We will be putting ten sets of questions publicly to each of the main leadership contenders.
- A fundamental requirement for a Party leader is that he can keep it united: for unless he can, it’s unlikely to achieve anything much. You are seen by many simply as a candidate of the Right of the Party. If its leader, could you keep it united – and how would you go about dealing with its Centre and Left?
- When you stood for the leadership in 2005, part of your campaign was a forward-looking pitch on tackling mental health. But your opponents claim that you are a backward-looking candidate – representing a return to a vanished Thatcherite past. What is there new in your campaign now that proves them wrong?
- It’s sometimes claimed that polling suggests that your appeal to voters is less than some other senior Tories. What evidence is there that you can increase the Party’s electoral reach?
- You are one of the very few senior Conservatives to have good contacts with America’s Republicans. But it is on balance unlikely that Donald Trump will win the Presidency. His presence in the contest is a reminder that many on Britain’s centre-right believe that his Party is now extreme. Do you share that view – and how as Prime Minister would you deal with a Democrat administration?
- In your launch speech, you said that “I do not believe there is room for membership of the single market, if it entails free movement of people”. Some in the Vote Leave campaign were opposed to Britain’s membership of the Single Market altogether. Do you share that view?
- In that speech, you also said that “as a doctor I want us to end our obsession with the structures of health provision and focus more on making patients better. We need to deal with the drivers of health costs if we are to be able to make ends meet”. Tell us more about how you would do this?
- You recently set out a rigorous case for gradually ending Q.E, shifting the balance of policy away from helping borrowers to helping savers, and striking a fairer economic balance between the generations. That was pre-Brexit. Do you still want interest rates to rise and, if so, how quickly?
- If you are one of the two candidates put before Party members, would you make your opponent deputy leader?
- Would you appoint George Osborne to your Cabinet and, if so, in what capacity?
- We have been asking candidates to set out a view on the Party’s future. Your supporter Scott Mann writes on this site today that “our members be given more of a say over the running of our party. Liam would like to see a directly-elected Party Chairman”. More, please. Do you support the election of members of the Board, and if so how many? How would you reform Party Conference, if at all? What are your views on candidate selection?