Tory Infighting - Yes It’s Back

And so the 100 day honeymoon has come to a close: Rishi Sunak enjoyed his brief period of relative calm, and now the rabid factionalism that has all but done for the Tories’ electoral prospects is roaring back, on not one but two fronts, even before the prospect of further splintering of the Blue Team’s ranks over relations with the EU comes into play.

He may be bad ...

What many of those cheering on the factionalism cannot see is that, despite his inability to act other than very slowly and too late, his own family history of tax avoidance, and that US Green Card which he appears to have given up only recently, Sunak is probably the only relatively sane choice to lead his party into the next General Election. His potential two challengers show why.

Being talked up on an almost daily basis, the thought of London’s formerly very occasional Mayor and disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, the individual who single handedly broke Britain, returning from holiday, er, sorry, exile, may give some Tories less in touch with the real world a warm feeling. But no-one else seems to notice.

Which suggests, to use Lyndon Johnson’s metaphor, that they may be pissing down their legs. Bozo stands for very little other than the promotion of Himself Personally Now; those promoting his return to save country and party are beyond delusional. He has already broken the former, and allowed back as leader would break the latter with the certainty of night following day.

So it is that the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph has been promoting Bozo as the next Secretary General of NATO. No, don’t laugh: this kite was flown last summer by Christopher “No” Hope, he of New Royal Yacht That Never Was fame. Today, Con Coughlin has reheated the mess. But all that Bozo would do would be to break yet another organisation.

... but he would be worse ...

Coughlin’s detachment from reality includes this gem: “Having someone with Johnson’s passion for defeating despots like Putin at Nato’s helm would certainly help the organisation generate a sense of moral purpose”. There is nothing remotely moral about anything featuring Bozo. Coughlin does concede “It may well be that Johnson has other priorities on his mind”.

Like making more money for himself and doing as little as possible to get it, no doubt. And maybe scoring the odd violinist on the side. Yet his presence is still valued by some Tories, destabilising Sunak’s efforts and reminding the voters how bent the Tories became under Johnson’s leadership. And then there is the faction harking after a return by Liz Truss.

No, don’t laugh: it’s front page lead in today’s i Paper, with Hugo Gye’s supporting article telling with considerable understatement “Westminster-watchers are eagerly awaiting Liz Truss’s promised comeback to the front line of politics - even if not all members of the public will be”. Do go on.

“The former prime minister is unapologetic about her policy agenda of lower taxes, deregulation and free trade which she believes is the only route to long-term prosperity. When she does make her re-entry to public life in the coming weeks, Ms Truss is sure to acknowledge that her timing was all wrong, leading to her downfall as PM”. Tax cuts for the rich. That was wrong.

... and she ... no. Just no

There is more. “Nonetheless, her return is likely to stick in the craw of some voters, given the chaos that her seven weeks in office unleashed in the financial markets, partly contributing to the rapid rise in interest rates which is expected to continue today. What right, some will ask, does a premier whose time in power was such an abject failure have to lecture her successors about how to turn around the economy?” None whatsoever, is the answer.

A mini budget that gave very sign of being devised among the Astroturf lobby groups in and around Tufton Street is reckoned to have cost taxpayers - which means We The People - around £60 billion. Going for growth is one thing; trying to achieve it by giving the rich a handout which they will most likely save, and not spend, is quite another. Going for no growth, more like.

What those Westminster watchers need to understand is that Truss is perceived by the electorate as terminally inept, and Johnson as terminally bent. Just because Sunak umms and ahhs rather too much before making his mind up is no reason to bring back one or other of his predecessors.

So the Tories can’t lay a glove on Labour with Sunak as PM? They would be worse off with Truss or Bozo. This is a dead Government walking.

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