Graham's Newcastle Journal Column

I campaigned hard to elect Boris Johnson to office in 2019, and I have found the events that led to his resignation frustrating and disappointing. They had sapped my energy for politics and, like many Conservatives, I preferred to avert my gaze from his defenestration. Following the only column that I wrote in defence of Boris, a Journal reader rightly discerned that I had been ‘lukewarm’. Who was to blame for this will be a matter of debate within my Party for a generation, was it disloyal MPs or the PM himself, with his trademark lack of attention to detail? Perhaps a bit of both but to the public it matters not a jot. What they care about is results; the pound in their pocket, a functioning health service, and law and order (in that order according to pollsters).

As a long-standing Conservative member I will vote for the next Prime Minister, and I have tuned in to politics again to properly consider who gets my support.

I’ll spare you the suspense; it’s Rishi Sunak.

I have attended two of the Conservative hustings and Liz Truss has been impressive, but I’ve decided to vote for Rishi for three reasons.

The first is the argument about whether we should have tax cuts now or later. In my own business of 15 staff, the Liz Truss plan to cancel the National Insurance increase would benefit only me and two others, but most people are not touched by it, because Rishi increased the threshold at which employees pay national insurance. Pensioners and people on benefits would see no benefit from this policy either. I believe in an efficient state and cutting taxes, but the efficiency must come first. You shouldn’t spend what you don’t have and if you need to borrow it should be for investment or for a temporary period of difficulty. My business wouldn’t get very far asking the bank for a loan to fund a wage rise for everybody, but the bank would be fine lending to buy equipment or fund a growth project. The same should apply to the Government. The ‘Tax Cuts Now’ policy is a gamble and it might work. Ronald Reagan stimulated the US economy in the 1980s by taking the same approach, but the US economy is much bigger and its creditors can be reassured by the dollar being the currency of global business. My instinct tells me Rishi is adopting the right, Thatcherite, approach to good housekeeping.

Second, I have seen Rishi’s attitude to levelling up and it has worked; now it needs to be rolled out further and faster. In Darlington, his decision to locate the Treasury campus has already had an effect. In choosing a town rather than a city he made a bigger impact. Office parks are full, asset prices have improved; the town is investable as investors can start to see returns. Nearby, on Teesside, Rishi’s Freeport at the development corporation site has had 200+ expressions of interest, more than 20 projects that are being actively engaged and several multi-million pound projects are underway, including the largest South Korean investment in the UK for a generation, the £300m SeAH Wind factory which will employ 750 people.

Thirdly, I like his style. He has been clear and articulate in all the leadership hustings and debates. He has had the courage to defend his convictions both in tough TV interviews, such as an Andrew Neil special, and face-to-face with angry Conservatives who accuse him of stabbing Boris in the back. In fact, he stabbed him in the front; not a pleasant thing to do. The politically squeamish are very offended, but as a voter I’d prefer a politician who puts his country before his political friendships. Some of the mess Boris got into was through misplaced loyalty, first to Dominic Cummings then later to politicians in trouble like Owen Patterson and former deputy Chief Whip, Chris Pincher. Rishi demonstrated ambition combined with a ruthless streak; qualifications for political leadership not vices.

In the weeks ahead, the battle of ideas is well-served by this leadership election. It is forcing the two people who could become Prime Minister to focus on what they will do: particularly about the cost of living pressures we all face.

Keir Starmer has been a late-comer to the debate. His suggestion about extending the energy price cap came at the same moment, on Sunday, that the Government announced it was exploring this idea through complex Treasury funding models to subsidise the energy suppliers for the losses this policy would involve. If the prices are capped a private company will expected to be compensated if the Government stops it recouping the cost of the energy it buys and forces it to make a loss. EDF is suing the French government for billions in just such a case. Nevertheless, with a proper policy formula it is an idea worth exploring, and one that the new Prime Minister will have fully costed when they take office, should they decide to implement it.

I’d take one idea off the table. Gordon Brown has already suggested nationalising energy companies, but the cost of this would be enormous for no obvious gain. The taxpayer would own lots of shares but would still have to stump up for the cost of raw energy – gas, oil, imported electricity - on international markets in addition to funding investments in new technology such as offshore wind and small-scale nuclear reactors. It’s a political jingle from the 1970s, I hope it is not necessary.

One thing Rishi is talking about, which this region can play a critical role in implementing, is energy supply and the need to set an energy independence target. His target date is 2045, making it an earlier priority than Net Zero. The region that built the oil rigs the last time the UK was effectively energy independent – the time of peak North Sea oil from the 1970s onwards – is very well placed to deliver the engineering solutions for a range of different green energy sources. The Government is also considering categorising nuclear power as ‘Green’ for investment purposes. This should have happened ages ago; our primary environmental concern is climate change and nuclear energy delivers in this respect.

The Conservative leadership election and the energy policy urgency that is affecting us all, have caused me to cast off the political despondency at the fall of Boris and look ahead to new leadership. Both candidates for Prime Minister have looked to the North East for ‘Red Wall’ political sustenance, demonstrating this region’s relevance in the contest. The North East hustings was loudly supportive of the former Chancellor, as are most of the region’s Conservative MPs and Ben Houchen. I hope Rishi wins, but Liz Truss has many positive attributes that could serve us well too, including three strong cheerleaders in Dehenna Davison, Simon Clarke and Anne Marie Trevelyan. This time next month we will know who has won, and we should give the new PM the chance to make a difference.