Guildford’s MP Declares Her Hand in the Conservative Leadership Election

Published on: 11 Jul, 2022
Updated on: 11 Jul, 2022

By Martin Giles

Angela Richardson Guildford’s Conservative MP has declared her support for the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership election.

The election has been triggered by last week’s resignation by Boris Johnson who continues as a caretaker prime minister until a new Conservative leader can take over.

Announcing her decision on Twitter she said: “I’m a Conservative because I’m a pragmatist first, not ideologically driven.

“We need to be honest about the reality of our post-Covid finances and need to deliver the best health, education, housing and opportunity. It’s why I’m backing Rishi Sunak. Honesty matters.”

Mr Sunak is proposing fiscal caution while many other candidates are proposing tax cuts to promote economic growth.

Jeremy Hunt with Angela Richardson

By selecting Mr Sunak Angela Richardson rejects another leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt from the neighbouring constituency of Surrey South West. He stood against Boris Johnson in the leadership election of 2019 and declared his candidature, this time, over the weekend.

Zoe Franklin, the prospective Lib Dem candidate for Guildford, a seat that will be high on the Lib Dem’s target list, was unforgiving of Ms Richardson’s stance on the leadership of her party over recent months.

Ms Franklin said: “It has been shocking and shameful to see Guildford and Cranleigh’s Conservative MP stand loyally by Boris Johnson and his Government through years of scandals and lies. It is clear Angela Richardson only acted at the last minute to save her own skin.”

Ms Richardson first opposed the government over the Owen Patterson affair in November 2021 which cost her her appointment as Michael Gove’s PPS for 17 hours before it was embarrassingly restored.

In January this year she resigned from the same role, a decision apparently connected with her dissatisfaction over “Partygate”, but while critical she did not proclaim her lack of confidence in Boris Johnson until the full Sue Gray report was published.

Zoe Franklin

Ms Franklin continued: “Local people keep telling me they will never forgive Ms Richardson for standing by Boris Johnson for so long along with the Conservative Government’s policies that have failed local people and businesses again and again.

“Conservative MPs, including Ms Richardson, have voted through unfair tax hikes on working families, voted in favour of water companies being allowed to pump sewage into our rivers and supported the scrapping of triple-lock pensions. “

Responses to Guildford’s MP Declares Her Hand in the Conservative Leadership Election

Wayne Smith Reply

July 11, 2022 at 12:32 pm

I can’t help wondering why an article announcing who Angela Richardson is supporting in the Conservative leadership race has given over half of the text to tired old quotes from the prospective Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate?

Not the most balanced article produced by The Dragon.

Editor’s response: The extracted quote from the prospective Lib Dem candidate for Guildford, taken from a recent press release, was included precisely to give some balance to the article. The quote comprises 115 words, less than one-third of the 391 word article.

We also put some questions to Ms Richardson about her decision but have not yet received a response.
Brian Creese Reply

July 12, 2022 at 2:15 pm

I agree with Wayne Smith. There seems a great deal of free publicity for Zoe Franklin here even though she has no say and no influence on the topic being discussed.

We all recognise that the Lib Dems have had some good recent wins, but they remain a marginal party with zero chance of forming the next government, almost no chance of winning in Guildford (yes, I know they did win once, 20-odd years ago) and little to offer in the way of policy or vision for the future of this country.

I could happily have supplied The Guildford Dragon with 100 words on my view of the Tory leadership election, but I suspect most readers know what we think already. However, I hope Ms Richardson will support the Labour motion of no confidence in Johnson and his discredited government.

Brian Creese is the chair of the Guildford Labour Party
Sue Hackman Reply

July 12, 2022 at 3:25 pm

Did the Dragon approach any other parties for a comment?

Editor’s response: No. We did not approach the Lib Dems either. As explained, the Zoe Franklin quote was extracted from a press release].
David Roberts Reply

July 13, 2022 at 4:28 pm

The report looks perfectly balanced to me.

There’s not going to be a contest for the seat in Guildford for ages, so why the fuss?