‘Help Wanted’: A Leader To Win Brexit
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Pity the Conservative members of Parliament. This month their party was decimated at local and European elections. Now Prime Minister May announces her intention to resign in early June. Tory MPs will soon be leaderless. The awesome responsibility falls to them (and party members) to choose not only a new head but premier — and while Britain’s independence hangs in the balance.
Harried Tories have little time to reflect on the necessary qualifications for such high office. They are swept up in continuing contumely, from politicians and people alike — including their Conservative colleagues. What’s a troubled Tory to do? I am reminded of the Committee for the Responsible Election of the Pope that, in August 1978 at the death of Paul VI, issued a press release in aid of cardinals about to elect the next pontiff.
To begin, Brexit has to be the next leader’s priority. There’s no shirking. Any candidate who downplays the importance of British independence from the EU doesn’t deserve to reach the starting gate. So the Conservative party must work with Nigel Farage and his nascent Brexit party. Let none dismiss cooperating with Mr. Farage, either out of pique or party loyalty.
Amity afforded Mr. Farage does not extend unguarded to Brussels. EU officials assert Mrs. May’s Withdrawal Agreement is the only plan on the table. So be it. Let them come, cap in hand, if they wish. A good deal is better than a bad deal; no deal — that is, Brexit on the basis of the World Trade Organization — is not only better than a bad deal but arguably better than a “good” deal made under duress.
Nor is Brexit a “one-trick pony.” It may have begun with the simple task of an EU exit and “taking back control.” Blowback from opponents, whose cronyism is now under threat, is conspicuous confirmation Brexiteers have hit a nerve. So the next Conservative leader must ensure the Brexit agenda rises to a national project.
Westminster itself needs reform. Let ending regulatory complexity — plus interventionism and inflation — not be restricted to Brussels alone. Limited government and sound money are sure remedies prescribed by the Brexit ethos. Let us break the grip Margaret Thatcher warned of when she said Britain was “no longer in the politics of the pendulum, but of the ratchet.”
My last piece of advice for the Conservative party in choosing its next leader is to be charitable. Brexit missteps should not rule out potential candidates who, fearing a worse deal or no deal at all, wavered and voted for Mrs. May’s Withdrawal plan when it last appeared in Parliament. I speak principally of Boris Johnson.
No one is more disappointed by Mr. Johnson’s stumble than I am. It was Mrs. May’s Chequers plan that foreshadowed her eventual submission to Brussels. It was a perfidious document that incited him to resign as Foreign Secretary. It was wrong for him to waver. Yet no one better lights up the rank-and-file for Brexit.
The Euro-vote this week discloses that Britons continue to be deadlocked on the Brexit question. Tallying the combined votes for all parties, Leave and Remain camps each received about 40% public support. So to succeed, the next Conservative leader must energize the Brexit cause by lighting up what Bojo called the “sunny uplands” of independence.
Opponents of an independent — a free — Britain use fear to persuade Britons they cannot go it alone. Champions of British freedom must awaken the “can-do” spirit and dispel myths that only in Europe can Britain survive. The world beckons Britain. Brexit is but the first step.