I am writing this a couple of hours after Rishi Sunak was announced as the new leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. While I had not backed Rishi in the first round of the Conservative Party leadership contest in July, I voted for him in the August ballot in his contest with Liz Truss and I was pleased to endorse him at the weekend.
Rishi Sunak has been marked as one of the parliamentary party’s best talents since he was elected in 2015, the successor to William Hague, one of the party’s key figures of the past 3 decades. During Covid – having only been Chancellor for a month before we went into the first lockdown – Rishi devised one of the most generous support packages of any country in the world.
On my visits during the pandemic, I would hear time and time again from people who said that the Furlough Scheme and grants programmes had saved their jobs and saved their businesses. Frequently, they’d start their tale by saying ‘I’m not a Conservative, but….’. Plenty of local people told me they wanted to see Rishi as Prime Minister in the future.
During the leadership campaign over the summer, we saw 2 seemingly opposing visions set out by Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. A big part of what meant the vast majority of Conservative MPs declared their support for Rishi in recent days is because what he set out then as the risks of not gripping inflation and cutting taxes too far, too fast, were shown to be prescient.
In reality, the visions were not opposites so much as one of timing and emphasis: Rishi would like more growth in the economy and lower taxes, but knew from his prior experience that attempting to cut taxes at this time was fraught with risk.
At the moment, the most pressing challenges we face here relate to the economy and the cost of living. Our new prime minister has extensive experience in the area of the economy and is best-placed to navigate us through them, which is a large part of the reason I backed him.
The other factors for me were wanting someone that I believe has integrity, ability and who shares my passion for education and ensuring that everyone, no matter their background, can fulfil their potential. I thought that Rishi Sunak was the best candidate on these criteria and believe he can now unite my party and provide the country with the leadership it needs.
P.S. young people across the constituency are taking part in work experience placements this week as part of my work experience campaign with local employers – huge thanks to all those organisations providing placements!
