DAVID Davis says that another leadership contest would be disastrous for the Tories.
Appearing on GB News, the former Secretary of State for exiting the European Union, said: “The shock effect of that budget two weeks ago has rattled around the world really. It has rattled around the financial markets, both international currency markets and markets which have an impact on pensions. It rattled around politics and a lot of our colleagues are sitting in a shocked sense of terror on the prospects of getting re-elected.
“So, yesterday, frankly, it scorched the flow, in a sense, but it’s still a grim prospect for the Conservative party and the government. That being said, I think the removal of Kwasi Kwarteng was inevitable.
“He was very responsible for the loss of credibility two weeks ago, that’s what happened, it wasn’t the numbers in the market, it was the credibility of the program in the markets, and so I suspect she had no choice but to replace him.
“The replacement so far, today this morning, has shown to be very self-assured, and he’s clearly creating space for action by talking about cancelling the various cuts and talking about bringing spending under control. He’s certainly got off to a good start.”
Asked how much more Liz Truss and the “rest of us”can take, the MP told Philip Davis and Eshter McVey: “The whole thing comes down to delivering a steady hand. She’s going to have to give the new Chancellor a chance, and allow him to do what he wants to do to see whether it works. If you have to put odds on the survival of the Prime Minister, I would think they’re not very good. She’s got a pretty big job to recover the confidence she had a few months ago.”
“The thing that is on her side is that nobody really wants another leadership contest. It will make the party look stupid and it will be uncomfortable, and painful even. I don’t see the prospect of a so-called unity candidate being probable.”
