PoliticsUK

The Tories have a new leader, their youngest since William Pitt the Younger. Will he bring about a change in direction for the Tories, or will he suffer the same fate as Cowboy Croft?

The truth is, very little will change.

William Croft was never really in charge. Sir Nicholas Mounstuart was.

He is responsible for the Conservatives’ disastrous Shadow Budget and his incompetence played a role in it: whether it’s the broken tuition fees promise, the broken flood defence promise or the Conservatives irresponsibly wasting the surplus, many of the Tories’ recent faults lie at his hands.

Worse still, while William Croft was beholden to the fringe right in his party, Sir Nicholas Mounstuart is enamoured by them.

I feel that the challenge for the Conservative Party nowadays is to find a way to claw some relevance back to ordinary people. I've focused my efforts throughout my time in politics on showing how liberalism can work in practise - by working hard locally, by proving we can win, and by getting things done for my constituents. New Labour's shiny media effort to rebrand after losses under Foot and Kinnock too, though I begrudgingly admit it, is an example of reforming a party. And yet, I cannot see a shift in attitudes within the Conservatives happening here, a shift that the Croft leadership's chaos showed the party is in dire need of. To be blunt, let's be totally frank here - does anyone really believe that the 16th Baronet Mountstuart is going to modernise the Tories and change their elitist image?

Out with the old, in with the new, except the new really isn't anything to write home about when it comes to the Tory Party's internal wrangling. Less than half a year after being almost unanimously approved in a second leadership vote Calamity Croft has been replaced by the man who wrote his disastrous Shadow Budget. This isn't a new party, it isn't even a new coat of paint, it's the same agenda except now rather than having a leader beholden to the hard right we have a leader embracing the hard right. The Conservative Party have had so many u-turns in the past six months one can hardly be surprised that they u-turned on their leader as well, but that doesn't make things any easier for students, rural communities, areas at risk of flooding and all the other communities betrayed by this Conservative Party in the last half year.

I wish Sir Nicholas the very best, but we should be clear that this is not new leadership. For months, Sir Nicholas has boasted about his control over economic policy within the Conservative party so their disastrous budget must be laid directly at his feet - so I wonder who truly was in charge of the Conservative party over the last six months. I have no doubt that this "new" leader will attempt to distance himself from the failed leadership of William Croft but let us all remember that Sir Nicholas was in lock step with William Croft and has now appointed him to a frontbench role. What I do know is that while the Conservatives continue to navel-gaze, this Labour Government is continuing to work for the British people.

I am very pleased to hear that Sir Nicholas is now leader of the Conservative Party, and he will, of course, be the next Prime Minister as I am fully confident that he will lead us into Government. With Sir Nicholas we will fight for what is right for this nation, and we will win.

I don't see how the Conservatives can expect or provide a change in direction; we've seen clearly the results of Sir Nicholas' ideas in the form of a shadow budget whose only defense was "lower taxes" while leaving out any sort of support for workers and their families. At least with someone like William Croft we had a party with something approaching principles when it came to be compassionate and supporting basic rights. But William Croft wasn't the problem with the Tories, it was folks like Sir Nicholas.

We know the path the Tories will take under Sir Nicholas. Underfunded social services, cuts to programs like the New Deal that invest in workers and our communities, and support to workers and families cut off. The policy proposals we've already seen are what we should expect from the Conservatives, and it's the sort of policies that this country can ill afford. And what the Conservatives have sowed by giving power to folks like Sir Nicholas, who believe in wealth as an end and anyone who doesn't have it isn't worth their time, they will no doubt reap as they see fewer people supporting proposals that will only make people worse off.

If the Tories want to move on from the Croft leadership, selecting his right-hand man isn't the way to do it. The 16th Baronet Mountstuart is just not the sort of leader the Tories need if they want to win a broad coalition of voters and provide some serious opposition to Labour. The Conservatives appear to be wholeheartedly embracing an agenda which just doesn't appeal to ordinary people, and this leadership will not change that fact. Be under no illusion, this is a new coat of paint on the same old Conservative Party.

The Conservatives have been failing and flailing about as a man about for months. Under Croft they did not have a plan nor did they have policy. It was a mess of “throw to the wall and see what sticks” and it hasn’t worked. Just look at the polling. They’re going backwards not forwards. I wasn’t surprised to see Croft go.

But you don’t replace Croft with Diet Croft and get a different result. You don’t put the kiddies in charge of the house and expect things to go well. So why they have adopted a policy of full steam ahead is lost on me.

I am delighted that my exceptional colleague, running mate and great friend Sir Nicky Mounstuart has been elected unopposed as leader of the Conservative Party, and our candidate to be the next Prime Minister. I know that he, like me, holds the Unionist in Conservative and Unionist Party to heart, and that he recognises that for the Conservatives to win the next election, we must unite all corners of the union that makes up this country to win the next election. And, with the new team we have assembled, I am confident that we will be able to do so.

Whilst none of us in the political sphere should be beyond criticism, I do feel that some of the criticism directed at our new leader has been nasty and dishonest. In particular, I consider the jibes from the faux-class warriors in the Liberal Democrats. Whilst he may be a baronet, it is necessary to remember that the only reason he has this title is because of the tragic death of his father only a few weeks ago. And yet Alex Cardigan, the son of a peer who moralises from his vineyard in the South of France, decides to attack Sir Nicky for the death of his father. It's abhorrent, hypocritical and wrong: and if Alex Cardigan had any decency he would apologise for it.