Is Rishi about to be ousted, as lots of people are saying? I’ve been lunching and dining this past week with Tory politicians and political experts, and Conservative MPs appear to be seriously thinking about what their new careers will be one year from now.
As the Conservative Party appears to fall further and further behind in the running, there is increasing talk about Rishi Sunak being replaced, but my prediction is that this is unlikely to happen - even though it probably means the Tories losing the election.
There is no doubt that the Tories are almost at extinction level in the polls at present, and Rishi, despite all his photo ops and promotions, has failed miserably on all of his promises, and has never appeared any more prime ministerial than, say, Liz Truss.
Nevertheless, I really can’t see the country, the Tory party, and its membership going through a third unelected Prime Minister to a fourth.
It would apparently take some 53 letters of no confidence to the 1922 Committee, and then quite a selection battle to choose Rishi’s successor.
I just don’t think that anyone has the stomach for this, particularly with all the other crises and tensions going on in the world right now.
Rishi Sunak is under pressure from Tory MPsPAAnd I also believe that, if there were any clear successor amongst those frequently mentioned, they would have emerged, or strongly presented themselves, long before now.
Finally, perhaps the most practical point of all, is that there simply would not be time between now and the next general election for any new Prime Minister to make any serious progress on Rishi‘s five promises.
Our non-consumer driven inflation, which, as it always does, is falling by itself. It has nothing to do with Rishi, or the Bank of England, and it will continue to fall. They can try to claim credit for that, but try is about as far as they will get.
Credit to Rishi for trying everything he can to bolster his image. His latest gambit is front page statements joining in stopping the supply of arms to Israel. But, he is going to alienate many people who don’t agree and, amongst those who do, many probably know already that this is a red herring.
The UK supplies only 0.2 per cent of Israel’s arms, a mere £42million.
Poor Rishi, he just can’t seem to get it right, can he?
