Zac Goldsmith: I can imagine Boris Johnson as a future and very successful Conservative leader

- Mayor gets thumbs up from Richmond MP: 'Whatever that magic dust is that politicians dream of, Boris has got it'
Tory backbencher: Zac Goldsmith said he was 'thrilled' Boris Johnson is returning to Westminster Picture: Jeremy Selwyn
3 May 2013
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As David Cameron braced himself for heavy losses in elections today, one of the Tories’ rising stars warned that voters have lost some trust in the Prime Minister’s promises.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Zac Goldsmith said the public was turned off by a “nudge-nudge, wink-wink” approach on airports policy and added that many simply did not believe the Premier’s pledge of an EU referendum after the 2015 election.

“I don’t think people on the streets are clear enough about what Cameron stands for — and that’s a problem in politics,” said Goldsmith. “You need to have a clear sense of direction and that cannot involve a lot of U-turns or nudge-nudge, wink-wink, which is effectively what our airports policy is.

“Even critics respect leadership and decisiveness and I do think we are lacking in that up to a point.”

No one could accuse Goldsmith, 38, of being anything other than up-front. The MP for Richmond Park recently led a successful backbench revolt against the home extensions free-for-all and last weekend organised a rally of about 2,500 west Londoners against Heathrow expansion.

During an hour-long interview, he criticised Chancellor George Osborne for being too political and the Treasury for vetoing green policies. He criticised attacks on Ukip leader Nigel Farage and showered praise on Boris Johnson, saying: “I can imagine him as a future and very successful leader of the Conservative Party.”

The Eton-educated son of the late billionaire financier Sir James Goldsmith arrived in a battered Toyota Prius held together by yards of black gaffer tape. “The policeman at the Commons offered me fifty quid for it,” he smiled.

Choosing an outside table at the Orange Pekoe cafe in Barnes, he insisted on buying the coffees “in these Leveson times”.

Only a few streets away, a huge crowd turned up last Saturday to protest the Tory retreat from its blanket ban on extra runways at Heathrow. “It’s insane to go into an election with a question mark over the policy,” he said. “It’s worrying in all the areas that could be affected. People feel passionately about this.”

He suspects Chancellor Osborne of putting Heathrow back on the agenda to signal the Tories’ willingness “to do unpopular things for the economy”.

And he went on: “It’s pure politics. But I don’t think it’s clever politics.” Had it weakened trust in the Conservatives? “Around here is has.”

Sincerity is all-important to Goldsmith. “Politicians are so detested,” he explained. “And the main cause is not policy, it’s the fact that there is no trust. We need a better relationship between the people and those in power. This kind of stuff doesn’t help.”

The Chancellor — or the Treasury — cropped up again and again as a source of this distrust. He recalled Osborne making “the most important speech on the environment by any chancellor or shadow chancellor” when in opposition and mused: “I just sometimes wonder where that has gone. Who wrote that? Was it an entire fabrication or did he believe it?”

Goldsmith sees Osborne as a politically driven figure. “I think sometimes if you are too interested in day-to-day politics you lose sight of the long term.”

He added: “If we learned one lesson from the 13 years of New Labour it is that you don’t let the chancellor micro-manage the workings of each and every department. It doesn’t work, no matter how brilliant a chancellor.”

Green issues are vital to Goldsmith, who made his name before entering Parliament as a campaigning editor of Ecologist magazine, which was founded by his uncle Edward Goldsmith. He sees stewardship of the environment as a natural issue for Conservatives.

“There are Conservative approaches and socialist approaches — but you need to have an approach,” he said. “Just to abandon any attempt to have an approach is not Right-wing, it’s stupid. And it does sometimes characterise the approach of the Treasury.”

London’s Mayor gets a huge thumbs up. “Whatever that magic dust is that politicians dream of, Boris has got it.

“I’ve seen enough of him to know that he has conviction, he has got integrity, he has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve — but he’s also willing to listen, which is crucial.

“You don’t want pomposity and arrogance in a leader, or petulance. He’s a secure enough figure to take on board opposing arguments.”

Last year it was reported that Goldsmith offered up his seat for Boris to mount a Westminster by-election on the airports issue. Did they discuss the idea? Surprisingly, Goldsmith admitted they did. “I can’t deny that ... because we did.”

It came up, he said, only because someone showed them a blog sketching out such a scenario. “I can’t say we didn’t talk about it because we talked about the blog. It was not realistic. It was not a real conversation.”

Another figure who impresses voters, he said, is the Prime Minister’s current bogeyman, Nigel Farage. “He is very likeable and doesn’t speak like a politician,” said Goldsmith. “I think we could learn from him.”

He said Ukip was “becoming a significant party” although some candidates were “worrying”. Attacks by the big parties just made it stronger. “People are drawn to Ukip as the anti-establishment party,” he said. “When all the mainstream parties gang up, it confirms their view.”

Cameron’s EU referendum pledge had been only “a partial game-changer” because there was so little trust in politics. “There’s a 50-50 chance they don’t believe the promise,” he said.

Goldsmith urged the PM to risk a Coalition row by legislating before the election for the referendum. “There’s a movement in the Conservative Party for this. I think it should be pursued. Let people know where their MPs stand on this big issue.” He would vote to quit the EU unless Cameron secures reforms — “and I’m not sure he can”.

He has no expectations and no ambition to be made a minister. He revealed that soon after the 2010 election he was offered a job as a parliamentary private secretary, the first rung on the ladder, but turned it down.

“I think I have a job to do on the back benches, holding the Government to account,” he said. “I’m probably regarded as a bit of trouble. I shouldn’t think I’m loved in No 10.”

Goldsmith stood by his vow to force a by-election if the Conservatives back a third runway in this parliament. But what if the manifesto simply leaves it open for the Davies Commission to decide? “It’s difficult,” he said. “I would have to think about that.”

He has not decided firmly to stand in 2015 — but who else, he mused, would campaign at Westminster against the over-use of antibiotics or to hold the Coalition to honour its vow to give voters a power of recall over errant MPs?

“I’m a compulsive campaigner,” he shrugged. “I can’t help it.”

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