Shut up, Boris Johnson, and it’s win-win situation for you AND Britain
RISHI SUNAK has put Boris Johnson’s diehard supporters on notice that they hold the fate of the Tory Party in their hands.
His “unite or die” warning to MPs came as the new Prime Minister admitted trust in the Conservatives had been shattered by the bloodbath in Downing Street.
And with the Tories tanking in the polls he made it clear time was running out to clean up the mess.
“I have work to do to restore trust after all that has happened,” he said in a statement outside No 10.
The key battlefield will be the economy, now threatened with recession.
“The country is facing a profound economic crisis,” he said.
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For Boris Johnson fans, loyalty to the man who knifed their hero will be a tough call.
But Boris himself yesterday led calls to support the new PM in a tweet.
So did his greatest Cabinet ally, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who resigned yesterday while still a member of the blink-and-you-missed-it Truss administration.
“We need to rally behind Rishi as PM and I have promised him I will do so,” said Mr Rees-Mogg. This is a key endorsement from the leader of BoJo’s Praetorian Guard.
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Recent events have not cast the former PM in a flattering light.
Last week he ignored well-meant advice from close friends to sit out this leadership contest and keep his powder dry for another day.
Rather than accept defeat, he then vowed to go over the heads of elected MPs and appeal to party members.
He marched his troops into battle late on Sunday, claiming he had the numbers to win, and then to their dismay waved the white flag.
Some will not easily forgive him for making them feel foolish.
Others fear he has destroyed all hope of a return to No 10.
Rishi made his view clear in his punchy, almost defiant first speech as PM: “I will always be grateful to Boris Johnson for his incredible achievements as Prime Minister, and I treasure his warmth and generosity of spirit.”
But he added: “I know he would agree that the mandate my party earned in 2019 is not the sole property of any one individual, it is a mandate that belongs to, and unites, all of us.”
It was the first time a senior Conservative has dared challenge the assumption that victory in the last election belonged solely to Boris Johnson.
BoJo may be a vote magnet. But most Brits wanted Brexit whoever was PM.
Nor were they prepared to vote to put loony leftie Jeremy Corbyn in No 10.
For all the recent shambles, the Tories can win again.
The new PM showed steel with his first Cabinet, criticising Liz Truss for “mistakes which will have to be put right”.
“I have work to do to restore trust after all that has happened,” he said.
Britain’s best interest
There was also ruthlessness as Sunak assembled his first Cabinet. He put upstart Penny Mordaunt back in her place as Commons leader, not the Foreign Secretary role she craved.
Controversial right-winger Suella Braverman returns as Home Secretary to crack down on illegal migration.
Jeremy Hunt remains as Chancellor but Rishi will wield the real power as First Lord of the Treasury.
But most are familiar faces, with Ben Wallace at Defence and Dominic Raab as deputy PM.
But it was all window dressing compared with the economic crisis which will decide this government’s fate.
Labour may be miles ahead in the polls but they have no economic policy.
That will be tested today when the new PM makes his Commons debut against Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
There was early encouragement from the money markets which will decide his fate.
Mortgages stopped rising along with interest repayments on Britain’s £2.5trillion national debt — equal to the entire defence budget.
The Pound strengthened, making imports cheaper and curbing shop prices.
This was a personal endorsement of a new PM who has the confidence of global investors.
Now Boris Johnson and his allies must decide what is in their — and Britain’s — best interest. Fortunately the two coincide.
The ex-PM needs to pipe down, earn some money and speak only to praise Rishi Sunak as he steers Britain off the rocks.
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He will then be in a position to campaign in the 2024 elections as the man who nobly put the nation ahead of self interest.
It may go against nature. But it is BoJo’s best chance of returning one day as Prime Minister.