Rory Stewart- Not the Centrist Messiah we want, but definitely the one we need.

Political Thought- Conservative Leadership Race (2019)

The biggest overarching problem with Donald Trump is the fact that he has normalised extremist views. No matter what reason the American public did or did vote for him, everyone can agree he has dragged political rhetoric norms further to the extreme right. This is not a scathing of his policy or whether he is a good president, but an outlining that the way he talks and the language that he uses has moved the allowed political discourse on public media to be a lot more extreme than centre. This movement is mirrored by Nigel Farage's Brexit campaign. In a similar notion, this is not a scathing of Brexit or any political belief, but an analysis of political discussion in public media. A couple of years ago before this normalising of extreme political discussion Trump's and Farage's rhetoric would be the end of anybody's political career. As everyone is aware, with fire comes fire, so the way that opposing political figures have fought back with the rise of extreme right wing political rhetoric on our televisions is to allow the far left to also rise. Jeremy Corbyn and over seas equivalents like Bernie Sanders have found popularity in being the extreme opposite of the above figures. All of the above has meant that centrist audiences have been left without a voice. Here opens the door to Rory Stewart.

Before I continue, I hear your cries for support of the Liberal Democrats and the Green party as examples of centrist views. Though the Liberal Democrats have a history of being the centrist party, since the Brexit referendum for better or for worse they have become a one policy party: the Second referendum party. Though there is a clear cry for a party holding that policy, as seen in the European elections, they present themselves as the extreme opposite to Nigel Farage's Brexit party. Again, they are not presenting themselves as reasoned and sensible compromise of a centrist party, but the extreme antithesis to the extreme Brexit party. In addition, the Green party though honourable in their intentions are still and will always be a one policy party- their policy is an excellent one, but only covers one minute aspect of the political landscape. Both parties fight for extreme left views with little attempt to compromise or demonstrate a middle ground. They cause political discussions on our media to be just as extreme as Farage, Trump and Corbyn do.

All of the above have caused the conservative leadership campaign to be an ''interesting'' squabble between far right extreme views. The political discussion has gone from demanding no deal to locking the doors on parliament, both of which would have been detrimental to any political hopeful a couple of years ago. In the bid to hamper the Brexit party's recent success, Conservative MPs seem to believe they need just as extreme of a far right political discussion. Only one out of the 11 seems to offer anything different to the rest and out of the bunch his rhetoric is strangely normal.

Rory Stewart whether we like it or not is a Conservative, his voting record shows support of the bedroom tax and other troublesome Conservative policies that have been detrimental to the country and specifically the poorer members of our community. He is not the most centrist of politicians and anybody trying to describe him as the perfect centrist will have a shock if he comes into power. However, he is the closest thing to a reasoned, sensible and willing to compromise politician that has cropped up for many years. Rather than choosing an extreme, he has discussed the unity and compromise that this country severally needs. He is not perfect, but hopefully he can drag this country's political rhetoric back out of the extremes so that when we watch Question Time people can have interesting debates without screaming at each other. We need a leader like Stewart who is willing to listen and talk to both sides and attempt centrist discussions if we have any hope for the future that we can get a truly centrist leader.

If the next Conservative leader is anyone other than Stewart then this country's political rhetoric will be just as extreme, inflammatory and emotional as it has been for the past three years. There will be no change in mood or discussion as when a country is split into only extremes every decision leads to half the population upset and angry. The future of our politics would just be a two and throw of insults and extreme policies before someone realise that the only way we we will escape this political dismay is to sit, talk, listen and attempt to compromise like Rory Stewart has suggested.