A new prime minister would be in the national interest

As we report today, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is preparing his campaign to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party – and therefore prime minister – should a vacancy arise. This is the prudent thing to do, and suggests that he has some of the qualities that are needed for the top job, which the incumbent lacks: diligence, focus, the ability to plan ahead.

Meanwhile, Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, has become the first MP to declare that he will stand as a candidate if there is a leadership contest. A much-admired speech in the Commons on the fall of Kabul may not amount to a full prospectus for the highest office, but he deserves praise for being open about his ambition. He is entitled to try to build on his status as the fourth-most-favoured candidate in the betting market – after Mr Sunak, Liz Truss (the foreign secretary), and Jeremy Hunt, who was the runner-up to Boris Johnson two and a half years ago.

The Independent is not in the business of endorsing any of the candidates, declared or undeclared, in a leadership contest that has not begun and may not begin for some time, but we observe that Boris Johnson has forfeited the right to the premiership. Whatever the outcome of the current police investigation, he has already admitted that there was a gathering in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown that should not have happened. He presided over an office that did not take the public health laws that the government itself had laid down as seriously as most of the population did.

Mr Johnson has no moral authority to impose further restrictions if they are needed in future. Looking back, he had the wrong skills to deal with a pandemic. Any of his recent predecessors would probably have handled the crisis better. And his attitude to the normal rules of propriety in public office is so cavalier that he is short of moral authority full stop. He overruled the independent House of Lords Appointments Commission to raise Peter Cruddas to the peerage. He overruled the independent adviser on ministerial standards, who judged that Priti Patel, the home secretary, had bullied civil servants. And his approach to the funding of the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat was so slapdash that the only way he could end the embarrassment was to find the £112,000 out of his own pocket.

In the light of these failings, he would need to possess exceptional gifts to be allowed the right to keep his position. We do not believe that he possesses them. Many of his policies may be broadly right. He has turned his back on “austerity” – the idea of balancing the government’s books by cutting spending on public services. There is a debate about the timing of this April’s tax rise, but the principle that good-quality public services have to be paid for is the right one. If levelling up means greater equality, it is a worthy ambition, and putting the brakes on climate change is an urgent necessity. Yet these are policies that could be more competently pursued by a different prime minister.

Conservative MPs who are seeking a change of leader are acting in the national interest, therefore. Mr Sunak’s record at the Treasury has not been without missteps, but generally suggests that a government led by him would show greater competence and integrity. A Conservative leadership contest would be a chance for other candidates to prove that they could match or exceed Mr Sunak in those respects. That can only be good for the country.