Sputnik: Do you think that televised political debates have any merit? Was Boris Johnson right or wrong to avoid them in previous weeks?
David Lindsay: Boris Johnson is wrong in the present context to avoid these things; it comes across as arrogant and so forth, because they have become an established feature of the British political scene over the last ten years or so, especially beginning with the big general election ones in the run-up to the 2010 election.
The ones in 2010 were the only televised debates that have really made a difference, but nevertheless, they did set up this format as something that’s very much part of the British political process now, for good or ill, and therefore Boris Johnson was wrong to avoid them up until now.
Sputnik: Who do you feel will win the Conservative Party’s leadership contest? Will either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt be able to deliver Brexit?
David Lindsay: [Jeremy Hunt] was a remain voter, and initially, he wanted a second referendum to overturn the first one, but he now says that he accepts Brexit, and would even be prepared to see a no deal Brexit under certain circumstances, so there’s a lot to work with there.
There’s not a lot to work within Boris Johnson’s case; but unfortunately, he’s going to win the election.
I increasingly don’t feel that Brexit will be delivered in October. I’m a supporter of Brexit myself and I really don’t see that as possible, largely because it is not within the negotiating power of Boris Johnson to do it, he’s not up to the job.
I think this is being played out deliberately to reach the fourth anniversary of the referendum, because you have to vote for the council again and they can reasonably turn around and say it’s been four years; we have to have another referendum, this is being done quite consciously.
Sputnik: If Brexit is delivered by the Conservative Party, could anybody really challenge them in the next general election?
David Lindsay: The Labour position is all over the place, and whenever this general election comes even if it’s not until 2022, there will be another hung parliament anyway, if it were to be held in the near future Labour would stand a good chance of being the single largest party, but there’s no way of predicting that all the way until 2022.
There’s certainly going to be a hung parliament one way or another because Britain now just looks like that, so there is some potential for the Labour Party, but not very much.
