Stephen Crabb is one of the least experienced candidates in this Tory leadership contest and that was on show during his interview on the Today programme just now. To his credit, Crabb – unlike Theresa May – has made it clear that he doesn’t want EU citizens living in the UK to be ‘negotiating chips’ in any negotiation. He also comes across as likeable in his answers about the importance of staying civilised during Brexit negotiations. But whilst it’s patently obvious that Crabb is deeply principled it’s hard not to ignore the simple fact that he sounds nervous. This is sure to stand against him when he’s pitted against some of the others in this Conservative leadership race, particularly ‘experience’ candidates like Theresa May. On Article 50, he suggested Britain needed a ‘period of months’ for it to come into force. But despite Crabb saying this was an ‘obvious’ time frame, there wasn’t much explanation why.
Crabb’s stand out pitch is his economic policy and the pledge to borrow to invest. As was pointed out to him just now, this looks like a U-turn on the economy policies so frequently touted by Osborne in a Government he has been a part of. When asked whether he would like to pay tribute to Ed Balls for appearing to shift towards the former shadow chancellor’s economic strategy, Crabb had this to say:
‘It was very different from the policy espoused by Labour and the practice of Labour borrowing while they were in Government. You’ll remember they borrowed enormous sums of money, not for investing. What we are saying is look, we are at a turning point in our economy, if we are going to turn this enormous challenge of Brexit to our advantage, then I think taking advantage of the fact that the cost of borrowing is at historically low levels – those are the kind of bold choices I think a new Prime Minister ought to make’
Crabb’s basic pitch is that post-Brexit, the times are different. He uses this to justify a change of tack economically to give Britain a boost. But the danger is that he may be forgetting the importance of Osborne’s economic strategy in helping the Tories win the last election. The Chancellor may have done himself little credit during a dismal referendum campaign filled with fearmongering. But the likes of Crabb shouldn’t forget the importance of the Tories position as the safe pair of hands economically. Doing so is a risky move indeed.
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