Five Tory MPs were vying for the role of Prime Minister and leader of Tory. They engaged in an often tense but sometimes mediocre debate, which ignored issues like immigration and law and order.
Formerly Chancellor of Exchequer Rishi Sonak, foreign secretary Liz Truss and former ministers to communities Kemi Badenoch and Penny Mordaunt clashed over issues such as the economic and cost-of-living crisis and whether public sector workers should receive a 5% pay increase and the net zero agenda. However, they ignored traditional issues of concern for the public, not just the media and political class like crime and immigration.
Most failed to establish any policies on the topics under discussion. Sunak provided, for instance, the slogan-free “investment innovation, education” and his “plan”, but the two men did not hesitate to take shots at one another on their record, or lack thereof.
Several tax reductions were proposed — which would mark a major shift from the policy of Johnson and Sunak who have raised the tax burden at its highest point in decades — to ease the crisis. Sunak suggested strongly that he will continue his current course and not change.
” I would love to be here and tell you that I would cut this, that, and another tax and it will work, but it won’t,” said he, emphasizing that “something-for-nothing economics” isn’t conservative, it’s socialist, and that his main focus would be on tackling inflation.
This is consistent with the views of established figures such as Andrew Bailey, Bank of England Governor. He advised workers not to request pay increases but to accept a “painful” fall in their living standards in order to manage inflation.
Central Bank Boss to British Workers: Help Fight Inflation by Not Taking Pay Riseshttps://t.co/LW6rbL4kwd
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 4, 2022
On the proposal that public sector employees should receive a five percent pay increase with inflation running at 10%, the candidates left workers without much to look forward to. They either fudged the question to independent pay review boards or warned outrightly that “inflationary” pay increases were not possible.
Turning to personal and internal matters, they all said that Boris Johnson would not be in their Cabinet, while Mordaunt was hesitant to make a mention of her support for transgender people being allowed to identify themselves.
She called her discussion about “trans men are men” and “trans woman are women” an attempt to paint me “out of touch”. She insists that my constituents “do not elect people who lack touch”, even though they previously elected several Labour MPs.
The views expressed by Mordaunt her book last year, endorsed by Bill Gates and Tony Blair, certainly do not seem especially conservative, harping on the fact that Britain’s leaders too often hold a “long-term, male, patient, predictable, factual, planned, heterosexual, white, Christian, Western” worldview and claiming that the late Kenneth Clark’s legendary Civilisation series, beloved by many conservative history lovers, “explained how superior Oxford-educated British middle-aged white men were.”
Just flicking through Penny Mordaunt’s book. Bill Gates’ glowing foreword, which is full of praises for China and relentlessly promoting the LGBTQ+ agendas, believes more “hate speech” should be censored… A great pitch for the Labour Party leadership.
— Toby Young (@toadmeister) July 14, 2022
The contenders had some fun wrangling with one another. Sunak asked Truss if it was more regrettable that she was a Remainer than a Liberal Democrat, while Truss was quizzed on his desire to be closer to a belligerent Communist China.
Sunak, who has been effectively endorsed by Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times, paid lip service to the fact that China has been deemed a threat, but added that “when we can protect ourselves that shouldn’t stop us from engaging with countries around the world” — suggesting that he would indeed seek to increase links in some areas.
Sunak was also pressed on the parlous state of the British military, with Tugendhat — who mentioned his own service with the Army Reserve frequently during the debate — noting that 10,000 troops were being made unemployed when he suggested he had boosted Ministry of Defence pay considerably.
Candidates were also in a bit of a fight with each other, such as Mordaunt calling her campaign video “legendary” while saying “[t]here are a few things we need to lose the next general election. One of them is me being Prime Minister.” This made her seem a little conceited.
Kemi badenoch was, according to her, a “wildcard” in the leadership race and was a favorite among Conservative activists because of her anti-woke comments. She also claimed she was tired of being Brexiteers or Remainers and it was time for “moving on”. She said that there was still “not unfinished business” with the EU, despite continuing issues around Gibraltar and fishing and the continued dominance over Northern Ireland.
Communist China Backs World Economic Forum Acolyte Rishi Sunak to Replace Boris Johnson https://t.co/eTBGkVthXd
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 17, 2022
As previously stated, voters were concerned about issues such as high legal immigration levels and an uncontrolled illegal migration crisis in the English Channel. Crime, sentencing and other matters were also not discussed.
Free speech was not mentioned either, despite Johnson’s push for censorship through bills like the Online Harms Bill and Mordaunt’s book that a crackdown on “hate speech”.
Net Zero, a political obsession, was given a section. All the candidates said they supported it, but Badenoch stated that it couldn’t “bankrupt” the country and would alter it as necessary.
Candidates Face Off in First Televised UK Leader’s Debatehttps://t.co/sQv2IfzYp2
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 15, 2022
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