‘Rorymania is over,’ Isabel Hardman pops into my inbox to tell me, in last night’s Evening Blend. Rory Stewart’s elimination from the Conservative leadership race cuts short a seductive insurgency that began with pseudo-selfies and flirted with the opportunity, however wishful, of a political realignment. One place Rorymania never took off was inside the Conservative party, where Stewart’s campaign was viewed with something between bewilderment and resentment. At its electoral apex, Rorymania commanded support from just 11.8 per cent of the parliamentary Tory party. Brexit has, of course, distorted priorities within the party and Stewart, in refusing to contemplate a no-deal withdrawal, was effectively the No Brexit candidate, but his rejection is also a rejection of the One Nation Toryism that once defined the party.
The cursed BBC debate crystallised the problem. While the other candidates rowed over who should get tax cuts, Stewart insisted: ‘We do not need more tax cuts.
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