WESTBURY’S MP, Dr Andrew Murrison, has publicly backed Rishi Sunak to be the next Prime Minister.
Dr Murrison resigned as trade envoy to Morocco on Tuesday 5th July in order to put pressure on Boris Johnson to resign; and now the MP has said that he is backing Rishi Sunak to be the next Prime Minister, calling him ‘the face of a modern party’.
Dr Murrison said, “Dad a Southampton MP, mum a small businesswoman, Rishi gets it- and tells it as it is. Competent decent, ferociously bright, Rishi does human – the face of a modern party and a modern Britain making its way in the world.”
Dr Murrison said his resignation was triggered by Lord McDonald’s letter which contradicted the Prime Minister’s account of the Chris Pincher controversy.
Writing in a column to Politics Home, Dr Murrison says, “For me the Archduke moment was Lord McDonald’s letter sent the previous day, Independence Day, to the parliamentary commissioner for standards. It flatly contradicted the Prime Minister’s account of the latest calamity – the Pincher affair. They couldn’t both be telling the truth. Having experienced Simon McDonald at the Foreign Office, it was plain to me who was.
“In the heady days immediately after the 2019 general election, I remember pumping Boris’ arm, gushing that his had every prospect of being a truly great premiership. He looked at me as if I was mad. It wasn’t long before I was starting to wonder myself. And, yes, it is about those timeless virtues – honesty, decency, integrity. Standards in public life matter.
“As late as February I was publicly supportive of Boris Johnson, even writing in The Guardian that its bien pensants could spit as many tacks as they liked, Johnson had got Brexit done. In my resignation letter six months later, reflecting on his achievements, I suggested that Boris could have left office with his head held high.
“That option was no longer open to him by the time of his resignation speech outside No 10 on 7th July. I regret that very much.”
