Absurd rush through Tory contest is robbing the party of a battle of ideas

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Can Labour really claim to be running the most pro-business government ever?
Can Labour really claim to be running the most pro-business government ever?

The images of the farthest reaches of the cosmos beamed back to Earth from the James Webb telescope invite all of us to consider the great unknown. The mysteries of the universe – from the Big Bang to whether there really is intelligent life out there – are all in those images. Closer to home, however, a greater conundrum than even those eternal questions is forced upon us: namely, why the Conservative party seems insistent on rushing at breakneck speed through a leadership contest that will choose the next Prime Minister. 

It was a week ago today that Boris stepped down. In that time we’ve seen a bizarro Westminster mash-up of Love Island and The Apprentice whose sole talking points so far appear to be a wish-list of tax cuts and the biology of transgender women. 

This absurd rush to get down to a final two candidates, which could happen as soon as Monday, is robbing the country of actually getting to know any of these people. That’s not just bad for the public’s trust in politics, but bad for the Tory party, too. 

There are a vast range of talents in the Conservative party, even if many of them were outside the previous Cabinet. The party is clearly in desperate need of renewal and new ideas as it works out what (if anything) it stands for. It seems absurd therefore that people like (vastly experienced) Jeremy Hunt, (hugely successful entrepreneur) Nadhim Zahawi and (finance whizz) Sajid Javid have had only one or two opportunities to engage in that debate.

Those ‘dark horse’ outsiders at the start of the race, like Kemi Badenoch and Penny Mordaunt, may well do well in this Tory beauty contest but even those paying rapt attention over the past week would have even a passing familiarity with any of their policies or their philosophy. 

It is true that we will have six weeks of debate between the final two candidates. But a ‘broad church’ party should have used the time to intellectually renew itself. This contest is many things so far, but it certainly isn’t a battle of ideas.