Recent prime ministers have been all too obviously thrilled by the adrenaline rush of the flak jacket and international conflict. One or two others have preferred the more cerebral challenge of the British constitution’s Rubik’s-cube intricacies. Neither of these, though, has ever seemed like an issue that floats Rishi Sunak’s boat. Instead, this prime minister has always appeared far more interested in new technology, economic theory and mastering the detail, rather than national security policy or political checks and balances.
Yet now, at the start of 2024, Sunak finds himself out of his managerialist comfort zone. Instead, he is increasingly reliant on defiant public postures on both military action and the constitution. In the former case he has taken on the improbable mantle of a warrior leading a bombing campaign against Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping. In the latter, equally awkwardly, he is now casting himself as a populist hammer of the House of Lords in the pursuit of his Rwanda policy.
