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Chris Patten: ‘We have a populist government that is – fatally – not popular’
The Tory grandee, publishing his diaries of his time as governor of Hong Kong, on the ‘greedy’ west giving China an easy ride – and his party’s ‘long nervous breakdown’
A few minutes after the result of Monday’s confidence vote in the prime minister was announced, I spoke to Chris Patten on the phone. The former Conservative party chairman and current rebellious Tory peer was dismayed to see the “Johnson cult still hanging on”. He described the government as “shameful and seedy”. “The most depressing thing is I’ve been watching interviews with ministers this evening,” he said, “and the titles alone are so depressing. Jacob Rees-Mogg, minister for Brexit opportunities. If ever there as a contradiction in terms it is that. And nobody should ever see the words ‘Nadine Dorries’ and ‘culture secretary’ in the same sentence.”
I suggest the fractures go back to the 1990s. John Major’s bastards have long since taken over.
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