‘I’m not stupid’

Rory Stewart has just been appointed international development secretary. Last week, he explained to Katy Balls why he would make a good Prime Minister:

Almost nobody in Westminster admits to wanting to be prime minister. Rory Stewart is a cheerful exception. Most leadership hopefuls prefer to plot in dark corners and woo supporters in candlelit bars. The Prisons Minister is happy to sit in the sun in Hyde Park and talk openly about his ambition.

It’s a tricky time for this country, he says. ‘In a normal situation I probably wouldn’t want to run.’ One of his friends thinks he’s mad: what’s the matter with just being MP for Penrith and the Borders? Why seek No. 10 now? Isn’t it a completely thankless task? ‘But I’m the opposite way around,’ he says, as we sit by the Serpentine lido. A voice for the pragmatic middle ground will be needed when Theresa May departs Downing Street. He’s offering his.

It’s a job Stewart believes he could be good at. ‘There are some things I would be really, really bad at. You would not want to hire me to run a ballet company, I’d be really rubbish at that. I don’t like ballet. I am bored by it. I’m almost tone deaf. I feel I want to die when I watch the ballet. It would be a really, really bad mistake to hire me to run a ballet company. But if you want someone who really enjoys doing stuff and loves government and is really proud of the country and feels that’s their thing, I’m really enthusiastic.’