At last, a Tory leadership race engaged with reality. But who will listen? | Patrick Butler

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt could learn a lot from the Local Government Association elections. Don't hold your breath

In the Tory party leadership contest you didn't hear about, which ended last week, Brexit machismo was not an issue. Promises of fantastical tax cuts and uncosted splurging on farmers and fishing weren't on the agenda either. In the other leadership battle, key issues wereongoing austerity, the social care crisis, and councils going bust. This contest (unlike the one you have heard of) requires a successful candidate who is, as one insider said acidly, "engaged with reality".

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