Ken Clarke knows a thing or two about liberal conservative government – Boris Johnson should listen to him

Boris Johnson cannot have expected Ken Clarke to act as a cheerleader for his “new”, “liberal”, “One Nation” government. The prime minister did, after all, expel him from the parliamentary Conservative Party; and Mr Clarke rewarded him by refusing to say how he voted in the general election.

Yet when Mr Clarke says that Mr Johnson has no plan for government, the prime minister should listen. Mr Clarke may be sceptical about Mr Johnson’s character, but he knows a thing or two about government, and he knows a thing or two about the kind of government that Mr Johnson claims to want.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Clarke said of the prime minister: “He could turn out to be a very sound, moderate, One Nation Conservative.” But in order to do so, he would need a clear sense of direction and he would need to assert his leadership. At the moment, Mr Clarke said, “I don’t get the impression that politicians are in charge, together with someone who knows something about governing.”

Mr Clarke was too modest to point out that as a former health secretary, education secretary, home secretary, chancellor and justice secretary, he has some experience of how to turn the Whitehall machine to deliver the kind of change that is likely to be rewarded by the voters.

As a minister, civil servants admired him because he combined good humour and good judgement with an ability to make decisions. As a politician, his most successful moment was when he resisted Margaret Thatcher’s plan to break up the National Health Service, by convincing her that a policy of internal reform would yield more electoral benefit.

Mr Johnson now faces a huge task of delivering significant change for the Conservative Party’s new voters outside London – including in the health service. That requires good management of the economy, to deliver higher living standards, and it requires an unfashionable focus on public service delivery, to convince voters that the NHS, schools and police service are making their lives better.

As Mr Clarke says, the governing of the country is more than going round saying, “Oooh, 2020 is going to be a golden year; we are going to be a global Britain.” And he is right to add: “We don’t have any policy on social care, which is the biggest single domestic problem facing us.”

We urge the prime minister to act on his own fine words about healing the country and bringing people together, by acting on his former colleague’s words. Mr Johnson’s ministerial team is not so overendowed with sound judgement about the economy and long experience of public service reform that it can afford to ignore Mr Clarke’s advice.

As Mr Clarke says, “Boris could still surprise everybody.” It was certainly a surprise to read that Michael Portillo, once Mr Clarke’s rival for the leadership of the Conservative Party, says he has now “seen the light”. Having considered Mr Johnson unreliable, shambolic and unimpressive, Mr Portillo now thinks him skilful, ruthless and possessing the kind of star quality that makes the impossible possible.

Let us hope that Mr Johnson surprises everybody by listening to Mr Clarke’s advice and putting it into practice.