Why the Conservative Party needs Rory Stewart

Since David Cameron bailed after the EU referendum the Conservative Party has been clinging onto Theresa May for fear of something worse. That something worse, however, is not so much the larger than life character Boris Johnson, but the knowledge of what happens to the Conservative Party once Boris is anointed Britain's Prime Minister.    

 
   

From a Conservative perspective, that something worse, is a self-inflicted Labour Government, and possibly, no Brexit at all.  

  If Boris Johnson is telling the truth, that he will leave the EU “Come what may”, then a No Deal Brexit is a practical reality.  What could follow is the pro-Europeans in the Conservative Party, backed by the Confederation of Business and Industry and the opposition parties, will threaten a general election to try stop an all-out Brexit. 
    The other option is to pick out another Remainer to replace Theresa May, but choosing someone like Jeremy Hunt, is also a risk for the Conservative Party, because deep down, the leave voters upon which they rely, may leave the Conservatives for a more permanent home in Nigel Farage's Brexit Party.  

Far from being the failure her colleagues have portrayed her to be, Theresa May, in terms of delaying the UK's exit from the EU, for Remainers a least, was a tremendous success, however, the majority in the country expect the Conservatives to deliver Brexit, so their leader has to make that happen and pull us out. 

    So what is the Conservative Party to do?  If they pick Boris Johnson and he sticks to his No Deal guns, then there’ll be an election by Christmas.  On the other hand, if they pick Theresa May’s right-hand man in the Foriegn Office, Jeremy Hunt, the party risks prolonging the Brexit impasse and, at the same time, exacerbate the threat posed to them by the clarity and strong leadership offered by Brexit Party.
    Having not voted Conservative since John Major in the 90s I am perhaps a surprising advocate for Rory Stewart, but, as I see it, it is only he that can square the hellishly difficult dilemma of how to deliver Brexit without collapsing the UK economy, diminishing the country's international status, or dismantling the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

Rory Stewart is the only Conservative candidate with a chance of achieving a satisfactory Brexit outcome for the British people.  Quite apart from believing that this person actually cares about the big issues, climate change, fairness and wants to overhaul social care, his strategy on Brexit, in the particular parliamentary circumstances the country finds itself, is the only candidate that is able deliver a sensible Brexit.

    So how will Rory do it? Well first, as Prime Minister, Rory Stewart will immediately take No Deal off and Remain off the table. There will be those that will baulk at this idea, imagining that our P.M. should negotiate an International Treaty like a company Sales Director, however, as the last three years have established, trying to do deal with 27 other countries is not easy and to deny this practical reality is to accept further excruciating and damaging delay.   
    Because of the awful inflationary economic consequences of a No Deal Brexit the EU know, as do a majority of the UK's MPs, that a NO Deal is so remote a possibility that it ceases to be the bargaining chip, that all other the other conservative candidates say it is.  In my view, No Deal is not a credible threat and will not work within current international diplomatic circles.

Threatening Germany and France with No Deal may be an effective tactic for the US with its military and economic might, as it may have been for Britain in the 19^thcentury, but it is naïve  to imagine that the UK can negotiate so aggressively with 27 EU countries, with the level of power it is able to wield today. 

    For me personally, the Conservative leadership contest is a win-win situation. If Boris Johnson wins we’ll have a general election and Labour Government a few years sooner, but if Conservatives have the wisdom to vote for a candidate with the brains, negotiating skill and the humility to do a deal with the EU and without condemning millions of our poorest UK citizens to poverty by ushering in a No Deal Brexit, then in Rory Stewart Conservatives should be allowed one more chance to safely deliver a grown-up Brexit deal, and at the same time, do the right thing for Britain. 

Written June 24th 2016 | Brexit could take ten years and might bot happen at all