Politics

Local MPs were quiet on PM’s failures

So it’s over. Almost. The man who considered himself an exception to the normal rules of politics and life – well, his political career ends in failure like the rest. Alexander ¬– his real first name – the Great he is not.

It’s not a foreign policy failure that did for him, like Eden. Nor an economic failure, like Heath, nor domestic division, as brought down Thatcher. To the contrary, Johnson’s Tories kept him in 10 Downing Street while taxes piled up, the economy flatlined, tenthousands of citizens needlessly died and Britain’s standing in the world diminished.

In the end, what did it for Johnson was Johnson just being Johnson – a contemptible, lying charlatan. Fittingly, it was mendacity arising from a sexual assault in the cradle of conservatism, the Carlton Club, which brought him down.

Amid the tumult that surrounds his demise, we must not forget the fact that the Conservative party knew exactly what he was like – exhibit A – Brexit lies – yet put him up for the position of prime minister and sustained him there for nearly three years.

Many people across Dorset and the surrounding shires find it disgraceful that our local MPs, Messrs Hoare, Loder et al stayed silent on Johnson’s failures and misdemeanours for so long, before joining, as Keir Starmer put it, ‘the sinking ships fleeing the rat.’ My personal favourite was Andrew Murrison’s hasty resignation as trade envoy. Have a look on his twitter – he didn’t even have time to take legible scan of his resignation letter amid the avalanche of newly found consciences, such was his Damascene haste.

Greg Williams, on behalf of Dorset Labour Ken Huggins on behalf of the Green Party in North Dorset

Extra pay-out

Save some contempt for North Wiltshire’s Michelle Donelan. Despite already attending cabinet as Universities minister, and thereby having had ample opportunity to tell Johnson what she thought of him, she took a promotion to Education Secretary only to quit 36 hours later. She’s eligible for a £16,000 extra pay-out for her troubles. These people who aided and abetted Johnson should be consigned to the backbenches forever, not enriched.

As for Alexander Boris de Pfeffel the Awful, the Tories have decided to keep him in place for another two months while they have an internal, navel gazing, battle royale of a leadership contest. That’s right – they all think he’s too disreputable to be PM, but they’re happy to leave him in place while they fight each other for the spoils of his demise. And then, in an undemocratic coup de grace, the next PM will be chosen by about 150,000 Conservative party members. I don’t think anyone would argue that membership is reflective of British society.

Terrible. Just terrible. Enough is enough. It’s not just Johnson who needs to go, but the whole rotten party who put him there and conveniently misplaced their morals, those few they have, for three years. We need a general election, and a change of government.

Frying pans, fires and rules

One good thing about Boris Johnson was that he did at least appear to have some inkling about the severity of global warming and climate change. Some say was simply due to his wife’s prompting, who knows.

Alarmingly it seems that many of the people now vying to replace him are either climate sceptics or deniers, or simply pretending to be so to secure the backing of a sufficient number of their colleagues. Are we about to leap out of the frying pan and into the fire?

A cynic might say Boris was simply a convenient tool, to get the right wing of the Tory party what they wanted. That was a referendum result to leave the EU and to fend off the damaging UKIP challenge that was splitting the Tory vote.

Boris has an undoubted ability to say things that are totally untrue but to do it in such an engaging way that some of his listeners will believe him. Especially if he’s saying something they want to hear – like having an ovenready Brexit deal or doing something about solving the environmental crisis. It’s what gets populist leaders elected.

The problem is he turned out to be a loose cannon and his steady stream of humiliating gaffs eventually began to split the Tory party, anyway. Now he’s going, and we see the people who want to replace him, the thought ‘better the devil you know’ springs to mind.

Present government plans to address the twin challenges of climate change and environmental destruction are hopelessly inadequate, as reported by the Government’s own Committee on Climate Change.

First-past-the-post

If, like David Cameron with his ‘green crap’ attitude, we now get a new Prime Minister who succeeds in rolling back those inadequate plans, then we are truly destined for disaster on a scale which doesn’t bear thinking about. But think about it we must, because burying our heads in the sand isn’t going to stop us from getting bitten on the backside. Hard.

Boris was fond of claiming he had a 14 million mandate because that was the number of votes the Tories received in the 2019 General Election. His claim conveniently ignores the 19 million people who voted against him and the fact that our first-past-the-post electoral system produces governments which do not represent the views of a majority of the electorate.

The Tories like first past the post because it pretty much results in just two main parties being contenders, representing the left and right wings of the political divide. It’s much easier to just have one opponent to deal with.

Interestingly, the Tory Party is not going to use first-pastthe-post to select its next leader and Prime Minister. One rule for them and another for the rest of us. Again.

The need for trust and reconnection

I phone people across the Vale every day to help me stay informed. Conversations this week have ranged across ‘levelling up’, the cost of living, Ukrainian refugees, our voting system, education and, of course, that leadership election. The main message I received was about how distrustful and disconnected from politics people have become. Here are the highlights: n “As you said before, we have ‘South-West wages, South-East prices’. I can’t see the prices coming down as this is too nice a place to live. The shift needed is in our wages, and especially the nature and quality of employment, but how does that happen without huge investment in skills and infrastructure? We have not a single mile of motorway in Dorset and not much rail either. It all feels like ‘don’t start from here’.” n “I was shocked by the story of the lady a Dorset shop refused to

Mike Chapman on behalf of Liberal Democrats across the Blackmore Vale

serve just for being Ukrainian. I was also shocked hearing how many Ukrainian refugees have nowhere to go after all the promises they were given. We used to be better than that. What has happened to us? Is this a Brexit thing or has Brexit caused it? We need a good long hard look at ourselves.” n “Communication with parents about the problems at the new special needs school in Shaftesbury seems to have been very poor. Why does democratic government, locally and nationally, believe that deflecting, stalling or staying shtum is acceptable? It just makes us distrust and disconnect.” n “I have no idea what my electricity bill is going to be come October. Do you? Are you as frightened as I am?” n “Are you still pushing for proportional representation? The Americans and us Brits set such bad examples with politicians trying to be holier/rightier/leftier than the other. Many, many nations use consensus to guide their governments and they seem to do better, certainly more consistently and sustainably. Why would people think coming together causes chaos?” n “There was good national TV coverage about Dorset’s efforts to provide for the needy – pantries, foodbanks, community fridges and the like. I worry these are not sustainable solutions, though, because they take such a lot of voluntary effort to keep going. Come on the supermarkets and other big retailers, you have the wherewithal to make a much greater and enduring contribution.” n “We should focus the education of our kids a bit more on things that matter for our and their future. So, it wouldn’t hurt to steer the curriculum a bit more towards employability and the demands of work.” n “The Tories under Boris got in on an illusion. I don’t really care who picks up the reins but please could we have some grown-ups with their feet on the ground back in charge as soon as possible.”

A lot of questions but I am sure that restoring trust and reconnection needs openness, fairness and opportunity.

The age of populism is dead

I find it strange to be contemplating that I shall shortly be serving under my fourth Prime Minister in seven years.

It does not take a political genius to realise our country has gone through some very turbulent times since 2015. A game-changing yet divisive Referendum, a non-blockage busting 2017 General Election and then the decisive result of 2019. The global pandemic of Covid. The rules-based destabilisation of Russian aggression on our continent. Perhaps we could look back further? To 2010 and the formation of the first peacetime coalition since 1935? To the referendum on Scottish Independence? In any event, and by any measure, we are definitely suffering that alleged Chinese curse: ‘may you live through interesting times’.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I am firmly of the view that we could do with fewer ‘interesting times’ and a return to some sort of recognisable

Conservative MP for North Dorset Simon Hoare

normality? The country is facing some massive issues. Some of which we can deal with alone – others require the building and fostering of close international relations.

The cost of living crisis dominates. The existential threat of a changing climate. The undermining of the Rule of Law. Global migration. An ageing UK population coupled with a declining birthrate. Global competition. The challenge/ opportunity of AI. The conflicting demands for high quality public services and a low tax system. How to keep our country safe. How to keep our four-nation country united. Debates surrounding rights and responsibilities. Challenges of identification politics.

The above issues are complex and complicated. Some have clear answers – others – and I have not given an exhaustive list – will have nuanced, subtle interwoven solutions.

As many of my colleagues seeking to become our next PM have stated – politicians need to be honest with the British people. To do so we must do one thing first that is to state clearly that the age of populism is dead. It has been tried and it hasn’t work. It can’t find solutions. You, my constituents, just like the rest of the country, are not fools. You know as well as anyone that complex problems can’t have simple, black and white, threeword solutions. You don’t wish to be treated like mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed manure. You want to be treated like grown-ups. You understand as much as I do that most political solutions cannot be doctrinally black or white but a shade of grey. That is the honest approach we now need.

And we need it underpinned by integrity, respect for the Rule of Law, independence of the Judiciary, an understanding of the intricate tapestry of conventions that sustain a nation devoid of a written constitution. We need quiet professionalism. We need commonsense pragmatism.

In short, we need that kind of Toryism that most people in our country recognise and understand as being Toryism. Moreover, we do need to reunite and bind our country together – a task populism cannot achieve. Together we face those challenges. Together we find those solutions. Together we make positive progress.

Sunak best placed to lead my party

Leadership contests are an opportunity to showcase a party’s wares, human and political.

Not too much of the latter, mind, as each candidate is bound by the manifesto on which we all stood. Can’t go too far off piste. Unless, that is, the incoming leader wants to call a General Election, which is unlikely.

A stand-out in this contest is the diversity of the candidates. It seems highly unlikely that the Labour Party, and most certainly not the Lib Dems, would have anything like such a line-up.

I’ve just seen the Channel 4 hustings. Of the five that made it through to the weekend, just one was a white middle-aged male, confounding the stereotyping beloved of my party’s political opponents. What’s more, each of them was there for one reason only – merit.

The challenge facing my party is acute, How to look and feel fresh, new, exciting 12 years in. We have to defy the political gravity that sooner or later is the slayer of all incumbents. Right now, we have a particularly severe backdrop of a global economic downturn, cost of living pressures, a war in Europe which shows no sign of resolving anytime soon and the linked energy crisis.

Brilliant though they all are, none of the candidates will be able to magic these things away – though we punch above our weight, the UK’s impact is finite. Unfairly, but nevertheless, incumbent parties are always punished when people are hurting.

I like all the candidates and would happily serve under any of them. But in my view Rishi Sunak, disciplined and economically highly literate, is by far the best placed to lead my party, deal with the challenges we face as a country and prevent the nightmare of a Lab/Lib/SNP minority, coalition or confidence-and-supply mess.

Meanwhile, back at base, I’ve been having a go at the trains minister and South West Railways over the particularly shoddy London to Exeter service.

I’m also tackling Wiltshire Council and the Environment Agency over the horrible smells emanating from the Warminster biodigester and the Hills Waste rubbish site at Westbury. My constituents want to sit in the gardens in the nice weather but can’t because of the stink.

On Hills Waste, if it can’t operate its current rubbish plant without obliging its neighbours to shut all their windows in the hot weather, what hope if it gets permission to build the huge incinerator it plans next door?

Again, I urged a moratorium on waste incinerators in the Commons last week. DEFRA’s consultation on new environmental targets surely heralds the end of these appalling, unwanted and unnecessary waste burners.

Conservative MP for South West Wiltshire Dr Andrew Murrison

Conservative MP for West Dorset Chris Loder

New PM my birthday present

I am recruiting at the moment! So if you’d like to look at working for an MP, please visit www.chrisloder.co.uk/jobs

By the time you read this column, we will have selected the final two candidates for Conservative Leader and Prime Minister. For us in Westminster, we will have concluded a turbulent three months in Westminster, ready for a new Prime Minister on Monday, 5 September – my birthday!

But while this is all happening in Westminster and has occupied so much ‘bandwidth’ of the news, I’ve also been getting on with the job here at home and have made sure to take every opportunity to hear your thoughts in West Dorset, not just about the leadership campaign, but about local issues through in-person events, correspondence or through my online surveys.

In the last couple of weeks West Dorset has been at its best with many wonderful events. I really enjoyed Piddlehinton and Cattistock fetes last weekend, on 16 and 17 July respectively.

Road and railway bridges have been a consistent issue across West Dorset and so have our main roads. Whether it is the Hummer Railway Bridge, several in Dorchester and one or two others.

We have made good progress with re-opening the Hummer Bridge near Trent and I continue to work closely with Dorset Council and Network Rail on resolving these issues.

The A30 on Kitt Hill in Sherborne, while partially re-open, is not sorted. This has gone on for five months and in my next column, I’ll write about this in more detail.

I have lobbied the Government again during a recent schools debate about temporary classrooms to support the Gryphon School to properly sort out the ‘temporary’ classrooms in urgent need of replacement – in fact, classrooms that I was schooled in 25 years ago – the same, of course, for Dorchester Middle School.

And on Friday last, I visited St Andrews Primary School in Yetminster to open up its new STEM building and wildflower garden with huge congratulations to the headteacher, Julie Simpson, and others.

The importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects was also underscored earlier this week, when I once again pressed the Government on the need to support our neighbouring helicopter manufacturer, Leonardo, during Defence Questions.

Leonardo is currently training up mor than 20 apprentices from West Dorset, and has also employed five graduates from West Dorset schools on their graduate scheme. These are positive statistics and proof that lives really can be changed for the better through STEM education and the longevity of community-oriented local manufacturers like Leonardo.

I’m always pleased to hear from constituents. If you would like to share your view of what qualities you wish to see in the next Prime Minister, I’d be very please to receive them at www. chrisloder.co.uk/newpm or hello@chrisloder.co.uk