highest taxation in 70 years, green card status for US while in cabinet, eat out to help out wasteful spending, Ā£11.8 billion stolen in covid fraud from school boy errors causing Lord Agnew to resign, not wanting to investigate but forced to after it became public. Trust!
Sunak thinks Hiking taxation will bring investment! Idiot as JR pointed out.
July 9, 2022
But isn’t Sunak’s policy to increase taxation ?
July 9, 2022
Sunak you have got to be kidding. His spendthrift policies, he is now telling us have put us so much in debt weāre sunk. Weāre just about to get the majority of our subs back from the EU after paying down the divorce settlement for the past six years. Perhaps they didnāt want Boris to be seen to get the benefit of that extra money.
Sunak created the problem, prolonging furlough for too long, it was supposed to be a fire brake after four weeks when they could see that policy wasnāt working just the elderly and at risk should have been funded to not work and stay in and not visit others. I worked throughout thank goodness. We are now bringing back more of this virus covered up in the EU from holidays over there than ever before.
July 9, 2022
Sunak didn’t even have the guts to answer the question about defining what a woman is when asked on Talk Radio. I would never vote for him. He’s spineless.
All the current candidates are damaged goods which is rather worrying.
July 9, 2022
Sunak? The man responsible for losing Ā£35bn of taxpayers money on furlough with special payments to the Taliban? Not to mention the black hole created by Track and Trace. Not to mention the highest taxes for seventy years. Get real.
July 9, 2022
Sunak has his weaknesses, but he is the best all-rounder I think for PM.
Sir John Redwood would compliment Sunak well in terms of experience and being firmer in economic policy and other matters.
And Wallace would be good as Foreign Secretary because of his military background, head of Defence, and cool head that we need right now in foreign affairs and in government in general.
July 9, 2022
I can’t believe people support Ms Mourdant as PM. She seems like a nice person and everything but I don’t think she has the brains or vision.
Baker is too much of an outsider. He wouldn’t be popular enough for voters. Similar for Ms Braverman.
I don’t think Javid (or Hunt) commands enough support (maybe he does?)
Ms Truss isn’t popular enough with voters etc .. She’s clever but doesn’t come over as if she has a great passion / vision for this country.
Gove is just too controversial. Annoyed too many people including voters.
I think Zahawi has a good chance. Wouldn’t count him out. Second favourite, for me, after Sunak.
(I’m trying to represent also what I think most other voters would think as well)
July 9, 2022
Zahawi like Johnson wants an amnesty for all illegals in the country because he thinks they will vote Conservative. What planet is he on?
July 10, 2022
I didn’t know that
July 10, 2022
Liz Truss celebrated being able to attempt to sell a bit of cheese to a nation which is mostly lactose intolerant. I’m not sure that’s a sign of being clever.
July 10, 2022
How much British cheese and dairy did she pull off selling them Peter?
July 10, 2022
About Ā£2.2 million worth according to the industry figures I’ve seen.
Worth much less than the exports lost to the EU as a consequence of post-Brexit paperwork.
July 10, 2022
Dairy me, she must have felt a bit blue after learning the Japanese don’t like cheese
July 11, 2022
Peter Ā£2.2m to a single “lactose intolerant” country is not bad though is it? I was interested in your comment and found this on gov.uk “Britain boasts one of the most successful cheese markets in the world, producing over 700 varieties. Now, as we celebrate National Cheese Day (Tuesday 4 June 2019), we can also celebrate an accelerated demand from across Asia. Cheese exports reached a record Ā£665 million in 2018, placing the UK within the top 10 biggest exporters of cheese worldwide.
Historically, the European Union has always been the top destination for British cheese, with the Republic of Ireland consuming more than any other country. More recently, however, demand from Asian economies has grown at an unparalleled pace. British cheese exports to the region grew by 289.3% over the past 5 years compared to just 39.4% to the EU. The fastest growing export market is China, where demand increased from Ā£67,000 in 2013 to Ā£6.5 million in 2018.
I’m trying to find the figure of how much cheese export to the EU we lost because of paperwork that you referred to do you have it at hand?
If British cheese makers are being given help by the government to export all over the world that is a good thing isn’t it? They should now be helped to get the cheese export paperwork they require for the EU or make the EU prepare the exact same paperwork for their cheese into the UK.
July 11, 2022
In fairness to her though she did stand up to Pootin
July 9, 2022
That tax-hiker? I hope not. We want someone who believes in the capability of the British people to generate a strong economy, not someone who will tax away all prospects for investment.
Sir John for chancellor certainly, but you can be sure that envy will prevent anyone of competence to be elevated to that position.
July 9, 2022
And on a related theme, Nadine says she may run as the Boris continuity candidate. So more sleaze, spending to bankrupt the economy and BS instead of action, then.
However right on one count, we donāt need the āgreyā men who have done so much to get us in the mess we are in.
Another strong woman needed and certainly not Truss. Penny, Suella, Kemi. Indira Ghandi was a world respected. leader. Time for us to follow.
July 9, 2022
Would that be the Suella Braverman who repeated on the BBC TV, that the UK does not owe the EU any money. In fact, she says there is no legal basis for such payments despite the fact that the requirement is built into the Withdrawal Agreement Part 5. Despite the fact that the UK payed ā¬6.8 billion last year and ā¬10.9 billion this year; according to the EU Auditors. Which leaves ā¬30.9 billion left to pay as per the payment schedule.
I read the Brexit Ultras are backing Braverman for PM. Perhaps JR could confirm?
July 9, 2022
Ultras…more lefty hysteria
July 10, 2022
Brexit Ultras – boy you lefty remain ultras must be getting really hot under the collar about Braverman this lady is becoming more and more interesting every day.
ā¬30.9 bn over how long acorn you donāt say – isnāt this the pension obligation. It is a reminder of just how much the EU really costed us that a divorce 6 years later is costing sooo much of covered up payments.
July 10, 2022
Indeed.
6 years on and the LibLabCon still have not ‘left’ the EU.
HMG continue to send billions to the EU, this was never legally required per Article 50. This was an arrangement which suited TPTB at the time.
Nous reprenons le control. Maybe the Free French with Frexit will show us how to do it properly.
Once we the people via a faithful electoral system and parliament, suitably reformed with, direct democracy, real rights of recall triggered by events such as a petition or breaking of manifesto commitments.
The UK will then thrive but until then we remain a WEF/ Globalist/ EU colonial satrap.
Alas the Scorpion is a Scorpion. Stupid Frog.
July 9, 2022
The lack of self awareness of some of these people is extraordinary
July 9, 2022
Bottom line is that government has been trying to ignore the people since Heathās tenure.
I suppose older history shows the same. Wat Tyler comes to mind.
Perhaps better communications amongst the people gives us more power to get what the majority want? Time will tell.
July 9, 2022
Sharon :
We need to push for referendums.
July 9, 2022
Exclude:
all candidates who voted explicitly against Theresa May’s draft Brexit bill
all candidates who supported even stricter lockdowns
all candidates who oppose diverting dinghy arrivals to Rwanda
all candidates who vehemently oppose fracking
Who’s left?
July 9, 2022
Correction(!):
Exclude:
all candidates who DID NOT vote explicitly against Theresa Mayās draft Brexit bill
July 9, 2022
I did wonder….
July 9, 2022
Exactly matthu. They supported her ultimate treachery.
July 9, 2022
Can we please stop talking about the EU and use the so- called advantages of Brexit,
Which seems till now to have brought nothing but problems that Boris has created
July 9, 2022
Which the forces of Remain have created.
At least you will get a bonus for your little post eh bill?
July 9, 2022
who’s left? – many seem to be left not right, or did you mean remain or rather europhile?
all rather uncertain.
July 9, 2022
+1
July 9, 2022
Sunak doesn’t seem the right person to me.
-fine to say his wife’s wealth is irrelevant but would he be using expensive coffee mugs and trainers if his wife worked on the tills in Sainsbury’s?
-clearly disingenuous raising personal taxes and saying he’s low tax. Claiming patriotism whilst holding a green card?
-despite all the Goldman Sachs, investment guru bit, does he really understand business? Increasing corporation tax into a recession isn’t smart. It’s daft.
-wouldn’t trust this smartass on Europe either
July 9, 2022
The common thread is that every Conservative PM is brought down by arguments over Europe. This is because most Conservatives want all the benfits of EU membership without paying the membership fee, while a minority sensibly understands that in the modern world there is no place for a medium sized European power like the UK except inside the EU. And so it goes on, the UK’s economy slowing down every day under the weight of Brexit red tape, until the Conservative Party finally gets real, and accepts that they may hate being in the EU, but that there is one thing worse – not being in the EU.
July 10, 2022
Gary,
A majority voted for Brexit not to improve our economy as we were very clearly told by literally everyone ( Osborne, BoE, the POTUS , Archbishop of Canterbury etc.) that we would suffer financially if we left the EU. A majority voted to leave in order to retain the ability to elect and remove those who decide our laws, taxes and policies. Leavers did not want to be an EU colony.
July 9, 2022
We are all too aware of the failings of Prime Ministers alongside whom Boris was a 50/50 case. Was his lying any worse than that of Heath by omission or the serial lying of May. I judge not. He was in fact trying to extract us from the duplicity of Heath and May which is still unfinished business. On the big calls of Covid and Ukraine he got it right before hindsight fed those with better ideas. Considering the intellectual infections abroad in the UK at present the task of his successor is such that I do not see anyone, among the declared runners, with the guts to slay these yapping dragons. I liken present day UK to an ailing patient for whom nobody in power can think of a treatment beyond the application of leeches.
July 9, 2022
@ agricola – certainly Boris promotes the narrative that he got the big calls right but he did not.
Recall on Covid the very early briefings from Whitty and Valance spoke of no lockdowns. Boris then capitulated, allegedly in the face of Macron threatening to close the border but who knows? As for Ukraine, Boris postures and prances but seems not to know that for us this is the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. Big calls indeed!
July 9, 2022
It goes much deeper than that.
Most conservative voters stuck with the party because they could see some common sense and purpose behind their policies and actions. Labour on the other hand had their dogma and historical appeal to the the alleged working class. There was nothing in between these two political approaches.
Unfortunately the Tories decided they should also get a portion of the working man’s vote – too many MPs and policies shifted left. So winning elections revolved around a party with no vision but to bring in socialism, and a party half full of those that had already succumbed to federalism, corrupt practices and serving themselves.
While ministers sit in their ivory towers and play at social-re-engineering, those of us watching from a distance can see more easily the failings of a party that no longer serves us.
In all of this the EU was but a symptom of that malaise.
July 9, 2022
I’m a late baby boomer. In my lifetime we have only had one Prime Minister who was competent; who did what they said they would do and who unashamedly stood up for the interests of the UK. Whilst working competently with allies, that Prime Minister would not downgrade the UK to the status of a State in an undemocratic Union controlled by Treaties interpreted and expanded by bureaucrats.
The rest of them, including Johnson (who only supported Leave out of self-interest) were puppets of the Globalists, doing the bidding of the Bilderberg/Council for Foreign Relations/Davos-WEF. Denis Healey, a founder member of the Bilderberg Group, admitted that the intention was to create a kind of One World Government.
The British people instinctively knew that they were having their nation and their democracy taken away from them and that’s why Leave won: Cumming’s strapline “Take Back Control” was sheer genius. As was The Brexit Party’s strapline for the European Elections in 2019 “Change Politics for Good.”
Johnson’s popularity collapsed with Conservative/conservative and Red Wall voters because he had made it perfectly clear that having got the Premiership, he didn’t intend to Take Back Control or Change Politics for Good. It was to be more of the same top-down, elitist, left-wing so-called “liberal” agenda since Mrs Thatcher’s defenestration: socialism; internationalism and now a focus on unaffordable Eco Lunacy.
I doubt if any of the main candidates to replace Johnson intends to Take Back Control, let alone Change Politics for Good. The main candidates are all Globalist puppets, who will continue with the destructive policies we’ve had rammed down our throats since Mrs Thatcher was forced out of Office.
I’m just waiting for them to all start signalling their acceptance of, and intention to pursue, the Globalist Agenda by parroting the line “Build Back Better.”
July 9, 2022
An interesting narrative Sir John. I am not sure it was necessarily the Euroscrpticism that drove popularity, more the appearance of standing up for the UK above all else.
I want the next Conservative leader to come from a minority group. The left tie themselves in knots hating members of minorities who don’t conform to stereotype. “But he/she is not the right type of black/woman/gay/ trans” is their constant whine.
Stella Braverman or James Cleverly are my current picks but I wait to see what is said about weather, net zero and home produced energy, actually leaving the EU, tax and self id/sex issues when the campaigning starts.
July 9, 2022
I heard on a podcast that Suella Braverman hides how Conservative she actually is which is both encouraging and a sad indictment of the current Conservative party.
July 9, 2022
The first test of whether you mean business re taking advantage of Brexit and gain tens of billions. De regulate the City.
No doubt there is push back from our EU infatuated institutions. You know when they are struggling when their last line of defence is that pensioners might lose out as if pension funds now are somehow protected from the wider world.
July 9, 2022
Cameron secured just 36.9% of the votes in 2015. In 2017, May added over 3 million votes to the Conservative total compared to Cameron and a 5.5% increase in vote share. In 2019, Johnson didn’t really improve on May’s performance, he benefitted greatly from Corbyn’s decline.
All these results show that the UK electoral system doesn’t reward parties for getting more people to vote for you (or May would have been much more succeasful than Cameron was) and doesn’t deliver outcomes and governments which represent the changing views and expresed preferences of the UK electorate as a whole.
July 10, 2022
The only way to get a higher percentage is to have just two parties.
Your PR splits the vote into fragments who after an election club together and create a new manifesto of policies most didn’t vote for.
Yet you moan about 36.9%
July 9, 2022
The groundwork not being laid to impeach Biden. Last week Johnson, Biden next.
The now hideously titled ‘Biden-Harris administration’ to confer equality to Harris (Obama’s conduit) is beyond contemptible but if Harris becomes POTUS her vicious woke politics will seep through Labour (Democrat Party sister party) into our Britain
What we have seen since Covid has been an organised and planned assault on the western world by corrupt institutions and global players.
July 9, 2022
Selection for a new PM goes through a rigorous process. Conservative members with their collective wisdom make the ultimate choice from best two selected. Every PM has a mixture of varying qualities. Future events dictate how effective each one becomes in achieving good things. The best candidate is unknown in advance. Only hindsight shall have an adequate view for quality assessment.
July 9, 2022
rigorous: -‘extremely thorough and careful.’
Thats a laugh. We shall see.
July 10, 2022
Yes. Any body can be careful but often too much drink goes through.
July 9, 2022
A poem I will consider before I vote for a Conservative leader.
Take me in, for heaven’s sake
Take me in oh tender woman,ā sighed the snake
āOh shut up, silly woman,ā said the reptile with a grin
āYou knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.
July 9, 2022
I agree with your summary SirJā¦..I believe we need Lord Forst to take the helm
I also doubt Boris commitment to brexit; I donāt know anyone else that had two letters or had to consider both sidesā¦brexit is from the heart either remain or leaver, this country still needs a 100% dried in the wool leaver
July 10, 2022
The two article exercise is a sign of a trained mind. Not many of those amongst his critics and assassins.
July 9, 2022
Voters expect every MP to do their duty and not delegate it to Brussels.
Voters expect the PM to do their duty like Nelson stand up for Britain.
The history of helping Europe has been painful over many centuries.
The EU experience has been disappointing and Brits do not trust them based on doormat treatment and taking us all for fools like Treasure island.
The Establishment think the EU are our friends same with China, Russia et al.
We know better. They don’t know us, don’t understand us and think they can ignore us because they live in a bubble comfort zone aloof sadly..
Lessons will be learned, an inquiry will be set up costing millions etc etc.
Before the digital age governments could expect people to have short memories and forget what was promised. Labour demoted teaching History and Geography and Economics.
Today’s digital information has also fake news and daily lobbying and social media to confuse and folks end up ignoring it. The voters just see what their money buys them, assets or liabilities, better or worse, richer or poorer.
The civil service is invisible to Voters but they are not fit for defending our Borders from dingies and people smuggling, Monty python jokes.
We need proper fit for purpose independent government.
July 9, 2022
The EU is already setting a trap for the next Prime Minister:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/europe-offers-new-pm-an-olive-branch-but-biden-keeps-things-muted-mvc3x2756
“Prague will host a gathering of EU leaders on October 6, as well as a wider pan-European summit. The Czechs will invite Britain in the hope that a new Conservative leader is open to a fresh approach to UK-EU relations.”
“Prague is pushing for the UK to be invited to talks on the creation of a European Political Community based on common security interests outside the Nato defence umbrella.
āIt would be good to bring the UK to the summit and discuss a new European political community,ā a senior European diplomatic source closely involved in the talks, said. āThere is openness and willingness on our side to turn a fresh page in the relationship.ā”
Don’t choose somebody who will fall for it.
July 9, 2022
Basically, the EU needs a proper defence force and would like the Brits to supply and pay for it.
The invitation must be declined….. hair washing night.
July 9, 2022
The main thing that depresses me about our political class is that no one seems to learn from previous mistakes by various governments.
We see the same errors repeated again and again.
And these are supposed to be intelligent people !
July 10, 2022
Maylor :
Thatās because they are not mistakes.
July 9, 2022
I felt at the time, and remain convinced, that Mrs Thatcher’s removal was a long lasting disaster for the Conservative Party. I have no doubt that had she stayed in office, she, like Mr Major, would have won the 1992 General Election, and then turned Euro-scepticism into a powerful electoral asset. The Europhiles appreciation of that made it imperative for them to remove her.
It sounds as if you have mixed feelings about the merits of Johnson’s removal, but the plain fact is that he was presiding over chaos, and having achieved a degree of Brexit, but having failed to make any worthwhile progress in exploiting the advantages of it, seemed to have no political philosophy beyond being in office. Tax cuts is a good example: if he wanted them, and was being denied them by the Chancellor, the latter should have been sacked long ago.
Mrs Thatcher, understandably, never seemed to be quite the same person after the Brighton bomb, and perhaps severe Covid had a similar effect on Mr Johnson.
July 9, 2022
We need Britain ruled for the benefit of the British starting by the dumping of all agreements with the word European in the title.
Scrap the ECHR – it is totally corrupt
Push the EU to more than an arms length, do the opposite to anything they want.
Time for Britain to look after No1
Like every other country.
AND stop giving our money away to our enemies.
July 9, 2022
Has your party learned from its mistakes? I doubt it. Your MP candidate selection process is all wrong and over the last few decades has watered down conservative values. You now have so many enemies within who will continue to side with the EU against the British people.
Getting your choice right is critical to winning the next election. It must be someone who believes in Brexit and puts the British people first. Ignore what you read in the media as they are just globalist puppets.
July 9, 2022
Isnāt it strange how May was allowed to put in all sorts of last minute legislation working against the people that elected her right up to the end of her two months served notice period. Yet they want Boris out tomorrow and hog tied so he canāt put any policies in place. What was he about to do that they want to stop exactly? This canāt be just the Northern Ireland Protocol surely?
Boris, please just put the vat reduction on domestic energy bills in for everyone but N Ireland, give them the equivalent 5% off something else like their council tax not a bliming thing the Eu could do to stop you doing that. Stop giving us excuses youāve got nothing to lose now but leave a nice parting gift. Do everything you can do in your manifesto that has already been approved or doesnāt need parliamentary approval and rubber stamp it now.
July 10, 2022
A good idea in principle – but energy prices will have virtually tripled by this coming October, so reducing the 5% VAT rate will not make the slightest dent in our energy bills.
July 10, 2022
They want to preserve the NIP and Blair’s Human Rights Act. The idea of putting the DPM and Lord Chancellor in as caretaker is connected to that. If he is tied up being caretaker PM, and commanded not to do anything at all, he can’t be working on that vital legislation.
July 9, 2022
What a catalog of disasters
July 9, 2022
I understand that each resigning minister can claim almost Ā£17,000 severance, I look forwarding to hearing which candidates for the job have refused this payment. Any who do take the cash should be barred from putting their name forward.
July 9, 2022
Now you know why our taxes are so high
July 9, 2022
Sunak’s prep in advance of Johnson out:
The prepared Twitter post, which came just two hours after Mr Sunak revealed he was standing for Tory leader, included a quote purporting to be from the MP posting it, pasted across that MPās own photograph. The instructions said: āIf youāre happy, can you tweet and include the hashtag Ready4Rishi, and crucially the website Ready4rishi.com, and then your infographic below,ā the suggestion read. The identical quote that all posters were to use said: āIām backing Rishi as he will tackle inflation, grow the economy and cut taxes.
āRishi is why we have record low unemployment today. And thatās why heās the best man to lead the country.ā
Backbencher Paul Maynard accidentally tweeted a post that included the instructions ā but quickly deleted the tweet and replaced it with a post as it was supposed to look.
July 9, 2022
Boris brought himself down. Forget the, letās be kind, lack of integrity. He is just useless. Self serving and the attention span of a gnat.
July 9, 2022
If I had to suggest just one shibboleth to choose the next PM it would to ask the candidates for their solution to the Northern Ireland Protocol problem. That would sort out the wheat from the chaff.
July 9, 2022
most would say ‘what problem?’
July 9, 2022
Pity Steve Baker is not running for pm. I think you should go for it, Sir John!
Out of the current contenders, my pick would be Kemi Badenoch
July 9, 2022
Might be wise to see which candidates the left-wing blob are heaping most abuse on because those are the ones they are scared of. Badenoch and Braverman seem to top the list. Of the main contenders Truss. No significant attacks on Hunt, or Wallace, or even Sunak.
July 9, 2022
It is sad to see what has happened over the last few months. But Boris is his own worst enemy, sadly he is a liar & lacks a moral character. Being PM exposes a person’s strengths & weaknesses, especially under the ruthless media focus on Boris because so many hate him for winning the Brexit referendum, then actually enabling us to leave the EU. Thank goodness he was there to show respect for democracy by doing what the public voted to be done. It is shocking that so many MPs, members of the House of Lords, Civil Servants & the establishment still do not believe in the UK, or its people, or democracy in their determination to rejoin the EU. Who ever comes next must have voted for Brexit & be prepared to stand up to the EU & complete it. Ten years from now the only question will be why did we not leave sooner.
July 9, 2022
That question has been asked for at least 20 years.
July 9, 2022
No matter which puppet takes over . Net Zero, vaccine devotion, Ukraine supporting lunacy will continue . People and economy killing taxes to remain . All this supported by the so called opposition . Desperate times indeed
If this is democracy I am a ?????????
July 9, 2022
Johnson has normalised the concept that this country should be ruled by third worlders such that people are arguing over which third worlder should become PM. That is frankly weird.
July 9, 2022
Now that Ben Wallance has ruled himself out, I would back Liz Truss. She may have voted Remain, but she has more than demonstrated her commitment to a full, unadulterated Brexit.
Penny Mordaunt would be an interesting outsider, but lacks experience of high office, but that kind of thinking resulted in Andrea Leadsom withdrawing in favour of Teresa May. With hindsight, does anyone seriously think that Andrea would have done an even worse job of Brexit than May ? Perhaps Mordaunt will make it next time ?
Just as long as Hunt does not make the final two…………………………
July 9, 2022
I believe we need a leadership that hasnāt been in high office, a team that we follow the instructions of the majority of the voting people and not the instructions of world organisations
agree about Hunt
July 9, 2022
I think the membership will be given a choice of, Sunak (brexiteer) and Hunt or Tugendhat (remainer). Personally I won’t for any of them, if it’s Sunak I don’t forgive him for the massive damage of his heavy handed IR35 scheme which has been a personal disaster for my business and his complete lack of support, apart from repayable loans, to the 2+million SME’s during the pandemic.
July 9, 2022
A majority of Conservative MPs together with a majority of Parliament, the MSM, the Civil Service, all public institutions and quangos, the judiciary, the educational establishment, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Governor of the BoE, the POTUS, WEF, Davos, Bilderberg, donāt care which party is in power or who is the PM as long as we are heading for rejoining the EU and implementing Net Zero,
So CP members should not expect to have a candidate for whom they can vote who supports the UK and its people.
July 9, 2022
Johnson wasn’t brought down by eu-supporters, who have been trounced and driven from the field since the 2019 GE when the public turned upon them electorally after their antics in the Commons post-referendum, he brought himself down by being temperamentally unsuited to the requirements and self-discipline of the office of Prime Minister in a series of idiotic actions. The public tolerated it as harmless idiosyncrasy at first combined with the belief that these actions weren’t malign in nature, but after they kept occurring, confidence eroded as to captaincy capacity.
July 9, 2022
The Conservatives will regret letting Boris go. He got Brexit done. He got the Conservatives a 80 sit majority.
He did well with Covid but made mistakes to.
He would have sorted the Northern Ireland protocol and fixed immigration. If we end up with Rishi he’ll tax more bring back austerity, stop the pension triple lock and won’t invest to get us out of this mess.
Bear in mind Rishi brough more taxes in while he personally avoided them. Remember he broke the covid rules to.
Remembered the billions of furlough fraud,why o why would the Conservatives want Rishi as leader.
July 9, 2022
Sunak splurged money and much of it was fraudulently taken. He was as guilty as Johnson of raising taxes at the wrong time. He worked with the hedge fund that supports XR.
Javid tried to force experimental jabs onto health workers. He was a disaster as a banker before politics.
Truss didn’t know her geography when meeting Lavrov or the reasons behind the war.
Some of the others are unknown to the public. But this is the choice.
There are sound older and honest backbenchers better known and with more experience and sense.
What is wrong with the Parliamentsry Conservative party,?
July 9, 2022
PS :
I forgot to add a PM/Parliament who believe in open borders.
As has already been suggested a return of Mrs May would be ideal as someone who worked to cancel Brexit, advanced Net Zero and signed the UN Compact for unlimited migration without even a vote in Parliament let alone a referendum.
July 9, 2022
All who were in favour of remaining in the EU and thus destroying UK democracy (at any point) are totally unsuitable as are any believers in the mad net zero expensive intermittent energy religion and any dopes who supported the vast tax increases and the huge manifesto ratting. This should all be reversed immediately.
July 9, 2022
It’s a very sad state of affairs. There doesn’t seem to be any way a traditional Tory ticket (nowadays called right wing) will get in. I hope I’m wrong.
July 9, 2022
I agree with Jacob Rees-Mogg’s favourable remarks about Boris as a person. Many people liked him, and are not impressed by the vitriol of the punditry both within and without the Party – and even less so with the constant childish sniping at Carrie. However, many like me believe the policies Boris so enthusiastically espoused were disastrous – a poison chalice. This was not really his fault – such a pity wiser counsel from behind the scenes could not have prevailed. The most important existential issues right now are realism over Russia and Ukraine, and to resist globalism. e.g. Net Zero.
July 9, 2022
Letter to John ;-
Dear John,
the commenting format seems to have changed. I cannot find a place to leave a comment without attaching it to somebody else’s comment for reply. I can see that others are having difficulty also , so from this I deduce that it is not my blogging incompetence alone.
July 9, 2022
Upon Mr Johnson standing down, I would like to recount here one instance of interacting with his office.
When the covid pandemic struck, UK zoos quickly came under severe financial pressure to the point of having to put down animals they could no longer afford to keep. Along with others, I appealed to politicians to provide emergency funding and I must thank Sir John Redwood for publishing my appeal in the comments section of this blog.
Mr Johnson made a public statement to provide emergency funding to zoos very quickly after my e-mail to his office. I would like to thank the Prime Minister for his personal intervention at a critical moment.
July 9, 2022
The BBC narrative is that Boris Johnson was brought down by sleaze. The reality is that he was brought down by Putin.
The utterly dire cost of living crisis caused by the sheer and utter stupidity of Net Zero whilst taking on energy dominant Russia in a war provoked by anti British Americans.
Boomerang Sanctions are called such for a very good reason. Had the economy been on a surer footing then Johnson’s position would have been too. The BBC Tits and Bum Show would have had little effect.
We are in for a grim winter. The Tories are entirely to blame.
The only way you can win the next election is a full frontal assault on woke and the blob.
July 10, 2022
+1
July 9, 2022
John Major demonstrated in spades the yawning gap between himself and Margaret Thatcher by signing the Maastricht Treaty, something she would never have done and the straw that broke the camelās back with patriotic party faithful. This weekās ousting of Boris Johnson has all the same hallmarks of trying to get rid of a thorn in the side of Europhile MPs.
As the leadership candidates come forward, weāre reminded daily of the historic Leave/Remain split in the Commons (25%/75%) compared to the country (52%/48%), a stark mis-alignment that still hampers attempts to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms.
July 10, 2022
I can’t see how the Conservative party win an election under any of these uninspiring leadership contenders. Most are Remainers and weak on Northern Ireland so won’t get my vote. Expect to see the polls revert to pre-Boris levels as at the EU 2019 election.
Ben Wallace will likely be leader after taking over following a heavy election defeat in 2024. He will lose in 2028.
July 10, 2022
When Conservative prime ministers were brought down in the past, especially Thatcher and May, it was at least because of important policy differences. This time questions of policy are not really being discussed. Is British politics from now on only to be about the personalities of those who carry out policies predetermined elsewhere?
July 10, 2022
“Europhiles” in Parliament and the Civil Service.
We need a new law enabling prosecution of those who actively support handing over any control of our country to a foreign or globalist entity along with a suitable penalty. That could go along with reinstatement of a robust Treason and Sedition Law which Blair trashed, no doubt to save his own neck.
Never since WW2 has our country faced such a risk of control by aliens.
July 10, 2022
Dear Sir John Redwood
Boris Johnson has- finally- been forced by a majority of his Conservative Parliamentary colleagues- to set out a timetable for resigning as Prime Minister, although he is no longer Conservative Leader. The reason for his defenestration is unique- his Integrity and behaviour are the reasons, rather than Policy disagreements per-se.
The timing of Boris Johnson actually leaving 10, Downing Street is now the main source of contention, particularly on the Opposition benches. If, as is widely expected, Labour table a Vote of No Confidence in Boris Johnson to get him out ASAP Conservative MPs will be faced with a terrible Hobson’s Choice as soon as Tuesday: MPs will either vote “Confidence” in a Prime Minister whose lies, scandal and deceit has brought disgust and revulsion to much of Britain (and in the process provide all confirmation Sir Keir Starmer needs to paint Conservatives as complicit in propping up a widely-reviled Prime Minister, therby toxifying the Tory brand in the eyes of voters); or Conservative MPs will vote “No Confidence” to prevent Keir Starmer being able to make this toxicity stick to the Party but bring down the Government and risk a General Election (and which Sir Keir Starmer wants) before the Conservative Party have selected their new Leader and Prime Minister.
I did warn at the height of the Partygate- in January- that that was when Conservative MPs should have seen the writing on the wall in sufficient numbers and moved to get Boris Johnson ousted: Intergrity and probity in Public life are very important to retain voters’ trust. Now it may be too late with Sir Keir Starmer springing a very nasty Check Mate on the Conservative Party: That is, either give Sir Keir Starmer the ammunition to portray all Conservatives as sleazy and corrupt for voting to keep Boris Johnson in-place (it matters not that this will be temporary and Boris Johnson will leave 10, Downing Street by October, it is how it will be portrayed by Labour and made to look in the Public’s eyes); or to avoid that MPs risk a General Election whilst the Conservative Party does not have a Leader- plus record of Sleaze and Scandal over the last year (not to mention a major Economic and Cost-of-Living Crisis)!
I think your best hope, even at this stage is to try and get Boris Johnson out ASAP, before Sir Keir Starmer tables his No Confidence vote in the House of Commons. Failing that, keeping Boris Johnson in-place (even for the two months of a Leadership Election) risks sullying the reputation of the Conservative Party to such an extent that by September there may be 1995-style Labour Poll leads so that the Conservative Party has not got a cat in hells’ chance of winning the next Election. So, to get Boris Johnson out ASAP but (hopefully) avoiding a General Election, vote against Boris Johnson in this Vote of No Confidence that Labour plans, get your colleagues to do the same. When the Government falls, quickly ensure all colleagues coalesce around Dominic Raab as a Caretaker Prime Minister and get this presented to Her Majesty The Queen. Advise the senior advisers to HM The Queen to- with her- enforce the Lascelles Principles to minimise any chance that a successful “Vote of No Confidence” leads to a General Election (because if it does, the Conservatives would also be looking at a spell in Opposition).
Voting Boris Johnson out through a Vote of No Confidence in the Government carries it’s risks, not least that if the Government is still standing any Conservative MPs who vote this way lose the Whip (hopefully the new Prime Minister and Chief Whip reinstates these MPs). The risk is of a General Election whilst the Party is Leaderless, but a Public demonstration of Catharsis of that which is corrupt and sleazy is likely to mean a less heavy Electoral Defeat than allowing Sir Keir Starmer to tar all Conservative MPs in keeping a (widely perceived as) Sleazy, dishonest Prime Minister in-place: Not even two years with Mr/s Clean as PM will remove such a stain from the Conservative Party before May 2024- and the Party could be out of power for a decade or more!
July 11, 2022
Iām furious with the PCP, on a scale of 1-10 how thick are they? There are members of your party Sir John boasting on Twitter about what they have done. I can tell you I have relatives in the red wall, they liked Boris and voted for Boris, they are upset and you have lost their vote.
The MSM and Labour knew they couldnāt beat Boris, so they launched a 24/7 campaign to bring him down, accusing him of sleaze and lying, again, and again, and again. Some of your colleagues looked at their emails and hadnāt the brains to work out most of the critical ones were from Labour supporters. So they binned him, people like Dehenna Davison actually think people voted for her, no, they voted for Boris.
If the Tory party survives this it needs root and branch reform. Never again can the 1922 be allowed to remove a leader the membership voted for without consulting us. We need proper Conservatives standing for the party, not Lib Dems and not people addicted to porn or with wandering hands.
Shame on every backstabbing traitor.