24 May 2024

No, Rishi Sunak is not a technocrat


Even the papers most friendly to the Conservatives are struggling to find reasons why they might win. You still get the occasional half-hearted mention of 1992, as if that situation bore any resemblance to this one, but the fight has gone out of them.

Instead attention is turning, earlier than usual, to explaining the upcoming defeat, and Rishi Sunak’s inability to improve their fortunes. There is a general consensus that he is terrible at politics. He has never given a memorable speech. His interviews are typically an execrable mish-mash of unjustified boasting and rebarbative defensiveness. His approach to party management is so bad that Natalie Elphicke is somehow now a Labour MP.

So far, so obvious. But the second part of the consensus is that he’s basically a decent, smart, hard-working chap, who is just not cut out of for the performative and irrational world of modern politics. A recent BBC profile quoted sources claiming “He is all duty and hard work” and the “the cleverest person in the room”.

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