Rishi Sunak Archives - Page 12 of 35

Week-in-Review: Sunak has no good options — but neither do his Conservative critics

It is the essential Sunakian dilemma: go too far and alienate the Conservative Party’s moderate elements — the vast swathe of MPs who fell behind the PM in consecutive leadership contests last year. Don’t go far enough, and anger the Conservatives’ ideological maximalists — MPs who are perennially suspicious of Sunak but who must be […]

After Robert Jenrick’s resignation, Rishi Sunak has never been more exposed

Robert Jenrick entered parliament in 2014 after seeing off a challenge from UKIP in a by-election. In such contests, parties tend to pick the most generic, least troublesome candidates after rounds of rigorous vetting. Jenrick, the mild-mannered lawyer, was pointedly prototypical. In parliament, Jenrick acquired the moniker “Robert Generic” as he climbed the greasy poll […]

PMQs verdict: Clearest signal yet the Rwanda plan won’t save Sunak

It’s a tale of two grillings today in British politics. Capturing the largest part of SW1’s attention today, of course, is Boris Johnson’s appearance before the Covid inquiry — as the former prime minister stares down chair Baroness Hallett’s lead lawyer: the headline-generating Hugo Keith KC. But current PM Rishi Sunak faced his own forensic dressing-down […]

Week-in-Review: From Greek marbles to net zero, Sunak’s embrace of ‘wedge politics’ is taking a toll

Rishi Sunak is a man of many strategies. Some days our prime minister is an apolitical pledge-propounding champion of stability on a mission to exorcise any excitement from British politics with his delivery-oriented “five pledges”. On others, he is a status quo-smashing “change politician”, bearing down on 30 years of stagnant governance. Sometimes he likes […]

Senior Conservative accuses Sunak of ‘diplomatic fail’ as Elgin Marbles row deepens

Rishi Sunak continues to be embroiled in a deepening row with Athens after he cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister at the “eleventh hour” over the Elgin Marbles. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is visiting Britain, has said he was “disappointed” that the planned bilateral meeting had fallen through. The prime minister had offered his […]

Sunak dismisses Braverman deal reports: ‘Of course you have conversations in a leadership election’

The prime minister has dismissed reports that he and Suella Braverman formulated a “deal” in return for her support in the October 2022 Conservative leadership election. It comes as the former home secretary continues to reference such an agreement, insisting in her letter to the prime minister after her unceremonious sacking earlier this month: “I […]

The rise of ‘alternative budgets’ shows Rishi Sunak is trapped

There is a new phenomenon taking the SW1 scene by storm: the “alternative budget” — a fiscal plan produced by some dispossessed faction and designed, at once, to focus minds on a chosen subject in government and to posture and position as antagonists press ahead with their own proposals. The “alternative budget” trail was blazed, […]

‘No evidence, no transparency, pure dogma’: Sunak’s Treasury under the spotlight at Covid inquiry

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s former chief scientific adviser, accused the Treasury during the pandemic of “pure dogma”, private notes written at the time reveal. Questioned at the Covid inquiry yesterday, Sir Patrick said his comments in October 2021 were probably made late at night in “frustration”. The entry said: “Economic predictions. HMT (the Treasury) […]

How Rishi Sunak could fight a ‘stop the boats election’

A key question that flowed from the Supreme Court ruling on the government’s flagship deportation plan last week was this: will any asylum seekers make it to Rwanda by the time of the next election, which must be held by January 2025? Animating this question is a future dilemma for Rishi Sunak — that, having overseen […]