The one thing made clear in the Tory leadership debate is that Rory Stewart has no real plan for anything
THE latest shambolic Tory leadership debate generated far more heat than light.
Almost all five candidates left in the race are determined to deliver Brexit on or around October 31. Great. Almost all want to cut taxes — currently at their highest level in 50 years. Great.
We say “almost all”. Because Rory Stewart’s “plan” for Brexit is to bring back Theresa May’s deal, defeated three times, for a FOURTH vote. Why?
He had the nerve to sneer at others for being unrealistic — then produced the most unrealistic solution of the lot.
Nor would Rory cut our sky-high taxes. Because, he says, public services need the cash. OK. But lowering taxes creates jobs, stimulates growth and generates income for those public services.
The one thing clear above all the shouting generated by the BBC’s farcical format was this: Rory’s popularity may be increasing with Remainer MPs. But he has no real plan for anything.
Nor any ambition beyond continuing whatever it was Mrs May was doing.
NONE THE WISER
Quite how he thinks he would win back the 26 per cent of voters currently backing the Brexit Party — many of them former Tories — is anyone’s guess.
His rivals did fine. Boris Johnson did not excel nor implode. No one laid a glove on him. But he didn’t answer the crucial question either:
How will he get Brexit over the line on October 31 if Parliament blocks No Deal and the EU refuses to fix the backstop?
We’re still none the wiser.
Hamm's off
PHILIP Hammond’s threat to quit over Mrs May’s farewell spending spree is not quite the terrifying ultimatum he imagines.
Street parties would celebrate the departure of the Chancellor who crippled our Brexit negotiating position by failing to fund No Deal preparations.
Had Hammond walked the plank two years ago, we might be in a different place. He’s likely to be out on his ear anyway the moment a new PM takes over.
That’s not to say he’s wrong. Mrs May’s attempt to raid our £27billion No Deal emergency fund for her “legacy” projects is reckless, ill-judged and too late.
She will be remembered solely for her failures. It’s sad, but there it is.
No defence
IT is not too late for Fifa to strip Qatar of the 2022 World Cup.
Handing it to an insanely hot desert state with zero interest in football and a history of corruption and human rights abuses was always blatantly dodgy.
France legend Michel Platini, who intended to vote for the US before a sudden, mysterious switch to the Qataris, was quizzed by cops yesterday.
Fifa should now pull the plug on this tournament. It is still three years away.
We have the stadiums, the expertise and the fans. Hand it to Britain instead.
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