In amongst all the doom and gloom that is in the news there is one spark of light in British politics because the Tory MP for Putney Justine Greening is stepping down at the next election. When she first appeared on the scene in 2005, she looked at first quite impressive and I believed that there was a little of the ‘Margaret Thatcher’ about her. Unfortunately as time has gone on she has proven herself to be much less of a strong character than the former Prime Minister was.

Justine Greening is one of those Conservative MP’s who I believe would be happier and more suited to joining the Liberal Democrats rather than the Conservative Party. Although on some issues such as preserving Grammar Schools, she promoted solid conservative values, her time at the Education, International Development and Women and Equalities departments showed her to be a little weak. She didn’t stand up properly to the Leftist ‘Blob’ that controls education via the Education Department’s Civil Servants and neither did she do anything of note whilst at International Development. At Women and Equalities she gave the impression to me that she was just another PC sock puppet doing a non-job in what is quite frankly a non-department. Ms Greening, who is also currently a Privy Counsellor , was also a Remain supporter at the Referendum in 2016 but has since taken a more pragmatic view of the election result. She was also, earlier this year, involved with a campaign for a second referendum alongside Remainers such as Dominic Grieve.

It’s quite possible that Ms Greening is jumping before she is pushed. During the last General Election at which former Prime Minister Theresa May ran an incompetent campaign that saw her turn a healthy Commons majority into a slim one, Justine Greening was re-elected but on a much reduced vote. Maybe she saw the electoral writing on the wall and decided that it was more dignified to step down in advance rather than have the Tories lose the seat? She may also have been frightened by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s call for those Tory Remainer MP’s who are plotting to disrupt Brexit, be deselected. Ms Greening may be thinking that she will leave a better public image by voluntarily resigning than being forcibly deselected?

Justine Greening is one of those ‘also rans’ politicians who looked at first highly promising and maybe destined for great things, but who turned into what used to be called in the days of Margaret Thatcher’s Premiership as a ‘wet’. Ms Greening seemed to quickly turn from a person who looked like she may have had some sort of backbone, into a slippery spineless pretend Tory, wetter than the wettest blanket. As I said earlier Ms Greening may have been much more happy and suitable in the Lib Dems, a party that is these days neither genuinely liberal or democratic. The Tories are well rid of Justine Greening and those like her.