The Tory leadership contest hasn’t formally begun but the shadow-boxing has been uninspiring. Brexit positioning dominates, leavened with a bit of backstory and personal colour: Dominic Raab’s kitchen, Michael Gove’s parental home in Aberdeen, Liz Truss’s Instagram account, Jeremy Hunt’s wife. And Boris Johnson keeping quiet, for some reason.
To be fair, Rory Stewart’s simple honesty — he fancies the job and reckons he’d be good at it: why can’t the rest speak so plainly? – has been cheering, but it’s not yet clear if he’s really a serious candidate.
On the whole, we’ve heard grimly little from the folk in the running about what they would actually do with the job.
Now, as a full-time policy nerd, I’m obviously biased, but I do think that anyone who aspires to be PM needs to have an agenda beyond shouting ‘I love the precious Brexit’ to the tune of Hope and Glory.
Which is why I came away from a recent encounter with Matt Hancock feeling surprisingly upbeat.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in