Sunak Is Inept At Politics But Luck Might Just Be On His Side

The most surprising thing about Rishi Sunak being prime minister is that he doesn't look surprised. He hasn't been in politics long. He became an MP only seven years ago. And this year his career has seemed to be finished twice. Yet there he is, in No 10, looking as if he always expected to be there.

- John Rentoul

Everyone had said he wouldn't be so popular when he stopped handing out vast sums of borrowed money and the bills in the form of higher taxes arrived, and everyone was right. But in the spring, he managed to complete the transition from hero to normal minister and then to zero. He misjudged the first of several Budget-like events, failing to help the poor with rising prices, and was then brought lower by the revelations of his wife's non-dom status and his own US green card, which he retained until last year.

And yet, when Boris Johnson succeeded in outdoing him in the self-destruction steeplechase in July, Sunak was still the best option in the eyes of Conservative MPs to succeed him.

A more experienced, more cynical politician would have seized the chance of redemption and run a leadership campaign focused ruthlessly on what Conservative Party members wanted, as they would make the final choice. Instead, Sunak decided to fight a campaign based on telling party members what they didn't want to hear. Specifically, what they did not want to hear was that more borrowing to pay for tax cuts was a "fairytale". The more that party members suspected, deep down, that what Sunak was telling them was true, the less they liked it.

So they voted for Liz Truss, who focused ruthlessly on what they wanted and told them what they did want to hear. Even if it included calling Emmanuel Macron an enemy, saying she would ignore Nicola Sturgeon, and describing solar panels in the countryside as an eyesore.