Is there something in the Westminster air? This morning the Times reports that Claire Perry O’Neill– the Conservative MP for Devizes from 2010 to 2019 – has quit the party and lavished praise on Sir Keir Starmer.
In an article she praised the Labour leader’s ‘sober, fact-driven, competent political leadership’ and warned that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have become too beholden to inter-party factions to ‘deliver the big changes we need in a fact-based, competent way.’
Just a straw in the wind? Or a sign of something more significant? Perry O’Neill was once considered something of a rising star in that great Tory vintage of 2010. Widely seen as being on the left of the party, she nevertheless obtained ministerial office under both David Cameron and Theresa May, having backed Remain in 2016.
More significantly, perhaps, she was also considered a member of the ‘Osbornite’ wing of the party; those MPs were close to then Chancellor personally, temperamentally and ideologically during his tenure at the Treasury between 2010 to 2016.
Members of this clan included Perry O’Neill, Nicky Morgan, Sajid Javid, Matt Hancock, Gavin Barwell and Amber Rudd. Javid and Hancock are now both quitting at the next election while Barwell and Rudd have both expressed public warnings about the current direction of their party. And let’s not forget that Osborne himself has spoken warmly of Starmer’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, offering her advice and praising her in a glowing Times profile as ‘clearly intelligent and serious… more than capable of governing the country.’
While it may be too early to talk of an ‘Osbornites for Starmer’ campaign, it’s clear that Labour are impressing their onetime opponents with a relentless focus on fiscal credibility. It’s a portent too of a likely political ‘sea change’, to use Jim Callaghan’s famous phrase. As Oliver Kamm notes, the same trend happened during the fag end of the Major years, when moderate Tory MPs like Alan Howarth and former MPs like Tony Nelson backed Tony Blair ahead of the 1997 election.
Rishi Sunak will just be hoping that Starmer doesn’t secure a landslide to rival that result…
Not a good thing considering Osborne and his history of austerity. They’re not growing a soul, Labour has just moved right enough to appeal to them.
If anyone can save the corporations and uber-wealthy, it’s Sir Keir.
> the ‘Osbornite’ wing of the party; those MPs were close to then Chancellor personally, temperamentally and ideologically during his tenure at the Treasury between 2010 to 2016.
> Members of this clan included Perry O’Neill, Nicky Morgan, Sajid Javid, Matt Hancock, Gavin Barwell and Amber Rudd.
If I woke up one day to see that these were the sort of people who agreed with me, I’d have to have a long word with myself.
I’m sure Osborne had a great time in 2010-2016, visibly coked off his face on the frontbenches, but so much of what’s gone wrong and is still going wrong in Britain today can be traced back to the pointless austerity that Cameron and Osborne used to utterly derail our recovery from the 2008 GFC.
No Labour party worth having in power should have any economic policy in common with these ghouls.
This is the logical next step in the Tory civil war: revenge of the losers. I guess it’s a good news for the UK as the current Tory party is simply toxic.
I commented the other day that Starmer was starting to sound like Osborne, no surprise I got voted down. Imagine my sense of smug satisfaction reading this today.
6 comments
Is there something in the Westminster air? This morning the Times reports that Claire Perry O’Neill– the Conservative MP for Devizes from 2010 to 2019 – has quit the party and lavished praise on Sir Keir Starmer.
In an article she praised the Labour leader’s ‘sober, fact-driven, competent political leadership’ and warned that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have become too beholden to inter-party factions to ‘deliver the big changes we need in a fact-based, competent way.’
Just a straw in the wind? Or a sign of something more significant? Perry O’Neill was once considered something of a rising star in that great Tory vintage of 2010. Widely seen as being on the left of the party, she nevertheless obtained ministerial office under both David Cameron and Theresa May, having backed Remain in 2016.
More significantly, perhaps, she was also considered a member of the ‘Osbornite’ wing of the party; those MPs were close to then Chancellor personally, temperamentally and ideologically during his tenure at the Treasury between 2010 to 2016.
Members of this clan included Perry O’Neill, Nicky Morgan, Sajid Javid, Matt Hancock, Gavin Barwell and Amber Rudd. Javid and Hancock are now both quitting at the next election while Barwell and Rudd have both expressed public warnings about the current direction of their party. And let’s not forget that Osborne himself has spoken warmly of Starmer’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, offering her advice and praising her in a glowing Times profile as ‘clearly intelligent and serious… more than capable of governing the country.’
While it may be too early to talk of an ‘Osbornites for Starmer’ campaign, it’s clear that Labour are impressing their onetime opponents with a relentless focus on fiscal credibility. It’s a portent too of a likely political ‘sea change’, to use Jim Callaghan’s famous phrase. As Oliver Kamm notes, the same trend happened during the fag end of the Major years, when moderate Tory MPs like Alan Howarth and former MPs like Tony Nelson backed Tony Blair ahead of the 1997 election.
Rishi Sunak will just be hoping that Starmer doesn’t secure a landslide to rival that result…
Not a good thing considering Osborne and his history of austerity. They’re not growing a soul, Labour has just moved right enough to appeal to them.
If anyone can save the corporations and uber-wealthy, it’s Sir Keir.
> the ‘Osbornite’ wing of the party; those MPs were close to then Chancellor personally, temperamentally and ideologically during his tenure at the Treasury between 2010 to 2016.
> Members of this clan included Perry O’Neill, Nicky Morgan, Sajid Javid, Matt Hancock, Gavin Barwell and Amber Rudd.
If I woke up one day to see that these were the sort of people who agreed with me, I’d have to have a long word with myself.
I’m sure Osborne had a great time in 2010-2016, visibly coked off his face on the frontbenches, but so much of what’s gone wrong and is still going wrong in Britain today can be traced back to the pointless austerity that Cameron and Osborne used to utterly derail our recovery from the 2008 GFC.
No Labour party worth having in power should have any economic policy in common with these ghouls.
This is the logical next step in the Tory civil war: revenge of the losers. I guess it’s a good news for the UK as the current Tory party is simply toxic.
I commented the other day that Starmer was starting to sound like Osborne, no surprise I got voted down. Imagine my sense of smug satisfaction reading this today.