The 10 economic commitments we need from the next Tory leader

The harsh truth is that whatever their aspirations are, they can only be successful if the economy is successful, writes Hamish McRae

They seem somehow disconnected from the practical, everyday problems that people face (Getty)

It’s the economy, stupid. That was the slogan coined by James Carville, strategist to Bill Clinton for his 1992 presidential bid, and as “The economy, stupid”, pinned up on the wall of the campaign headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas.

It has become a catchphrase that can be adapted to any political pitch: the deficit, stupid, or perhaps now, inflation, stupid. It is a measure of Carville’s genius that there are books with that title, university courses on it, and inevitably attacks on the idea that the economy is the most important shaper of political success.

Apply that to the UK now. Anyone watching the debates of the would-be Tory leaders on British television must wonder why the world that politicians occupy seems so different from that of the rest of us. They talk of the pressures on families, or of the need to cut taxes and boost government spending, but they seem somehow disconnected from the practical, everyday problems that people face. Other things matter too, but the harsh truth is that whatever their aspirations are, they can only be successful if the economy is successful.