The Conservative Party’s leadership contest has begun with all the gravitas of a toddlers’ tea party, for which the individuals taking part are only partly responsible.

The Conservative Party’s leadership contest has begun with all the gravitas of a toddlers’ tea party, for which the individuals taking part are only partly responsible. Boris Johnson captured the mood of unseriousness with a display of droll self-pity, saying, “I wouldn’t want to damage anybody’s chances by offering my support ...” – much in keeping with his apology-free resignation statement outside 10 Downing Street which flattered no one but himself. The contest is being conducted to win the favour of two small and unrepresentative groups, Conservative MPs and Tory Party members, whereas the only audience that really matters – the British public – is excluded. That has meant an inevitable return to the default mode of modern Conservatism, the “Tebbit trinity” of free markets, low taxation and a small state. But this warmed-over Thatcherism is not remotely what the country needs.

The key debate in the first week of the contest has been between rival fiscal Conservatives, about whether, how and by how much to cut taxation. Various theories are advanced as to why cutting taxes is essential to economic recovery. The most plausible case is about the effect taxes have on the cost of living: for instance, the large slice the Treasury collects every time a motorist fills up with fuel. This is also clearly an inauspicious time to be raising personal taxes, for instance by the increase in National Insurance that Johnson’s government persistently refused to reconsider.

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