By Stefan Boscia
Liz Truss must install a cabinet of people from across her party’s factions to avoid Boris Johnson’s mistakes in office, senior Tory MP David Davis has said.
The former Conservative cabinet minister said he was “slightly worried” the presumptive next PM will not reunite the party after a bruising leadership contest and will instead pack her cabinet only with campaign supporters.
The foreign secretary is expected to be announced as Tory leader and Prime Minister tomorrow, after leading rival Rishi Sunak in nearly every poll of party members by 30-point margins.
The Sunday Times reports that her cabinet will be filled almost entirely with close campaign supporters, with MPs like Kwasi Kwarteng, James Cleverly and Suella Braverman set for top jobs.
Davis said Truss should appoint Sunak to a major cabinet role if she wins the leadership election tomorrow, along with several of his supporters.
He said the next Prime Minister’s “loyalty is to a bigger entity – your loyalty is to the party and the country”.
“There is a real risk the party will feel divided [after tomorrow’s result] and if that’s the case we won’t win the next election, so it’s going to be really important she pulls people in,” Davis said.
“The greatest mistake Boris Johnson made, there were a few, but right back to the beginning … was the fact he basically created a cabinet of loyalists. It wasn’t a meritocratic cabinet, it wasn’t the best people.”
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