RISHI Sunak has already united the party – according to one of Penny Mourdant’s biggest supporters.
Bob Seeley told GB News the “soap opera” inside the Tories was over, and backed Mr Sunak to turn around the party’s fortunes.
Speaking to Angela Rippon on GB News, Mr Seeley said today (SAT): “My first choice in the summer was Penny. And I consistently supported Penny this time round as well. So I was very much a Penny backer, and I believe Penny would have made a great Prime Minister.
“However I think Rishi is actually also going to make a great Prime Minister as well and I think he’s made a great start.
“Rishi is going to lead us into the next election. There’s no doubt about that. We are now a united party. For those people who think dramas and soap operas are going to continue, it’s not. We’re done. We’re now back to normal politics.”
Commenting on whether Mr Sunak could bring the party back together he continued: “Yes, I do. I think Penny and Rishi probably would have done very similar things. And I think Rishi has been very sensible.
“Frankly, the mistakes in the Boris government and sadly, probably in the last government as well, was there wasn’t enough of an attempt to make sure different voices were heard. And I think one of the things that Rishi has got right this week, is the fact that he’s making sure that there are different groups within the party and different voices. So I think from that point of view, it’s been a fantastic start.”
On the challenges ahead, he added: “There are going to be increasingly difficult choices to make. But I think as Rishi makes those choices, it’s going to become increasingly evident that he’s the right man to lead us. I think for Keir Starmer, the future is not looking bright. But I think for us, once we get through this difficult six months to 18 months, I think increasingly people will put their trust back in Rishi and the Conservatives.
“Rishi has to deal with the immediate crisis and then, towards the next election wherever possible, he needs to get taxes down. We need to remember our voter base. Rishi needs to remember the folks in Southampton where he came from. He needs to be supporting those wealth creators, those entrepreneurs in our society, but also you know, he needs to help the pharmacists and the doctors and the GPs, and make sure they can be doing their jobs treating people as well.
“So there is a lot of moderate reform that we can be doing to make sure our country runs better, to make sure our public services run better, but also ensuring that our businessmen and women and entrepreneurs can actually create the wealth that we need to pay for the good things in our society.”
