Tory leadership hopefuls resemble identical twins on domestic policy

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt like to present their contest to become Britain’s next prime minister as critical to the country’s destiny. That may be so, but on key issues of policy there is very little that separates the two men.

This is particularly the case on domestic policy, where the substance of the two candidates’ policies, views and attitudes are broadly the same.

Let’s start with the National Health Service (NHS), both candidates are officially committed to preserving a free service but as observers of British politics have pointed out, this is more about lip service than actual policy.

Critics have pointed to Hunt’s previous role as health secretary, where he came into conflict with junior doctors over a new contract which he finally imposed on them against their will.

More broadly, Hunt’s six-year tenure as health secretary was characterised by a reduction in public spending across the board, and specifically aimed at nurses who had to endure a six year pay freeze.

Hunt’s claim on championing a free NHS stands uneasily with his confirmed ideological beliefs. Back in 2005 Hunt co-authored a policy pamphlet which called for the NHS to be replaced by an insurance system.

Unlike Hunt, Boris Johnson has no experience in running the health service, but similar to Hunt his ideological end-goal is the privatisation of the NHS.

Johnson is a firm ideological ally of the US president, Donald Trump, so much so that Trump has effectively endorsed his bid for the premiership.

The US ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, caused a stir during Trump’s recent state visit to the UK by his announcement that the US seeks business access to the NHS in any post-Brexit deal.

In view of Johnson’s proximity to the Trump administration ideologues, it is difficult to see how he can resist their pressure to encroach upon the NHS once he becomes prime minister.

Beyond the NHS, the biggest issue is taxation, where predictably both candidates have promised tax cuts. Johnson initially proposed tax cuts for people earning more than £50,000 per annum, which would cost the economy £9 billion and only benefit the top ten percent of earners.

For his part Hunt proposes to cut corporation tax to 12.5 percent, thus costing the economy £13 billion in the short term.

These outlandish tax cut proposals have even surprised the Tory party establishment, which traditionally favours deep tax cuts. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has had to remind the Tory leadership hopefuls that their tax and spending plans simply don’t add up.