George Eustice

Eleven years ago, I was one of the small handful of people working to make David Cameron the next Leader of the Conservative Party. In the early days, the media joked that you could fit all of us into a London Taxi. Our team included both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. David Cameron won in 2005 because he had worked out what the country really needed after Tony Blair. In power, his patience and pragmatism made coalition with the Lib Dems work. I wish he had stayed after the referendum. He did not need to resign. He could have shared power with a negotiating team and converted defeat in the referendum into a truly great legacy. However, he didn't want to continue, so Conservatives must now calmly work out what characteristics we need in our next Prime Minister.

Is the idea of any form of statute relating to the press inimical to liberty and therefore incompatible with Conservative belief?  Fraser Nelson argues that it is but it is time for Conservatives to think again and for journalists to reassess who is really on their side in this debate. People elect Conservative Prime Ministers to sort things out.  They expect us to take difficult decisions and to confront unaccountable power along the way.  The unavoidable truth is that there is unaccountable power vested in the hands of newspaper editors and proprietors which has contributed to the current crisis in journalism.  Why do wealthy individuals want to own newspapers?  They don’t exactly make much money.