Stewart, who served as an MP from 2010-2019 and now co-hosts the Rest is Politics podcast with ex-Labour press secretary Alastair Campbell, told Abta’s Travel Convention in Marrakech recent tax cuts enacted by Liz Truss’s government were “complete nonsense” before slamming the prime minister for her “populist” approach.
He said Truss had triumphed in the Conservative leadership election “because she told the audience what they wanted to hear”. He also took aim at chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng for the economic shockwaves that have followed his "mini-Budget" last month.
“Politics is becoming increasingly relevant,” Stewart told delegates. “Normally, a Tory ’mini-Budget’ would be pretty boring. Kwasi Kwarteng revealed his and overnight, everyone in this room experienced it directly – a sudden drop in the currency, a rise in interest rates and 100,000 people this month will see their mortgage rates have effectively doubled.”
Stewart rubbished Truss’s strategy to “cut taxes and create growth” to boost the UK economy in a similar fashion to the US. “The idea there is some trick in the back pocket to help us grow as fast as the US reveals immense ignorance in the structure of our economy – that is what Liz Truss has done.”
He also derided the constant reshuffling of ministers to different governmental roles – taking up new positions which they do not necessarily have experience in. This included new secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, Jacob Rees-Mogg, within whose department the Package Travel Regulations fall.
“We [politicians] genuinely have no idea what we’re talking about. We’re a professional group of bluffers,” said Stewart. “That particularly comical figure Jacob Rees-Mogg, who unfortunately is now responsible for part of your industry, has changed jobs about every 12 months over the last four years.”
Elsewhere during his speech, Stewart charted the rise of populist politics since 2014 – from the elections of right-wing leaders across the globe, through to the Brexit referendum and the Trump presidency.
“British politics has collapsed like an unstable souffle with no votes in the centre, just right and left and that creates the age of populism,” he said. “Politics was always an unpopular, messy, embarrassing business – but it’s getting much worse.”
