This very un-British coup will fail
4 min read
Former 1922 Committee Secretary Mark Pritchard MP writes that: "The Prime Minister has the support of the majority of Conservative MPs and will continue to lead the Conservative Parliamentary Party and the country".
Ambition is to be expected in politics. But vaulting ambition is not only frowned upon, but rightly viewed as unseemly and even un-British.
Plots are also nothing new. Plots are a constant in politics - it is just a matter of whether a plot is in the top draw or the bottom draw. Plots come and go - some are serious, some - are not. But successful plots are always timed with impeccable manners.
But there is an unwritten code with all political plots, especially in the Conservative Party, that is, if any MP, ex-Cabinet Minister or serving Cabinet Minister, is going to engage in a plot, they must do so - covertly.
Indeed, overt plots are as un-British as vaulting ambition. There is no doubt, Old Etonians are particularly adept at assassinating their political foes: always with a smile, with courtesy, and with great flattery. They are proven experts in wielding their silver-gilt knives, cutting through their political opponents spleens, like a knife through warm butter. Without even a raised eyebrow.
The current plot against Theresa May will fail. Fail, because the main protagonists are unconventional, precipitous, and just far too keen. There is still a lot to be said in the Conservative Parliamentary Party for trying to do a bad thing in the right way, rather than doing a bad thing in a bad way. If someone aspires to lead Britain they could at least go about their in-virtuous deeds in a very British way.
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey was a ambitious man. Feted by some, and certainly himself, as a future President of the United States of America. So much so, that he underwent gastric band surgery to make himself look more figurine in the eyes of the American people. Today, Chris Christie holds no official government position, he is an ex this - and an ex that. He is no longer Governor - and he will never become President of the United States. He had an Olympian sized ego. That was his achilles heel. With a little more strategic patience and tactical nous, Christie could have become a two term, reforming, and celebrated President. Instead, vanity was his ruin.
For in politics, especially British politics, vanity must never be admitted. Like ambition and plots, political vanity can be seen but never heard. Self deprecation not self adulation is the British way of doing politics.Humility not hubris.
So the central plot at last week's Conservative Party Conference will fail. Not because of ambition, not even because of the hapless plot itself, or even because of vanity, but because all three manifestations became grotesquely overt.
Those who want to try and topple the Prime Minister should do so in the way set down in clear procedural rules. This means that 15% of Conservative MPs need to write to Graham Brady the Chairman of the 1922 Committee saying they no longer have confidence in the Prime Minister. Forty eight MPs need to put pen to paper, setting out they would like to see a new leader.
Instead, those plotting against the Prime Minister attempted to circumvent these rules by mustering the names of thirty dissenting MPs and then marching on Downing Street – death warrant in hand. That was their strategic mistake. For these outside the rules machinations revealed a glaring weakness at the very heart of their wicked plot - they just didn't have the numbers they had spun. The march on Downing Street was aborted. The Prime Minister would live on to fight another day.
There is a cardinal rule in politics, if you are going to try and take down your political opponent by drawing your weapon, unleashing your political assassins, you must strike with precise and deadly effect. There is no room for error. Non-fatal blows can unleash on assassins the very thing these same liquidators try to heap on their opponent's heads.The cost of failed political executions can be very high indeed.
It is also indecent to suggest the Prime Minister is too unwell to carry on. That her health is giving up, that she is frail. The hounding of someone wrongly deemed as weak and vulnerable is supremely un-British. The truth is, the Prime Minister has got more political balls than most male MPs. She is tenacious, a fighter, not a quitter, someone shaped in the real word not in an avatar world of self illusion.
The Prime Minister has the support of the majority of Conservative MPs and will continue to lead the Conservative Parliamentary Party and the country.
Mark Pritchard is the Conservative MP for The Wrekin. He is a former Secretary of the 1922 Committee
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