The leadership race has reignited the party’s capitalist spirit
The man most likely to be the next Prime Minister will this morning sit down with 25 leading City figures in a bid to mend relations with the business community.
Boris Johnson reportedly said “f**k business” when confronted with industry groups’ concerns over Brexit last year.
The remarks have hung around his neck ever since and have even been lifted as the title for a forthcoming book on the Tory party’s relationship with business by City lobbyist Iain Anderson.
While Johnson’s apparent ambivalence about a no-deal Brexit still spooks some in the Square Mile there is another, far greater fear that keeps most of the professional class awake at night: the threat of a Labour government.
The main reason so many Tory MPs are flocking to the Johnson camp despite being well aware of his failings is that they’ve seen the polling that implies the former mayor of London is their party’s best hope of defeating Jeremy Corbyn in an election.
Self-preservation is a powerful force. Johnson’s supposed winning credentials will be at the heart of his pitch to financiers this morning, but what of the other potential prime ministers?
Sajid Javid, tipped to serve as chancellor in a Johnson cabinet, is a former banker who has spoken often (including at a City A.M. Awards night) of his admiration for the City’s meritocracy and its role as the engine of the UK economy.
Jeremy Hunt never misses an opportunity to reflect on his background as an entrepreneur and the wild card candidate Rory Stewart told this newspaper that we should be less defensive about the City’s success as “it drives this country”.
Michael Gove, for his part, used an article in City A.M. on the day of the referendum to shower the Square Mile with praise and pledge that the City “will remain a world-beater” if the country voted to leave the EU.
All good stuff, and though Johnson is likely to emerge wearing the crown, this collective enthusiasm for business, markets and the role of the City stands in stark contrast to the intensely hostile approach of Corbyn, who has said that the City is right to fear him.
And fear him it does. The Tory leadership election is bringing out the capitalist spirit in the party and that’s something, at least, for which we should be thankful.