Reaction to Sunak's PM appointment is mixed in Stratford, while Nadhim Zahawi comes in for criticism
The recent political machinations at Westminster have received a mixed response from those in the Stratford District this week.
Most notable perhaps was disbelief that Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi had managed to remain in cabinet despite many insiders predicting that the backbench beckoned.
Mr Zahawi was named on Tuesday as the Conservative Party’s new chairman as well as Minister Without Portfolio. The new role, his fourth this year, came as part of a ministerial reshuffle by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
After he declared his support for Boris Johnson’s second bid for the PM job, he faced ridicule this week after Johnson suddenly pull out without apparently telling his friend. A mere minutes after his withdrawal an article appeared on the Daily Telegraph website written by Mr Zahawi with the strapline “get ready for Boris 2.0, the man who will make Tories and Britain great again”.
This led to the Stratford MP making a hasty backtrack to lend his support to leadership frontrunner Sunak, a move that gained a lot of flak.
A Stratford member of the Conservative Party, who wished to remain anonymous, thought that Mr Zahawi had not come out well from the whole debacle.
He said: “Nadhim completely humiliated himself and revealed his true colours to the party and the wider world. He has been widely ridiculed on social media and rightly so. He used Boris’s problems to get the job as chancellor, then stabbed him in the back. Now he has backed Boris again to the extent of embarrassingly publishing a Telegraph article backing him just minutes before he withdrew. It then took Nadhim all of 10 minutes to spin on a sixpence and go against everything he had previously said to back Rishi.”
He continued: “It’s embarrassing and he has lost all credibility as a result. He has a lot of trust to rebuild locally and it would be good to see him focus on that (and not some third-party company directorships) for a while. I’m not holding my breath however.”
The news of Sunak’s appointment was also not greeted with much joy by the insider either, they said: “He will stabilise the markets in the short term, but ultimately his high tax policies will keep the economy growing at a snail’s pace. From a Conservative point of view, him being appointed without a members vote is a disaster. His policies have already been clearly rejected by the membership and his coronation is a slap in the face for them and in my view will inevitably result in a huge divide within the party.”
Looking to they future, they added: “It is also practically impossible to see Rishi winning an election either. His personal wealth, his tax problems, and his green card all count against him on the doorstep, especially in light of a cost-of-living crisis which will leave many people struggling.
“Grassroots Tories who knock on doors regularly know this. Sadly our MPs in Westminster seem oblivious. Ultimately, I suspect it will cost many of them their jobs.”
Taking a different viewpoint was leader of the Stratford Young Conservatives India Tibbs, 24. While acknowledging the challenges, she thought Sunak would “reunite the fractured party”.
She told the Herald: “Sunak has a vision and the experience to deliver for this country. He is a positive light to bring us out of this financial crisis, reignite economic growth and stability, restore the reassurance that he is finally a reliable political figure head that the general public can believe in and of course win the next general election.”
Other political parties locally spoke of their despair at Sunak’s appointment.
Dr Manuela Perteghella, the Liberal Democrats’ prospective parliamentary candidate, said: “Rishi Sunak was himself rejected by Conservative Party members only a few weeks ago during the recent leadership contest.
“The British people are getting poorer, and they are demanding not just a change of prime minister, but a change in government through a general election.”
Cat Price, Chair of Stratford Labour Party also called for an election. She said: “With Sunak appointed as Conservative leader and the revolving door in Downing Street turns for the third prime minister in four months – we have Conservative chaos impacting the economy, they’ve tanked the pound, inflation has risen through the roof, a cost-of-living crisis on food, energy bills and mortgages. The public have lost confidence in this government, whoever their leader, to make the right choices for this country, so we need a election now to give the public their say.”
