The hottest topic in politics at the moment is the Conservative party leadership contest. And why shouldn’t it be as this will decide who succeeds Theresa May in the premiership. The future of the United Kingdom is at stake and we are at risk of having Boris Johnson as our leader. How did we get here?
The last three years since the Brexit vote has turned our parliament upside down. The 2016 referendum result has divided the county and the main priority, other than Brexit, is uniting the country.
It seems every election in the last ten years or so, the same thought process comes to mind for the a lot of the electorate, that is we are voting for the lesser of two evils. The same has happened this time where Boris Johnson, former Foreign Secretary and Jeremy Hunt current Foreign Secretary have somehow ended up as the last men standing. Now obviously we the commoners cannot vote, that entitlement is given to Tory party members only. But it’s really the Tory MP’s that have got us into this mess. Firstly by holding a questionable referendum motivated by selfish reasons, then with their total incompetency in delivering Brexit, and now by voting and leaving us with either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt as our prime minister. In less than one month, on the 22nd July 2019, one of these two will be our prime minister. That is a scary thought, but personally I’m hoping for a Boris victory.
Why I hear you say! Because if he becomes prime minister then a general election is on the cards pretty imminently. And that’s because everybody knows Boris will be hopeless and there are also rumours that votes of no confidence will be put forward as soon as he takes office.
As the candidate with the highest public profile, we know Boris Johnson’s history of blunders. There was the purchasing of water canons at a cost of over 350 thousand pounds to the taxpayer, which were actually banned from being used. The Garden Bridge vanity project where over 50 million pounds was gratuitously spent on the bridge that never got made. Let’s not forget the incident with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe whilst he was Foreign Secretary where he pretty much told the Iranians she was guilty. Currently her and her husband are on a hunger strike.
This is all before delving into his private life which is tarnished with affairs and secret, illegitimate children, not to mention the recent fiasco of his neighbours calling the police after hearing him fight with his girlfriend Carrie Symonds. Following that it’s now come to light the photograph of him looking lovey-dovey with his girlfriend was not only taken weeks ago but was most likely given to the press by his PR team and is not even copyrighted.
Before this recent kerfuffle, Boris’s PR team were using the strategy of damage limitation, meaning the less he speaks in public the better it is for him. So if Boris doesn’t make many appearances, then the less goof ups he’ll make. This is working against him as the public naturally want a potential prime ministerial candidate to be put under scrutiny. If he can’t handle questions from the public and media now, how will he cope in the top job? Answer is, he won’t. Evidence of this is in this morning’s remarkable interview on LBC with Nick Ferrari. It was the exact reason his PR team don’t want him doing any interviews. Support is falling amongst Conservatives for Boris according to polls but all the MPs who supported him at the last vote know his weaknesses. The only reason they’re backing him is because they think he’ll be able to beat Jeremy Corbyn.
Corbyn is like Kryptonite for the Tory party. They are so scared of him they will do anything to make sure he doesn’t become the next prime minister even if the alternative is Boris Johnson. Surely MPs don’t really think he will make a competent leader? Yes he’s funny (both in a haha and strange way) but let’s face it, he’s not honest with the public and he’s only ever put his own ambitions first. I’d put money on the fact that him becoming prime minister is a long standing bet he made with David Cameron in their Bullingdon days.
But what’s really worrying is that the poll of Conservative party members that was published on Monday showed alarmingly worrying signs of Islamophobia. 45% of those asked believe the myth that, “There are areas in Britain in which non-Muslims are not able to enter.” 43% of Conservative Party members, “Would prefer to not have the country led by a Muslim.” There goes Sajid Javid’s chances (he is from a Muslim background, his name and brown skin are enough of a deterrent though).
With such suspicion and hostility, voting in a leader who is known for his controversial anti-Muslim comments whether likening Muslim women to bank robbers and letterboxes or those comments about removing children from potential Muslim ‘extremists’, is a prospect which doesn’t fill me with joy nor does it make me want to vote for the Conservative party in the next general election.
The fact that neither of the candidates have addressed this poll is disconcerting. The one good thing that has come out of this leadership contest is that last week, during a debate Sajid Javid made the other four candidates agree to an inquiry into Islamophobia live on television. Whether this will happen remains to be seen but it’s a start.
As for Boris’s opponent Jeremy Hunt, whose name is synonymous with the NHS for all the wrong reasons, I think of how NHS workers despise him after his stint as Health Secretary. I remember how he falsely promised 10 billion to the NHS and who can forget junior doctors striking for the first time in this country because of the new contracts he made up? I think of how he wanted to privatise the NHS,moving towards an American style model. This is laughable, as one of the worst things about living in America is their healthcare system and how it’s grossly unfair to anyone who can’t afford private health insurance. That’s not the country we live in and I’m pretty sure most Brits hold the NHS very dear to their heart. It’s the one thing that we have which is unique and has outdone any other healthcare system in the world. How can we let Jeremy Hunt or Donald Trump meddle with it?
Despite this, Jeremy Hunt is known as the ‘sensible’ candidate but he is a Remainer and is going to be no different to Theresa May. Whatever deal he brings to the table is still going to be rejected by the vehement Brexiteers. Jeremy Hunt is dangerous as he would go the distance, but would champion all the policies like austerity that have helped made the Tory party referred to as the nasty party.
One thing is clear though, who ever wins this contest has no mandate from the public. Firstly by virtue of being the leader of a ruling party that didn’t win with a majority back in 2017 and is only in power because of the DUP, and of course down to the fact that the public does not get to choose which of the two should be prime minister But hey who am I to question British democracy? And that’s why folks, Boris is the best option as he will accelerate the downfall of the Tory party much faster than any other man.
By Sharmeen Ziauddin
She is passionate about politics and faith and you can find her tweeting about these things @sharm33n.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the original author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website.