Andrew RT Davies: The next Tory leader needs to bring to an end the party’s 'Mexican standoff'

Whoever becomes the next Conservative leader needs to bring to an end the party’s “perpetual Mexican standoff” according to the leader of the Welsh Tories. 

Andrew RT Davies won’t say who he’d prefer to take over from Boris Johnson but he has set out some of the main things he’s looking for from a new leader. 

The five remaining candidates in the contest will face each other in ITV’s leaders debate tonight. 

Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhadt and Kemi Badenoch will then face a further round of voting amongst Conservative MPs tomorrow (Monday) and possibly Tuesday. 

They’ll be whittled down to two names who will then be put to Conservative party members who’ll vote to choose a new leader. 

That new leader will be announced on September 5th and, because the Conservatives have a majority of votes in the House of Commons, will become Prime Minister. 

Writing in The Sunday Times, the Welsh Conservative leader says infighting, which has burst out into the open recently but which has been going on in private for some time, must end or it risks damaging the country as well as his party. 

“What I want to say to the new Prime Minister, whoever that may be, is that they need to be ambitious, bold and brave for our great country, and get us out of this perpetual Mexican standoff. We need to focus, not on ourselves, but on the cost of living pressures people are facing.”

In his article he sets out three “asks” of candidates.

• Rail funding from HS2

Top of his list is a demand for Wales to receive a fair share of rail funding as a result of the controversial HS2 project in England. 

He previously made the call at the Welsh Conservatives recent conference only to be knocked back by Boris Johnson.

But in his article, Andrew RT Davies says that if the next leader intends to be a  Prime Minister “for the Union, not just for South East England” they need to demonstrate it. 

One way of doing that, he says, is to ensure that Wales gets the funding (known as ‘consequential’) which should have been triggered by HS2.

“We  need a Prime Minister that can remind people across the UK how the Union not just works for them, but benefits them and their families.

“From a Welsh perspective, we can do that by delivering rail investment consequentials to Network Rail to turbocharge a rail revolution for Wales.

“Our transport infrastructure here in Wales is creaking, and to make matters infinitely worse, Labour have banned road building here and sent a message to investors and job creators that says we are closed for business.

“Delivering significant rail improvement will also be the perfect way of showing that, while Labour is holding Wales back, the Conservatives are unleashing Wales’ potential.”

• No more powers to the Senedd

Even though it was a Conservative government that introduced the last big transfer of power to ministers in Cardiff, including over parts of income tax, Andrew RT Davies and other Welsh Conservatives have been vocal critics of calls for further devolution of things such as broadcasting or criminal justice. 

In his article, he writes that  “It must be made clear that, under a Conservative government, no further powers will be devolved to Cardiff Bay. Welsh Government have the tools to fix our waiting lists and our creaking public services already.”

• Make St David’s Day a bank holiday

The third ‘ask’ is to make Saint David’s Day a bank holiday. “It’s a no brainer,” he writes.

However the main opposition to this call comes from fellow Conservatives. 

At the Welsh Tory conference in May, Boris Johnson told him that “I salute your campaign for St David’s day. I don’t know what we’ll do with it but I definitely salute it.”

And in March, the former Welsh Secretary Simon Hart dismissed the idea, saying that “I have to say that of the many representations I get on every subject known to man, the one thing that nobody ever asked me is can we please have more bank holidays? Literally no one."

"And as I say, Andrew and I have this very friendly and quite amusing and light hearted exchange every year. And one day much it may change but at the moment it doesn't look like it."

Ironically one leadership hopeful might have supported that call. When he was a backbencher, Ndhim Zahawi called for St David’s Day to be made a bank holiday, admittedly as part of his campaign for one for St. George’s Day. 

He hasn’t made it to the final five so Mr Davies’ plea may still fall on deaf ears.