We have a Prime Minister

Ministers must come back from summer with big ideas and allow the PM to get on with Governing.

Sam Shenton
Jul 23, 2017 · 5 min read

Saturday evening breaks away and once again we are hit by the front pages of the Sunday Newspapers. Every round of these papers has landed with a dramatic story about the “imminent” Conservative Leadership contest, reliably so since the election result left Theresa May in an incredibly weak position. Now, however, No. 10 has achieved its short-term aim: to get the PM to the summer recess without a major challenge to her position, and the political climate that existed even just a week ago has subsided and left one that is a little more calm for the limping Prime Minister.

This weekend, we’ve seen the story that 24% of Conservative Party members would like Brexit Secretary David Davis to take over from Theresa May as Prime Minister. The story of course avoids the other question that Tory members were asked, which resulted in emphatic support for May continuing in Number 10 until she sees fit to leave, but the Sunday Times nevertheless fits into a standard playbook that we have seen over the past few weeks. Firstly, we started with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s supposed leadership challenge to Theresa May, which was brought down both by May’s decision to bring Michael Gove back into the cabinet as Environment Secretary and by a Radio Interview that left ‘BoJo’ stumbling off the blocks just a week after the election.

Then came the story of David Davis’ surprise leadership ambitions. The Brexit Secretary lost out to David Cameron in 2005, and appears to want another crack with a much easier route to No. 10. This week’s story would likely leave his team boyount, if it wasn’t for the fact that Theresa May is still in office and is showing little sign of leaving over summer. But we’ve also had he surprise stories: Amber Rudd and Justine Greening, Philip Hammond weighing up being a “caretaker PM”, and even lesser-known names putting their names out there. What we’ve had for the past six Sundays is a progressing story that has left Theresa May in a stronger position than she was on June 9th, if for no other reason than she has destroyed and divided her entire opposition.

Indeed, that definitely wasn’t what the Daily Mail meant when they called upon May to “crush the saboteurs” in their now infamous election-call splash, but it is what has now happened within the Conservative Party. Not, of course, that this is a bad thing, and indeed strikes Theresa May and the Cabinet with an opportunity. Either they can recognise that No. 10 is occupied and get on with governing, or they can continue in-fighting for two and a half years, or for however long — if ever — it is until May decides to step down, and stalling both the Brexit process and the mechanism of serious Government, sinking the reputation of the Conservative Party with them and ensuring that any Government business is conducted and viewed through the lens of an imminent leadership challenge.

If the Conservative Party wants any chance of winning the next election, then their choice needs to be for the former; to get on with Governing, to ensure that Theresa May has the authority she needs to govern and implement her (admittedly modified) agenda. But it also needs to go further than just getting on with Brexit. May needs to come to Conference as a leader that has the clear confidence of her party, or she risks the Conference appearing as a catwalk of opponents and future leadership contenders. To avoid that, she either needs to lay out a timetable for her departure – a move that would shoot what authority she has left into the long grass – or squeeze support from the cabinet for public unity.

Instead of weekly leadership mootings, Ministers should pledge loyalty to the Prime Minister. But beyond that, the PM must also be willing to change. Nick and Fiona have already left Downing Street, but she must go further; she must allow her Ministers, in exchange for loyalty, to explore means of reform and a new agenda in their departments. Education Secretary Justine Greening undoubtedly has reforms that she would like to implement, especially now she has wrestled extra money for the Education budget – especially considering that Education has seen little reform since Michael Gove left the Department in 2014. May should allow her to get on with those reforms, to bring ideas to cabinet and to parliament herself and to free up her cabinet to make policy.

With Brexit biting into parliamentary time so much, not every cabinet minister will get to immediately bring bills before parliament — but the nature of the thinned down Queen’s Speech and the two year session running until 2019 means that there is room for some radical action from the Government, if it is unified enough to do so. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling should be left to focus on Heathrow, HS2 and Crossrail while the Environment Secretary Michael Gove focuses on getting the Agriculture and Fisheries Bills through the Commons and Lords. This simply won’t happen, and the reputation of the Conservative Party will suffer, if the Cabinet and others in the Party do not get behind Theresa May, at least for the time being.

With the reality of minority government meaning Cabinet ministers will have to try much harder to get their agendas through, it could also be a good thing to allow them autonomy while keeping May in power — ensuring deals with the DUP, Liberal Democrats, SNP or Plaid Cymru remain between parties and ministers, and not with Theresa May, who opposition parties view adamantly as the enemy. This is the only way in which the Tories can make this Minority Government work. Ministers must come back from summer with these ideas that they can take to parliament and to the cabinet – while May must come back knowing her position is secure before the Party Conference in October. To not allow her security would be to unleash the chaos of a two and a half year leadership contest in parallel to the Brexit process.

If Ministers and Tory MPs want any positive reputation, they must avoid rushing to that leadership contest at all costs. They must realise we already have a Prime Minister – and she needs their support and to be allowed to lead and to Govern.

Sam Shenton

Written by

Observations from a 22 year old on UK and US politics.

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