Now we see him. Rishi Sunak, who has ducked and dived to try to hold off the civil war in his party, emerges as just another in the line of shameless and reckless Tory leaders devoid of any sense of national interest, political honesty or concern for anything beyond his own very short-term future.
Restoring some semblance of solidity was his calling card, but he has just trashed his unique selling point. The man who set out to restore the tattered fragments of his party’s reputation for responsibility – wrecked by his two predecessors – has added himself to this list of the most dishonourable, self-interested prime ministers in living memory. Here’s the irony: in breaking with Boris Johnson’s green policies, he most resembles him as callow and opportunistic, willing to say and do whatever pleases in the moment. And another one: it takes quite something to make Johnson seem the more statesmanlike, allowing him to tell Sunak not to “falter” now.
