A SCOTTISH Tory MP has admitted to having “governed poorly” during his time as a minister – at least, if you read between the lines.
Andrew Bowie also criticised Rishi Sunak’s ability to run the UK government as he backed Kemi Badenoch in the race to replace the former prime minister.
Bowie will be hoping that we have all forgotten how he backed Sunak to lead the UK not once, but twice in the successive Tory leadership contests of 2022.
It was that loyalty that saw him finally handed a role in government under Sunak, as he became an energy minister. Of course, he was stripped of responsibility over the energy grid due to campaigning against pylons, which may go some way to explain his latest comments.
Speaking to GB News on Monday, Bowie admitted that neither he nor anyone else in the Tory Party had done a very good job.
“We have talked a good game but governed poorly over the last few years,” he said.
The Scottish Tory MP went on to back Badenoch to lead the Conservative Party.
“She plans on renewing, on engaging with the membership, on growing our base and standing up for Conservative values in this country,” he told GB News.
“I think that's a conversation we need to have. I fully trust Kemi as the person who can lead that conversation and take us back to where we need to be for Great Britain and that's in government.”
Badenoch’s decision to run came as Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, said she would not be standing because her own party colleagues had branded her “mad, bad, and dangerous”. So, it seems like someone in the Tories did get something right.
But Bowie was convinced that Braverman’s “place is within the Conservative Party”.
Given her hard-right rhetoric and unpopularity, he’s probably right.
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