The conservative party leadership contest is well underway and these elections have huge potential for policy change, not only in Britain but also across the world. Listen to William’s latest podcast to find out more about the five remaining contenders and what their leadership could mean for the future of Britain’s foreign policy.

Transcript:

Well here we are, mid July. Wow, what a business. The joke of the Tory party choosing a successor for Boris, beautiful Boris Johnson, our beloved leader in Britain. Disturbing, wouldn’t you say that these people we are choosing from become the next prime minister of Britain. I was very keen on Nadhim Zahawi but he’s out of the running. He was a good guy I felt, our current chancellor, Kurdish boy. Let’s talk about the Middle East and International Affairs credibility of the front runners. I’m grateful to our researchers, Morgan Walmisley-Davies and Matthew Doyle, for much of this.

Yes, Rishi Sunak, former chancellor, is regarded as a front runner. But sadly we look at international affairs, he’s not exactly flavour of the month is he? He’s pretty wealthy and his wife is pretty wealthy, but he doesn’t like Britain squandering its money. He was the one who masterminded the UK government’s abandonment of its commitment to spending 0.7% of its GDP on developmental aid and scrapping the Department for International Development. I mean, this cutting of budget devastated nations that were in need of aid, Yemen, Afghanistan, and yes, the man, Rishi Sunak, is supposed to be committed to a global Britain strategy. I mean, you can understand I suppose this attitude, because we’re in trouble aren’t we, borrowing big for COVID, but still.

Then there’s Penny Mordaunt. Well, she’s always voted for war. War, war, war. Iraq, Syria, and deployment of British troops in Afghanistan. She’s not unique in that, but she’s quite a hawk. She has a military background. She’s a Royal Navy Reservist. Yes, she had a spell as Defense Secretary. Yes, she’s interesting. Not exactly great.

So who else have we got? Who else is in the race? Well there is Liz Truss. I mean, she’s quite regressive with regard to Ukraine. She wants the Russian troops out everywhere including Crimea. She has an image of herself as a Thatcher-like warrior. She’s a curious or has been a curious lady when she was questioned by a committee of MPs on her attitude to the Gulf states as allies. She said they were important, but she wouldn’t say whether she’d questioned their governments on their human rights record. Actually, she has herself said that she doesn’t care too much about the Middle East.

Then you have Tom Tugendhat. Yes, he has a history, I mean, he doesn’t, he’s a very clever guy. He has a history of avoiding discussing the Israel-Palestine war. Or does he think it doesn’t matter? I wonder.

Then we have Kemi Badenoch. She says she doesn’t care about colonialism, that is a curious thing. Yeah. She’s very pro Israel, of course. A very right wing interesting lady.

Difficult isn’t it to find anybody that excites any of us, wouldn’t you say. I mean let’s just go over the ground again. I mean, we have a really worrying situation in the world at the moment and one of these is going to become prime minister of Britain. Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Kenny Badenoch, or Tom Tugendhat. None of them have any real idea when it comes to international affairs, I think, which is disturbing.

I mean, Rishi Sunak is he going to continue with his cutting of foreign aid left, right and centre? What does this man stand for when it comes to foreign affairs? Penny Mordaunt, who loves war. The Royal Navy reservist. Yeah, she’s a Brexit backer, we won’t hold it against her. Not great on accuracy. She’s not great on understanding things I think but you know, she claimed, for instance, publicly that the UK could not veto Turkey’s EU membership back in 2016 when of course the UK could. Anyway, she is what she is. She’s done very well in the debates and if you want to right winger, go for Penny Mordaunt. Well, they’re all right wing aren’t they really in their different dimensions, in their different ways. Liz Truss, more hawkish than Mordaunt, aggressive in opposing Russia when it comes to Ukraine. Kemi Badenoch, nobody likes her but she could win. She’s a rising star. She doesn’t believe institutional racism exists in the UK. Wow. I mean, she is as right wing as you get. Tom Tugendhat, you would expect him to be Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. You would expect him to understand international affairs. He’s good on Afghanistan. I’ve heard him talk on Afghanistan. He calls it the biggest foreign policy disaster since Suez. But yes, he doesn’t really seem to care about a peace process for the Middle East. He’s a strong supporter of Israel, I suppose you have to be. He’s done some dodgy things, very dodgy. He’s praised Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018 for having a positive impact on his country and the world. Well, there you go, him and President Biden. Yes, he loves Israeli and he loves Saudi Arabia. He hasn’t got much nuance when it comes to foreign policy.

To be honest, they’re all pretty depressing, the candidates. Like I said, Nadhim Zahawi is out of the race, and he was my favourite. So what? What of these people? Who do you want to win? You know, it’s pretty awful choice isn’t it, between people that have really very little genuine grasp of the world. I wonder if it’s always like that. Maybe we’re always doomed to have leaders that have very little knowledge. I mean Boris isn’t particularly bright when it comes to understanding what’s going on in the world. I mean, he couldn’t survive if you were a leader in Britain and you didn’t believe in war. They’re not exciting. Some of them are dangerous.

What would I like most? I have anti-establishmentarian streak so I’d probably, actually, given the fact that all the candidates are incompetent, I probably choose the right winger, Kemi Badenoch. Why? Because she would set the cat amongst the pigeons. And I’d rather that then have dull Rishi Sunak cutting foreign aid and crippling countries that depend on us. Or Tom Tugendhat, who is really quite shallow when it comes down to it. I mean, I choose the bigot. Why? Because there is nobody in this pack that’s better than Boris and she’s another Boris. I’d rather have that than a grinding, grueling, miserable time, getting depressed by this pack of establishment, boring, boring, boring candidates for British prime minister. Unfortunate times but perhaps there’ll be a better tomorrow. Let’s all hope, let’s be surprised.

This selection race continues, we’ll see how it goes. But don’t get depressed. I mean, one of these may actually surprise us. Perhaps Rishi Sunak will turn out to have a heart for international affairs. He’s had a heart for Britain. Maybe Penny Mordaunt, maybe we’ll find some scrap of real intelligence. Who was the guy without a brain, the straw man in the yellow brick road, Wizard of Oz. I mean, maybe she can get it together? Maybe Tom Tugendhat will find principal and start to care about a Middle East peace process? Perhaps he’s just hiding his soul under a hat, lest he not be regarded highly by his fellows? I mean, maybe there’s hope and maybe one of these will actually be better than Boris. Maybe? I mean Boris wasn’t all bad, I suppose. Least he kept us amused, he was good for a laugh and goodness knows we need that don’t we in this world today. We need to find something to make us smile.

So there we go, I’d actually rather keep Boris than any of these, but that’s just me, I’m sorry. The British Members of Parliament kicked Nadhim Zahawi down the road and he was ace as a candidate. So we are left with what we’ve got and we have to make the best of them. We have to make the best of our leaders. Pray for them and hope that they will lead us to a better tomorrow. So there you go. I’m backing Kemi just because I want somebody who is going to make me smile. The rest of them, well including her, they’re not up to much but they’re what we’ve got. We have to use what we’ve got. We have to live with what we’ve got, and then move on and work for a better tomorrow. There will be a better tomorrow, despite the fact that prospects for the new British prime minister are not great. There will be a better tomorrow.

It’s a defining moment in history. A moment in which America and Britain cannot be depended on because Britain is caught in this miasma of this election of its new prime minister and America is actually astonishingly doing nothing about anything. But it’s an opportunity. It’s a moment of opportunity. It’s a moment for others to step forward, it’s moment for you and I to step forward to build a better world even if we do a little, and we can do a little. Gosh the power of these political party members who will have the final vote on the last two in the Tory party, the same sort of thing if it were labour. You can, by joining a political party, have much more influence over the future than you can merely casting a vote at the ballot. Curious, because of our process of selecting leaders, the way we do it, the way we select our leaders. So what am I suggesting? I’m suggesting that no matter how broken and worn out and useless the candidates we have to deal with, we have a new start. It is a time for a new beginning. There is the prospect of a better tomorrow, and new starts are always valuable. New starts are always worthwhile, including this one. A new start for Britain might kickstart a new start for the world and something is needed. Something is needed at this point in time. God bless you. Thank you very much.