The easiest article to write on any topic on earth is to say how unprecedentedly awful the last election race was. There have been many such pieces during this Tory leadership battle. While I’ve covered more than my fair share of elections, general, party and party leadership – as well as referendums – I disagree. Although idiocy, profanity and dishonesty are always notable, the process does its job.
Voters are pretty good at looking for what they want to know—what candidates want to do and what kind of people they are. Their methods for doing so can be quite haphazard, but the results are usually reliable. I cannot think of a general election since (and including) 1945 where the ensuing victory, defeat or stalemate was not deserved. In 1979 Mrs Thatcher deserved to win in a landslide. So did Tony Blair in 1997. In 2010, Labor deserved to lose, but the Tories didn’t deserve to win outright – hence the coalition.
Serious problems only arise when there is no competition. In 2007, Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as leader and Prime Minister without a proper contest. The same thing happened when Theresa May succeeded David Cameron in 2016. Nobody studied their electability. As a result, both failed in the eventual general elections in which they led their respective parties.
Post-Boris, sifting works well. Several forgettable candidates are already forgotten, one (Rehman Chishti) without receiving a single vote. Poor Jeremy Hunt somehow seemed a figure from the past and retired slightly injured. Suella Braverman’s honorable mention never quite started.
Voting rounds, accompanied by various battles and debates, were doing their job. Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat deservedly won, taking advantage of their status as challengers, improving their personal ranking and clarifying the issues.
In contrast, the two cabinet leaders, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, were under pressure for which – as is often the case with front-runners – they were not fully prepared.
But by yesterday morning both had proven they could respond. Indeed, the way they did it – by attacking each other – was enlightening. This brought to light real differences of opinion on economic policy, frankly expressed. And when Mr Sunak took the risk of getting quite personal – asking Ms Truss a trick question about her being a Remain MP and a Liberal Democrat – he noted by reminding voters of things they won’t like about her ; but she scored higher by coming back with a solid answer about what she learned from her political journey.
This is the way it should be. Both front-runners are probably better politicians as a result of such clashes. The only contestants who are suspect are those who refuse to engage with the issues the fight raises. Please tell us what you really think, Penny Mordaunt.
Suspicious audience
A footnote, however, about audience selection for televised debates. Channel 4’s first effort promised an audience of “floating voters”. I wonder how these were chosen. Neither question suggested any chance that the person asking it would go in a conservative direction.
One – a woman with purple hair who was a head teacher – pointed out how bad things had been “in the last 12 years and especially in the last seven”. She probably chose these dates because 12 years mark when a Conservative Prime Minister (Mr Cameron) was returned to office, and seven years mark when the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition was replaced by a Tory government with a general majority.
Only a politically connected person would be so deliberate in selecting these details. If this chapter is a floating voter, I’ll eat my hat (except I need it in the current heat).
President Boris?
As Boris Johnson considers his future career, a friend reminds me that Boris was born in New York. He claims that he can therefore become President of the United States. According to the US Constitution, which has not been changed in this regard since its inception in 1789, anyone can be president as long as they are a “natural born citizen” of this country, over the age of 35, and a resident of 14 years.
So Boris certainly meets the birth and age requirements. He holds dual UK/US citizenship. However, in 2016, perhaps in pursuit of his British political career, he renounced his American citizenship. It is said that once renounced American citizenship cannot be reinstated.
But does that mean a former citizen can’t apply for US citizenship the way all other non-US citizens do – getting a green card, etc.? It doesn’t seem absolutely impossible. With his uncanny ability to get what he wants, Boris could certainly find a way around this.
It is true that Boris fell far short of the required 14 years of residency, achieving only a few months when he was a baby and then about three years when his father worked in Washington and New York from 1966 to 1969. Therefore he has more than 10 years to make up for it. But it’s achievable, perhaps becoming an American TV star in the process. That way, Boris could become a full US citizen before he turns 70 (he’s currently 58), which would make him younger than Donald Trump or Joe Biden when they first took office.
Then he may be in a good position to deny a second term to incoming Democrat Meghan Markle.
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