Gavin Rice

The British right is tearing itself apart. The departure of Robert Jenrick, for many Tories the obvious king over the water in whom so much hope was invested, means a potential future has now been cut off. Meanwhile the Reform party, having robbed the Tories now of two titans – the other is the MP for Devizes, Danny Kruger – has trained its sights ever more aggressively on destroying Kemi Badenoch. There is no war quite so painful as a civil war, and with the loss of Kruger and Jenrick in particular many old, deeply held relationships within British conservatism are now under deep strain, if not completely severed. After a strong original response from Badenoch to the news of Jenrick’s likely defection, the Tories descended into wounded tribalism for the following two days.

In recent years, governments looking for good news on growth have sounded increasingly desperate, like a doctor looking for signs of an improvement in a terminally ill patient.  In the first quarter of this year Britain’s economy grew by 0.7 per cent, slightly higher than expected – a fact seized upon by this already beleaguered government. Both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have clung furiously to the belief that we are ‘the fastest growing economy in the G7’, a fact only true on the most selective of snapshots. Our industrial energy costs – among the highest in the world – are killing off what’s left of UK production Both statements mask a much bleaker reality.