Time for a plan for growth, not endless Westminster tittle-tattle
In the grand scheme of political endorsements, “not a complete clown” sits somewhere between Lyndon B. Johnson describing President Gerald Ford as a nice guy who played too much American football without a helmet on and Churchill describing Clement Attlee as a sheep in sheep’s clothing.
What makes it unusual is that the man offering this charitable view of Boris Johnson was his new Director of Communications. It’s not an ideal start.
We shouldn’t get lost in the weeds of SW1’s daily circus, as we know from experience that what those in the bubble are interested in is not usually what the country is bothered by.
And so it is with Johnson’s great reset of his premiership – the third such reset – which so far has consisted only of the replacement of people most have not heard of with others who even fewer people have heard of. Johnson has two years until the next election.
It is clear from last week’s ‘levelling up’ paper that we can expect no radical change when it comes to regional growth, with New Labour fiddling seemingly the order of the day. Indeed the only thing we can be sure of from the document is that the government finds London’s success deeply distasteful. It is time for Johnson to prove that there is some point to his eighty seat majority beyond his remaining in power.
Together with Rishi Sunak, the party must deliver a roadmap for growth – with a promise of tax cuts and investment incentives as the public finances recover. Dare we suggest we could some clear examples of post-Brexit freedoms boosting growth. Instead we’ve got tax hikes, a farcically complicated energy costs loan scheme, the return of the crown sign on a pint glass and a new Mayor for Ashby-de-la-Zouch, should it so want one.
Tory backbenchers may well be penning no-confidence letters as their inboxes fill up with angry constituents. More worryingly for the PM, plenty of CEOs across the country are more interested in the writings of his opposition front-bench.