Other people’s ideas

Voters gave up on Tory ‘bickering’, says party leadership hopeful

Voters gave up on the Conservatives’ “bickering”, James Cleverly has said during his campaign to become the party’s leader.

The shadow home secretary, who first became a minister during Theresa May’s premiership, claimed as soon as his party had named a new prime minister, “there were people within the party who set about removing them”.

Asked about his past defence of former Conservative Party policies, the shadow home secretary said: “I have been a team player, which has meant I have had to promote other people’s ideas. I was happy to do so, it’s what you do as part of a team.”


Other people’s ideas eh? A pity they weren't conservative ideas or even common sense ideas, true ideas, insightful ideas, scientific ideas, ideas about integrity and veracity, pragmatic ideas about genuine problems such as a ridiculously excessive pandemic response, or knife crime, useless university courses, idiot academics, idiot media, the failings of state education and the NHS, our inability to complete major projects on time or within budget, or ideas about crumbling roads, the insanity of Net Zero or the crucial importance of free speech or even liberal ideas where 'liberal' is not a code word for illiberal. 

A pity they weren't ideas about resisting trends to describe anyone concerned about immigration,  excessive taxation, the iniquity of the BBC or anyone to the right of Stalin as "far right".