Britain needs a serious debate, and serious PM

NOW can we please have a proper contest for the leadership of the Tory Party and the office of Prime Minister?

This is a time to be serious, not a time to be personal.

Britain is about to depart from the European Union. A Nato summit seeks to find the right way to deal with the new, assertive Russia.

Vast and costly decisions need urgently to be taken – from replacing Trident submarines to HS2 and the future of London’s airports. In three short months, the USA, our greatest and closest ally, faces a divisive presidential election.

And as all this happens the Labour Party is rending itself in pieces.

What an opportunity for a powerful debate about who should best lead the Tory Party and who should occupy Downing Street, which is still one of the most important addresses in the world.

Yet we are reduced to personal trivia and personal backbiting.

Andrea Leadsom may have been no worse than clumsy and naive to have entangled herself in discussing the virtues of motherhood in politics, and so tactlessly making Theresa May’s unwanted childlessness a public issue.

But the winner of this contest will be in power within minutes of the result. Do we want a naive and clumsy person heading the government of a nuclear power?

Come to that, do we want someone who has inflated her experience, seeking to appear more qualified than she is? These are worrying questions.

Mrs May has insisted – despite her powerful lead in MPs’ votes and in experience – that this contest should go the distance.

In that spirit, the people of this country are entitled to require that the next head of government is chosen in a serious, sober, responsible fashion, free of personal attack, direct or indirect, concentrating on those things which matter – experience, coolness under fire, mastery of a brief, ability to withstand pressure and face the buffeting of events.

The Mail on Sunday has been clear from the start that Mrs May is by far the most qualified person for this task. She still is.