Well round one of the Tory leadership debates is now out of the way and as expected there was an empty plinth as Boris Johnston declined to take part as it would “be slightly cacophonous”, however, given this is the norm for any parliamentary sitting it seems a little surprising that this was his excuse. More likely was that he had nothing to gain and everything to lose, and the famous five who took part didn’t really enhance their reputations.
Boris Johnston was conspicuous by his absence
Editorial credit: Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock.com
Rory Stewart who has famously spent a lot of his campaign talking to the wrong people remained blue with a tinge of red in his stance, while Dominic Rabb grabbed the far right by being the only one prepared to crash out with no deal – even offering to suspend parliament to get it if necessary. Given that Boris is the darling of the far right Brexiteers he has probably kissed his chances goodbye.
Dominic Raab – Came over as Boris Light
The other pretenders to the throne Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and London mayor (and Donald Trump nemesis) Sajid Javid made up the numbers sitting somewhere in the middle. On more important things such as Tax and the state of our schools the picture was similarly mixed with all but an increasingly Labour like Rory Stewart all offering tax bribes and tinkering with education. Only Sajid Javid seemed to take the education issue seriously offering to slow down the deficit reduction plan to invest in schools.
Over the next few days, one of these candidates will become the main challenger to Boris but the debate has done little to enhance the reputation of any of them – apart from possibly Rory Stewart but not with those who matter when the votes are cast.
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Rory Stewart out meeting the people instead of the MPs whose votes he will need
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