Race To Replace Boris Johnson Is All Over Save for the Counting

At 5 o’clock tonight, it ended. The race to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader and prime minister is over. The ballots (paper and online) submitted by Conservative rank-and-file members will be counted at the week-end and the result announced Monday. Can you feel the excitement in the air?Probably not. Unless an upset occurs, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will be elected as the party’s new head. On Tuesday, the outgoing premier, Boris Johnson, will submit his resignation to Elizabeth II. Liz Truss will follow in his trail, and kiss hands with her sovereign — and, for the first time, on Scottish soil.That the queen will not preside over a change in ministry from the traditional backdrops of Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle may be the most original bit of script from this leadership race. (Score one for Liz. No, the “regnal” one.)Due to her ongoing health challenges, Elizabeth’s courtiers apparently cautioned that it would be better for the politicians to journey to Balmoral, where she vacations each summer, rather than have her make the 1,000 mile round trip. Maybe Ms. Truss could keep up on a hike looking for stags the way Prime Minister Thatcher failed to do in “The Crown.”One wonders if the sovereign will sport a tiara while wearing a summer frock, to make it all official. Her grandfather, George V, is rumored to have worn his crown when giving Royal Assent to legislation — even while wearing “casual” attire — so sacred did he regard the duty of “reigning.”This is not to make light of Her Majesty’s diminishing physical capacities, which would be a lapse of lèse-majesté. That Elizabeth’s ministers should make themselves available at her convenience makes all the common sense in the world. Nor should the naturalness of Scotland’s place within the United Kingdom be under-estimated, either.That the queen cannot be bothered to end her sojourn in Scotland early and return to the seat of government — to see off one first minister and sign in another — speaks nonetheless volumes about the nature of this hand-off of power. Ms. Truss is, after all, a continuity candidate. As was her challenger for the leadership, Rishi Sunak, the ex-chancellor.Despite their protests to the contrary. For Mr. Johnson signaled his departure in early July, just as there began to “hot up” some troubles. Such as, say, discontent about the rising cost of living. Or the ever-increasing, “oxymoronic” energy caps: Rising to £3,549 from £1,971 in October, and projected to rise to £5,386 in the new year.Had Bojo remained in harness, it is likely that he himself would have proposed cuts to the National Insurance and VAT taxes. Perhaps he, too, would have mulled a moratorium on the green energy levy. Only a pause, though, and not a pull-out. Mr. Johnson is insistent that his successor follow through on his carbon “net zero” plans and continue to invest in green energy.Never mind that these alternatives to traditional fossil fuels mean that poorer Britons will be forced to forgo turning on their heat this winter. That is, this leadership race can be likened to the calm before the storm. With Mr. Johnson taunting his Tory turncoats with a Louis XV-like snub, “Après moi, le déluge.” And leave it to BoJo to be oblivious to his own role in the flood.The new prime minister, whether Ms. Truss or someone else, will have little time to convince Britons that she (or he) and the Conservative government deserve to remain in power. A poll by Techne UK shows Labor leading with 42 percent of public support, with the Conservatives lollygagging a sobering 10 points behind.That’s the good news. The firm PeoplePolling gives Labor a 17-point lead over the Tories, 42 percent to 25 percent. Although by convention the Conservatives have more than a full year remaining in their mandate, public pressure for a general election will become irresistible absent indisputable indications that improved ideas are imminent.Imagine the tumult were the writs to be dropped and the United Kingdom plunged into another nationwide election in less than three years. In the midst of rising inflation and energy shortages — with Scottish independence and the Northern Ireland Protocol weighing-in. Not to mention Ukraine. All of which, upon reflection, reminds us that Her Majesty is no dummy. It suddenly looks wise for Elizabeth to stay in Scotland and wait for her government to come to her. Who says the queen doesn’t know what she’s about? She may have an anxious autumn ahead.BrexitDiarist@gmail.com

Race To Replace Boris Johnson Is All Over Save for the Counting

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