IT was one of the biggest surprises of the General Election campaign. Indeed, it was such a surprise that it still doesn’t seem quite real.
David Cameron, in his kitchen being interviewed by the BBC, said that he would stand down as Prime Minister before the 2020 election.
It was almost impossible to tell whether he’d meant to announce his resignation in that manner or if it had just sort of slipped out.
The Tories are clearly keen to have a clean transition between David Cameron and whoever comes next.
They watched the horror show of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. That schism in the Labour Party is still felt as keenly a decade later. It is interesting that the only thing to unite Brown and Blair of late was their absolute disgust that Jeremy Corbyn might end up leader.
Indeed, the Tories will have watched closely as that schism reared its ugly head in Labour’s last two leadership contests, and how it helped the party to completely implode.
The Tories will also likely have watched the switch between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
Sturgeon may have been in Salmond’s shadow for most of the last decade and a half but she quickly, easily and powerfully made the SNP leader’s job her own. It was Sturgeon who led the SNP to the incredible result in May.
It will be interesting to see what happens next.
George Osborne is clearly one of the favourites to replace Cameron. His speech yesterday was a clear pitch to the party for the job.
It is also understood that another 17 Tories are keen to throw their hats into the ring.
One of those people could very well be Jeremy Hunt.
If Hunt does get elected, expect Scotland to very quickly become independent and a haven for just about every English and Welsh social democrat.
Here is a man, thought to be worth £4.7million, saying the cuts in tax credits will make those on low incomes work harder.
He is like Dickens’s Scrooge, asking if the workhouses are still in operation.
The problem with this country is that there are plenty of people working very hard for very little. Hunt’s government is making it harder for them.
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