He lives! He breathes! For the last couple of months Rishi Sunak has barely been seen. It’s as if he’s been held hostage by Tory party apparatchiks and only allowed out for half an hour once a week to take prime minister’s questions in the Commons. To make sure the damage he can do is strictly limited. His goal no longer to reinvigorate his party but to manage its decline. And even that looks to be beyond him. The latest Savanta opinion poll has the Tories winning just 69 seats at the next election and Rish! losing his.
But on Tuesday lunchtime we were treated to a bonus Sunak appearance. This time to make a statement on proposed changes to the immigration system. For Monday’s urgent question on strikes, almost no Tory backbenchers had bothered to turn up in the chamber. The NHS and the transport system gridlocked, nurses reduced to using food banks, inflation out of control, people having to choose between heating and eating. All this was apparently of little consequence to the Conservatives. Just minor everyday problems that barely affected ordinary people’s lives.
