DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A toxic Tory contest can only help Labour

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A toxic Tory contest can only help Labour

It is no exaggeration to say that the decisions taken by Tory members in the next few days and weeks will have seismic ramifications.

Not just for the party, but also for our democracy – and the future of the country.

If the Conservatives pick the wrong leader, Labour could, at the next election, seize power at the helm of a coalition of chaos.

Leave aside that Britain would quickly become an economic basket case. It would risk the introduction of a proportional representation voting system, an act of constitutional vandalism designed to keep the Left – and their pernicious ideological obsessions – in power for ever.

Nadim Zahawi, pictured at last week’s Spectator summer party, has already blasted ‘smears’

So an inordinately heavy burden rests not only on the shoulders of whoever succeeds Boris Johnson, but also on those card-carrying Tories who anoint him or her.

Of course, no one wants the leadership battle to drag on. But given the potentially devastating consequences of choosing badly, it is important it isn’t rushed.

This is time for proper debate, to listen and reflect. For each candidate to set out their vision of conservatism – and then have their ideas and suitability for the highest office examined meticulously.

Some argue that it is pointless prolonging the navel-gazing when the country urgently needs a new leader to tackle its problems and that front-runner Rishi Sunak should be handed the crown.

That is nonsense. Six years ago, Theresa May had a coronation. Painfully for the Tories – and depressingly for the nation – that meant her disastrous weaknesses were not revealed until it was far too late.

The leadership race has already thrown up a healthy number of serious candidates (while, mercifully, not becoming bloated with narcissistic no-hopers).

Battle lines are being drawn. Mr Sunak insists tax cuts are not possible until we begin clearing our eye-watering Covid debts. Others, however, are determined to wrestle back the Tories’ reputation as a low-tax party to spur growth.

Pleasingly, several agree with the Mail’s tireless campaign to spike the foolish and damaging national insurance hike, which callously hit voters at the moment the cost of living squeeze began biting viciously.

Liz Truss is one. She’s also hugely experienced and, as Foreign Secretary, has been strong on Ukraine and the Northern Ireland protocol. During her Westminster career, she has cleared every obstacle placed in front of her – much to her detractors’ irritation.

Contenders also include the impressive Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch, whose political credos chime loudly with Tory first principles. Their presence also proves that the Conservatives, not Labour, are the standard-bearers for diversity.

Ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt, however, is a non-runner for huge swathes of the party after calling for a brutal China-style lockdown and his pro-EU sympathies.

Mr Sunak, of course, is a serious and substantial figure, who performed well during Covid. But many were appalled when he knifed Mr Johnson. And some feel he is too sympathetic to the Silicon Valley web giants to rein in their excesses.

More troubling, though, are the incessant rumours that Dominic Cummings, the disgraced and malevolent ex-No 10 consigliere, is lurking in his campaign team – something Mr Sunak strongly denies.

The leadership race is already shaping up to be one of the bloodiest in the party’s history. And the vicious smears, character assassinations and hostile briefings against the ex-chancellor’s rivals seem to bear Mr Cummings’ malign imprimatur.

Unless the contest is conducted in a calm, civilised and respectful atmosphere, the bad blood created could linger for years, making Tory unity impossible.

Nothing would be more likely to repel voters – and spell disaster at the ballot box.

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