FORMER Conservative Home Secretary and leader of the Conservative party Lord Michael Howard has praised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying he is “the best person to navigate us through challenges”.
Speaking to GB News presenter Mark Dolan, Lord Howard said: “I'm a huge supporter of Rishi Sunak. I think we're very lucky to have him as Prime Minister. We're in a tough spot as a country. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, all these things present really formidable challenges for us.
“And I think Rishi is absolutely the best person to navigate us through those challenges. I think he's a brilliant man, very conscientious and hard working. And I really do think we're very lucky to have him.”
On his own life in politics Lord Howard continued: “Politics gives you the greatest opportunity to make a difference to help create a better society. And I desperately wanted to try and give something back to this wonderful country, which has been so good to me and my family.
“My parents ran a small business. And I could see the connection between hard work and enterprise, and the need for reward. I was never tempted by Socialism.
Lord Michael Howard speaks to Mark Dolan about not being 'tempted' by Socialism.
Image: GB News
“Socialism has never really worked has it? It's been tried, and it's never really worked. And it seems to me that the real difference to how our society works springs from the effort and enterprise of individuals, and we have to encourage that effort, an enterprise and that's absolutely crucial.
“We've had many, many high points, and not so high points. And I was very privileged to have that opportunity.”
Reflecting on working with John Major he said: “John let me get on with things. I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times where he might have asked a question or asked to chat to me about something or other.
“He was, in my area at least, he was hands off and he let me get on with things. I had no problem and I hope he didn't have any problem with me.
“It was a bumpy time for me in the Home Office, because I was trying to change so many things which had been there for quite a while. And if you try to change things, you meet resistance, because there are a lot of vested interests and people who think things should carry on being done as they've always been done.
“So it was a tough time. But I was determined to do what I could to start bringing crime down. I was told when I went there, that was something that was impossible.
“They showed me a graph which showed that crime had gone up at an average of about 5% a year for the last 50 years. And they said to me, the first thing you must realise Home Secretary, is that there's nothing you can do about it. And I didn't take that advice. And I was determined to try and change things so that crime did come down. And it did.
“It wasn't so much the civil servants to be fair, because I think if a minister is clear about what he wants to do, and determined to do it, and sets about it in the right way, the civil service will do their best to do what the minister wants. So I wouldn't I wouldn't class the civil service, except at the beginning. At the beginning, it was difficult. But after a while, the forces of resistance were outside the civil service.
Meanwhile Lord Howard also paid tribute to Boris Johnson saying: “Boris is a most remarkable man with phenomenal gifts and abilities. And he achieved some great things when he was Prime Minister.
“He got Brexit done. He was Prime Minister and I think Rishi Sunak deserves a lot of credit for the furlough scheme and the way we got through the pandemic, but Boris was Prime Minister and was the title to credit for that. He was absolutely first in line to support Ukraine and deserves enormous credit for a lot of things he did. As we know, he had his flaws and his faults, and in the end, they were his undoing.”
Tipping the Tories to turn things around he added: “The Labour lead is not insuperable, and it can be done. Let me paint a picture of what might happen and what I hope will happen, obviously. In a year's time, it's highly likely that inflation will be coming down pretty significantly. I hope that interest rates will be coming down. I hope the economy will be recovering.
“And I think Rishi will be able to say to people, 'We've been through a very tough time. We've all had to make sacrifices. But we've been through it. And now is the time to reap the rewards of those sacrifices. Don't throw it away. And don't let Labour ruin it.'
“Now, whether that pitch will succeed in 2024, or whenever it will be, I don't know. But I think there's a reasonable prospect that may be the case.”
