Rishi Sunak has sold himself to other Tories as a kind of company doctor with a recovery plan to rescue a hideously tarnished and hugely unpopular brand from political bankruptcy. Downing Street has projected him to the voters in a similar fashion as a Mr Fix-It. This has provided Conservatives with a consoling story about their chances of winning the next general election. Whenever confronted with dire opinion poll ratings, they have responded that their prospects will improve as the prime minister draws a line under the torrid past and shows that he leads a stable government.
At a recent event organised by Onward, a Conservative thinktank, the Tory leader sought credit for moving his party on from what he called the “box-set drama” that came before his arrival at Number 10. Much ruder phrases are available to describe the mad premiership of Liz Truss and the bad one of Boris Johnson. He has hoped to earn points for himself and soften the disdain towards his party by not being as reckless with the nation’s finances as Ms Truss and not as degrading of public life as Mr Johnson. A lot of senior Tories have echoed this “steady Sunak” narrative if only for want of any other tale to tell themselves.
