Our party is standing on the edge of electoral oblivion. An eighty-seat majority promised real change, and the fact is we have wasted it. We cannot return to the incompetence-ridden past that produced no real change for the country in almost three years. All we got was sleaze, scandal, low economic growth and several surreal by-election defeats. To survive and thrive, we need to look elsewhere. The answer could not be more obvious.
Rishi Sunak is the right choice to be the next Party Leader. What we need is competence, conservatism, and communication. Rishi has all of those in abundance. During the Leadership Election, he showed that he was far more prepared to address this country’s pressing issues – with detailed proposals to stimulate growth in a modern economy, scale back illegal immigration, create opportunity and make Brexit work. He received the endorsement of Margaret Thatcher’s most successful Chancellor, Nigel Lawson, for a reason.
He warned us of the economic outlook under Liz Truss and has been completely vindicated since then. He was right then and he’s right now – and if we want any hope of winning the next election, we must be honest and pragmatic to the nation.
Critics will say that he raised taxes unfairly, but I reject that entirely. He took tough decisions during the pandemic and was widely criticised by members for it, but he did so in the knowledge that it was necessary to keep the government’s finances as healthy as possible. The answer lies not in turning to inexperience on one side and scandal on the other. A return to the comforting past may seem attractive, but it’s not realistic. We must choose wisely. We must choose Rishi. Our party’s future depends on it.
