Voters are very good at looking for what they want to know – what candidates want to do and what kind of people they are. Their methods of doing this can be rather haphazard, but the results are usually good. I can’t think of a general election since (and including) 1945 when the ensuing victory, defeat or stalemate was not worth it. In 1979, Mrs Thatcher deserved to win convincingly. So did Tony Blair in 1997. In 2010, Labor deserved to lose, but the Tories didn’t deserve outright victory – hence the coalition. Serious problems only arise when there is no competition. In 2007, Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as leader and prime minister without proper opposition. The same thing happened when Theresa May succeeded David Cameron in 2016. No one looked at their electability. Consequently, both fell foul of the eventual general elections their respective parties led. After Boris, winnowing works well. Some memorable candidates have already been forgotten, one (Rehman Chishti) without getting a single vote. Poor Jeremy Hunt looked a bit like a figure from the past and retired, slightly hurt. Suella Braverman’s honorable effort never stood on the ground. The voting rounds, combined with the various chats and discussions, did their job. Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat rightly won by taking advantage of their challenger status, improving their personal position and clarifying the issues. Instead, the two cabinet front-runners, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, came under pressure for which – as often happens with front-runners – they were not quite ready. But by yesterday morning, both had proved they could answer. Indeed, their way of doing it – attacking each other – was enlightening. This brought to light real differences of opinion on economic policy, expressed frankly. And when Mr Sunak took the risk of getting too personal – asking Ms Truss a question about being a Remainer and a Liberal Democrat – he scored by reminding voters of things they won’t like about her. but she scored higher by returning with a strong response about what she had learned from her political journey. This is as it should be. Both pioneers are probably better politicians as a result of such conflicts. The only contestants who are suspect are those who refuse to deal with the issues the battle creates. Please tell us what you really think, Penny Mordaunt.
A questioning audience
A footnote, however, about audience selection for televised debates. Channel 4’s effort, the first, promised an audience of “floating voters”. I wonder how these were chosen. Not a single question indicated any possibility that the person asking it might be moving in a conservative direction. One – a purple-haired woman who was a manager – pointed out how bad things had been “in the last 12 years and especially the last seven”. Apparently he chose these dates because it marks 12 years since a Conservative prime minister (Mr Cameron) returned to office and seven years since the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition was replaced by a Tory government with an overall majority. Only a politically committed person would be so deliberate as to cherry-pick these details. If this head is a floating voter, I’ll eat my hat (except I need it in the current heat).
President Boris?
As Boris Johnson considers his future career, a friend reminds me that Boris was born in New York. He argues that he could therefore become president of the United States. According to the US Constitution which has not changed in this respect since its inception in 1789, anyone can be president as long as they are a “natural born citizen” of this country, are over 35 years of age, and have resided for 14 years . So Boris definitely meets the birth and age requirements. He was a dual UK/US citizen. However, in 2016, perhaps in pursuit of his British political career, he renounced his US citizenship. It is said that, once renounced, American citizenship cannot be regained. But does that mean a former citizen can’t apply for US citizenship the way all other non-US citizens do – get their green card, etc.? It doesn’t seem completely impossible. With his uncanny ability to get what he wants, Boris could certainly find a way around it. It is true that Boris has nowhere near the 14 years of residency required, having managed only a few months when he was a baby and then about three years when his father was working in Washington and New York from 1966 to 1969. So he has more than 10 years to make up. But it’s doable, you might just become an American TV star in the process. Boris could thus become a full US citizen before the age of 70 (he is 58 today), which would make him younger than either Donald Trump or Joe Biden when they first took office. He could then be able to deny future Democratic president Meghan Markle a second term.
