In “The right must own a Tory defeat” (Opinion, May 15), Janan Ganesh made a number of questionable assertions. The right did not “adore” Boris Johnson, it was just relieved to have a prime minister with a sense of direction after Theresa May’s Brexit blundering. After his 2019 general election victory, the “big spending, big government” Johnson showed himself anything but rightwing.
Nor was Brexit the “ultimate project” just of the right. Northern “red wall” voters — overwhelmingly leftwing for decades — thirsted equally for Brexit and they were the key factor in Johnson’s decisive victory in December 2019. The right’s ultimate project was not the simple act of Brexit. It was and remains a successfully executed Brexit. In that endeavour, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak all utterly failed.
There was little point in leaving the EU unless Britain was going to implement the changes needed to bring prosperity and national success. The Tory right wanted a bonfire of regulations, a concerted drive to reduce the size — but improve the efficiency — of the civil service, a reorientation towards Commonwealth countries, a serious tilt at Asia and the adjustment of taxation to drive enterprise and reward success.
None of these essential post-Brexit initiatives were undertaken. That is why the Tories will lose the coming general election and the blame lies not with the Tory right but with the party’s One Nation fainthearts.
Gregory Shenkman
London SW7, UK
