‘Sunak best choice for PM’ says JDW’s Tim Martin

Sunak and Conservative MP for Portsmouth North Penny Mordaunt are currently in the race for Number 10 and to become the third Tory PM this year after Liz Truss announced her resignation last week.

With the contest for votes underway, Martin wrote: “In selecting the next PM, MPs need to bear in mind the terrible twins, the bond market and inflation, feeling increasingly disrespected by central bankers and politicians, are angry and emotional and are watching their every move.”

He reflected on the news from last week that former PM Boris Johnson was reportedly considering running for the leadership.

Martin added: “There mere revelation on Friday that big spender Boris Johnson was back in the ring, to take another swing, was enough to cause the pound to fall and interest rates to rise.

“The market, unlike the Lord, as Warren Buffett once said, does not forgive those who know not what they do.

“Years ago, President Clinton’s adviser, James Carville joked he wanted to be reincarnated as the bond market, since he could then ‘intimidate everybody’.”

“The unfortunate Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, inheritors of colossal Government debt, saw the truth behind Carville’s joke when they were perceived to have disrespected the bond with their mini Budget.”

Martin claimed previous PM John Major “and the entire economic establishment” did the same in the early 1990s “when their attempts to foist the wretched exchange rate mechanism, the predecessor of the Euro, on a reluctant UK public, ended in ignominy”.

Furthermore, the JDW boss said political leaders across the globe have to borrow money to “keep the show on the road”.

Boris' borrowing binge

He added: “Since the twitchy bond markets feel they’ve been taken for granted for a long time, common sense and the ability to create a sensible economic plan must be the main criteria for a new leader.”

Martin claimed Johnson was a stranger for planning “who spent like a sailor on shore leave during his tenure in number 10”.

He added: “As for Rishi, for many voters he was a partner in crime to Boris’ borrowing binge so the market will have some doubts.

“Shania Twain may have had Rishi in mind when she said ‘you’ve got the looks but have you go the touch?’

“However, Rishi’s reasonable defence is Boris was the financial eminence grise, issuing profligate spending orders galore whereas he, merely the finance director, needed to square the circle by raising taxes to astronomical levels – in spite of his better instincts.”

The chairman went on to look at fellow PM contender Penny Mordaunt, which he said “comes with a couple of dodgy references and perhaps for business readers, a lack of evidence of commercial success on civvy street”.

Martin said: “Most worrying, for a Brexiteer at least, are the recent reports Penny was unwilling to play ‘second fiddle’ to Rishi Sunak, if he became PM.

“If you won’t play second fiddle to Rishi, you might not want to play second fiddle to the bond market, which would, to quote the Taylor Swift song, be trouble, trouble, trouble.”

Strange paradox

He claimed many blame the current state of affairs on Brexit: “Indeed, since the EU President is not subject to judgement at the ballot box, you are unlikely to witness this sort of fratricidal maelstrom, heightened by general election angst, in Brussels.

“What you are really seeing the UK is democracy in action. Egotism, irrationality, feckless candidates, false promises and financial recklessness.”

“The strange paradox about democracy is that it works.”

However, the Brexiteer said we should be thankful for the fact the nation is democratic.

“Look at any list of the richest countries per capita and those with the greatest level of human rights and freedoms and democracies win hands down,” Martin said.

“The problem with the EU, not always recognised by its proponents, is it’s becoming more undemocratic – unelected presidents, MEPs who cannot initiate legislation and a court of justice that is not subject to parliamentary control.

“So let’s be thankful for the chaotic but democratic UK. You may think the present contenders for PM offer an unpalatable choice. That may indeed by true – welcome to the real world.”

Martin finished by stating which of the two PM contenders he believed would be best in charge.

“Finally, which leadership candidate, on balance, stands the best change of placating Mr Bond? He may not impress you much but it just has to be Dishi Rishi,” Martin concluded.

Furthermore, in a poll by The Morning Advertiser​ (MA​) earlier this year, just after previous Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned, Sunak was readers’ preference to become the Conservative Party leader​.

The MA ​​asked ‘which of the final two PM contenders do you think would be better for the pub sector?’

Of the 105 votes, 61% were in favour of Rishi Sunak and the remaining 39% opted for Liz Truss.