Rory Stewart could be the antidote to Boris Johnson's crass arrogance, and a genuine positive for the country

There is food for thought in Stewart’s approach and maybe we could take it further. Perhaps MPs should do a constituency swap with another MP once a year?

The Tory leadership race already has more than 10 candidates in the running. If you listen to the polls, Boris Johnson is the most likely to win because of his “star appeal” with Conservative members. He would be a disaster for this country, combining a lack of attention to detail, with ill-judged jokes and a total lack of principles – who else could write two contrasting articles about the EU before the referendum and then play eenie meenie miny moe?

One of the other declared candidates, Rory Stewart, is the polar opposite of Boris. He's the one candidate in the race for the Tory leadership who I think would be good for the future of Britain as prime minister. And I say that as an active member of the Liberal Democrats who has campaigned against the Tories for the last few years.

The first element of Stewart’s approach to politics which appeals to me is a willingness to get out and about and listen to people. The clear lesson from the referendum result, after all, has been that large sections of the population feel left behind and ignored.

As someone whose canvassed many times for the Lib Dems, the thing I have learned is people want things fixed, no matter how small they may seem to you as a political campaigner.

Stewart spent his bank holiday out and about talking to voters in Borough Market and then in Barking – areas which voted Remain and Leave respectively. The rare sight of a politician talking to people after an election, not before, just to get their votes.

Imagine how many more things could get done by MPs proactively listening to constituents and not waiting for them to email in their gripes or coming to them in tears at their surgeries.

The next attractive element of Stewart’s modus operandi is one of wanting to unite people. On Question Time and in other media appearances, he is the least tribal cabinet member you come across. On Sunday, he tweeted that we need a secretary of state for the union. This is a smart idea given the current political impasse in Northern Ireland and the resurgence of the SNP.

Most importantly, we urgently need politicians who are able to project a positive image of the UK abroad. On Monday, Stewart tweeted a video of himself talking in Dari, to someone in Barking starting with “Peace be with you, How are you ? Long life to you”. What an amazing contrast with Boris Johnson who insulted President Obama’s Kenyan heritage or Nigel Farage’s comments about feeling “awkward” when nobody around him spoke English on a train in London.

There is a lot of food for thought in Stewart’s approach to politics. Maybe we could take this one stage further. How about the idea that an MP must do a constituency swap with another MP once a year? This way Jacob Rees Mogg might be forced listen to the travails of someone living off food banks in the East End of London or Vince Cable might hear from a fisherman about why he wants the UK to leave the Common Fisheries Policy.

These are conversations which might never happen given our first-past-the-post system which encourages campaigning only in areas where parties have a chance of winning.

Another suggestion to bring us together as a nation would be to end tribalism in local government and make all councils non party political. This could create a solid base for a more consensual coalition-based politics in Westminster.

The odds of Stewart winning the current Tory beauty contest are slim. Whatever his future holds, I hope he can break the mould.

His style of politics is needed more than ever in a country racked by division and whose international political standing in the world has been shredded by the aftermath of the EU referendum.

I wish him well.