Rishi Shouldn't Be Written Off Just Yet

The commentators who read the political tea leaves made their minds up pretty based on initial quickly, polling Conservative Party members, that Liz Truss was on course to become our next PM.

- Philip Bowern

I'm not so sure they haven't been a bit hasty. Yes, Ms Truss fired up the party faithful from the off with her promises of tax cuts and presented a Johnson-style upbeat assessment of Britain's future under her premiership. Contrasted with Rishi Sunak's grim warnings and promise to keep a very tight grip on the nation's purse strings, who wouldn't vote for Ms Truss and her pledge to lead us all to the sunlit uplands?

In Johnson-ese, it could be characterised as the booster versus the gloomster - and when inflation is raging and a recession beckons, no one wants to be reminded of how bad things will be; they want to be uplifted. But as a breed I would suggest Conservative Party members are thoughtful people.

You don't join a political party if you have no interest in politics. And an interest in politics tends to translate into an interest in your country and how it is run.