Contrary to common belief, politics is a team sport. Leaders, cabinet members and MPs are all mainly there because of the party they represent and the voters who choose them. Individual flair and charisma are important, but ultimately, it’s the party badge that brings politicians into power.
In a parliamentary system, the need to work with colleagues and bring them along with you is paramount. It is also important that Members of Parliament and ministers support the leader.
Getting rid of the leader is easy enough in the Conservative Party, but the question of who should replace the leader is always more difficult. Contests have often led to worse outcomes and leaders emerging than the previous incumbent. The old adage, “Be careful what you wish for”, applies aptly to the Tory party when it is in regicidal mode.
Today, Kemi Badenoch is clearly in a tight spot. After 14 years in government, the party she leads is trying to recover from it worst defeat in its history.
At a time when the Tories need to be united, I am sad to see my old friend Robert Jenrick go on scarcely disguised leadership manoeuvres. Robert will deny doing this, of course. “Nothing could be further from my mind,” he will say. Yet we all know the signs of relentless, ever-aspiring ambition.
I remember Boris Johnson was very much the same in the period between 2012, the year of the London Olympics, and 2016 when the Brexit vote happened. This all happened when David Cameron was Prime Minister. After Cameron left, Boris then resumed his role of the man who thought he would eventually be King, under Theresa May. He was always agitating or, more relevantly, he was perceived to be constantly agitating for the top job.
There is nothing wrong with ambition. All politicians, to some degree, have it. The problem arises when that ambition becomes all-consuming, overpowering the sense of camaraderie and team spirit, which is a necessary ingredient of success for any political party.
Jenrick entered parliament in 2014. He was sleek, disciplined and polished, very much the Cameron-era poster child for modern Conservatism.
He has been on a journey, as they say, since then. He now has been recorded insinuating that he is not against a pact with Reform UK, saying he would “bring this coalition together… one way or another”. The implication is, of course, that he is the man to achieve that happy outcome.
square KWASI KWARTENG
I know Nigel Farage - he's no friend to the Tories
Read MoreThe major problem with all that is that the Tories already have a leader in the form of Badenoch, who, lest we forget, defeated the very same Jenrick in a leadership contest less than six months ago.
Jenrick, at first, seemed to accept his defeat graciously. Unlike a number of other contestants in the leadership race, he accepted a position in Badenoch’s shadow Cabinet. He would be a team player, after all, it seemed.
What happened? The threat from Reform and the fact that this new insurgent party is consistently outpolling the Conservatives is creating an air of increasing panic on the Tory benches.
The cry is that Kemi “must do something”. Nobody is quite sure what the “thing” is that needs to be done.
Modern politics is notoriously fickle and impatient. Success must be immediate, or the leader must go. I remember the media and large parts of the Labour Party baying for Sir Keir Starmer’s blood after the Hartlepool by-election loss in 2021.
He stuck it out, survived and led Labour to a crushing victory which seemed a lot more solid nine months ago than it seems today.
Badenoch has been in post for not even six months, but the demand for instant success is still insistent. She must attack the Government effectively, reorganise the party, and face down Farage all at the same time.
In this almost impossible context, her critics are inevitably sharpening their knives. For many of them, Jenrick is the “coming man”. Naturally, the man himself does nothing to disabuse them of this very convenient idea.
I’d say to Robert: “Don’t do this! Please be a team player, as I know your inclination lies in that direction. Your ambition is best served by loyalty. Above all, don’t be a Boris!”
Kwasi Kwarteng is a former Conservative MP. He served as chancellor between September and October 2022 under Liz Truss.
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