Week-in-Review: Rishi Sunak’s economic credibility could soon be shot
Ronald Reagan once joked that the most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. Yesterday Britain’s premier, faced with figures pointing to a deepening economic malaise, promised: “I am totally, 100%, on it and it’s going to be okay”. Reagan, like our PM a California-dweller, would […]
On ‘halving inflation’: is Rishi Sunak set to miss his most achievable pledge?
Rishi Sunak began this year with a round of pledge-making in a deliberate effort to contour the terrain on which the next election will be fought. Promising to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut NHS waiting lists and “stop the boats”, the PM claimed he was pronouncing the “people’s priorities”. But the opportunism […]
Abstaining the pain away: Why Rishi Sunak won’t lance the Boris boil
MPs will this evening debate, and likely endorse, the findings of the privileges committee report into Boris Johnson. But among those not expected to vote in favour of the former PM’s would-be 90-day sanction is Rishi Sunak, who has a conveniently timed meeting with his Swedish counterpart around the time of the debate. (Although he […]
Sunak set to abstain over partygate report as Starmer calls on PM to ‘show leadership’
The prime minister must “show leadership” by supporting the privileges committee’s report into Boris Johnson, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The comment comes as MPs are set to debate the findings of the commons privileges committee, which would have seen Boris Johnson face a 90-day ban from the House of Commons for “repeated contempts” of […]
Senior Conservative warns Rishi Sunak not to abstain on privileges committee vote
A senior Conservative MP has said if Rishi Sunak does not take part in Monday’s vote on the privileges committee report on Boris Johnson he will not be “rising to the importance of the occasion”. MPs will be given a free vote on the report, but allies of Mr Johnson have warned of consequences, including […]
Is Nadine Dorries inadvertently boosting Rishi Sunak by delaying the Mid Bedfordshire by-election?
The government has today formally moved writs in the House of Commons to trigger by-elections in the constituencies of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and Selby and Ainsty. The by-elections come as a result of the resignations last week of former prime minister Boris Johnson and his close ally Nigel Adams. Johnson sensationally quit Westminster on […]
After Boris, can Rishi Sunak find his ‘mojo’?
These are tantalising times for Rishi Sunak. His problem predecessor-but-one, who has majored on manoeuvring since his failed leadership run in October, has entered self-imposed exile, his House of Commons days — for now at least — behind him. The problem is that he has done so in typical Johnsonian style, with a flailing broadside […]
Rishi Sunak has Suella Braverman right where he wants her
The Home Office under Rishi Sunak is a curious department. Nominally, it is led by Suella Braverman, who appeared to have the brief surrendered to her during the October 2022 Conservative leadership contest. While we are ignorant of the terms of such a “deal” between Sunak and his soon-to-be home secretary — and it has not […]
‘I will not rest until the boats are stopped’, Sunak vows in Channel crossings update
In a visit today to Dover, Kent, the prime minister provided an update to the country on his vow to “stop the boats”. Rishi Sunak made the pledge at the start of the year and in today’s update, six months on, he was hoping to show voters and his MPs that he is making progress […]
Week-in-Review: Sunak’s embrace of secrecy leaves him exposed
A week is a long time in politics. This one began with revelations that Covid inquiry chair Baroness Hallett was requesting Boris Johnson’s pandemic-era WhatsApps and ended with the government suing that same inquiry, set up under Johnson, created to investigate the government’s Covid conduct. We can trace the origins of the week’s developments back […]
