The Tory leadership race and Britain’s growth challenge

And then there were two. On July 20th Tory mps chose Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the exchequer, and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, to battle it out to become their new leader and Britain’s next prime minister. The candidates, who will campaign for the votes of Conservative Party members over the coming weeks, agree on at least one thing: Britain sorely needs growth. The 15-year period between 2004 and 2019 was the weakest for growth in gdp per person since the one between 1919 and 1934—and that was before the shocks of Brexit and covid-19.