The Guardian view on Truss v Sunak: no substance, no seriousness
|
Version 0 of 1. A long summer of political posturing for the benefit of Conservative party members lies ahead The most depressing observation during Monday night’s BBC debate between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss was made before either prime ministerial candidate had spoken. “It is a huge decision,” said the host, Sophie Raworth, of the choice facing around 160,000 Conservative party members. “Hardly any of us has a say.” Whoever wins the increasingly bad-tempered fight to succeed Boris Johnson in No 10 will be the third successive Tory leader to ascend to the highest office without the inconvenience of a general election. The party membership – older, whiter, more male and more rightwing than the nation at large – holds Britain in its thrall once again. The consequence, as Mr Sunak and Ms Truss seek to outflank each other on the right, is a contest marked by nostalgic posturing and a lamentable lack of seriousness in relation to key challenges. As both candidates seek to present themselves as the reincarnation of the party’s Thatcherite tradition, each has implausibly accused the other of unconservative leftwingery. Mr Sunak has alleged that Ms Truss’s commitment to massive and immediate tax cuts amounts to socialism. Ms Truss, in Monday’s debate, compared the former chancellor to Gordon Brown. Neither claim stands the remotest scrutiny. Mr Sunak is determined to prioritise inflation and deficit-cutting, even at the expense of living standards; Ms Truss promotes the discredited dogma that tax cuts, benefiting primarily the well-off, will automatically fuel growth. Both strategies belong to the same school of doctrinaire economic liberalism that devastated much of the country’s social fabric in the 1980s. (Damage that Ms Truss was opportunistically happy to recall on Monday, as she retold her improbable hard-luck backstory.) The inadequacy to the times of performative Thatcherism was laid bare by the vacuity of much of the BBC debate. The collective challenge of meeting net zero obligations – highlighted last week by the Cop26 president, Alok Sharma – was reduced to boasts about the Sunak family’s zeal for recycling and Ms Truss’s personal thriftiness. This week’s disturbing report from the House of Commons health and social care select committee, which reported “the greatest workforce crisis” in the NHS’s history, was not deemed worthy of attention. Meanwhile, Brexit features only as a contested badge of ideological purity, as Ms Truss seeks to erase the original sin of backing remain, and both candidates make meaningless pledges to unlock mythical benefits. The impression is of a governing party that after 12 years has reached a state of intellectual exhaustion, and aspirant leaders who have returned to default ideological settings. Ms Truss is combining this retro mood music with Brexity boosterism, and an insurgent style that targets Treasury orthodoxy alongside the old enemy in Brussels. Polls suggest that this may well be enough to make her prime minister, as Mr Sunak struggles to win over party members who resent his role in Mr Johnson’s fall. Appearing to aggressively hector his rival, as was the case on Monday night, will not help his cause. Faced with colossal challenges, Britain desperately needs strong, strategic and pragmatic government. But the country remains beholden to the psychodramas, repetitions and nostalgia of a Tory party running on empty. The only consolation for the rest of us is that this dismal private contest for No 10 will surely be the last of its kind before a general election. That cathartic moment cannot come soon enough. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com |