I’m afraid I have what might be shocking news – Ken Clarke is quite right-wing. He may hold heterodox views on Europe (a conviction that cost him the party leadership on multiple occasions), but Clarke’s reputation as a Tory ‘wet’ belies both his record and his admiration for Margaret Thatcher.
That he recently came out in support of the government’s Rwanda policy was a surprise only to those who misunderstand the man. Clarke vibes to the centre and votes right, as many skilful politicians do. The lesser-spotted successful left-wing politicians in Britain do it too, only the inverse.
For several years, Rishi Sunak enjoyed, even cultivated a reputation for moderation thanks in large part to his geeky, technocratic persona. That his first introduction to public consciousness was paying people not to work during the pandemic couldn’t have hurt.
For a while, this pro-Brexit, Thatcherite leader leaned into the image. But all of a sudden, 20 points behind in the polls and showing no sign of closing the gap, he has decided to change tack. Even as a prime minister, it is difficult to overturn first impressions. But Sunak is giving it the old college try.
On the basis of a solitary and surprise by-election victory in Uxbridge, the prime minister has concluded he must trash the Conservative Party’s record on the environment. To that end, Sunak flew by private jet to Scotland and, after taking umbrage at the idea that he could have taken the train, announced that hundreds of new oil and gas licenses will be granted in the North Sea. The whole interview was pretty testy.
In isolation, this would be controversial enough. But it comes after days of briefing that suggest ministers are keen on reversing swathes of green (or green-adjacent) policies including low-traffic neighbourhoods, 20mph zones and of course Ulez expansion. The surprise is that Sunak has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.
N.B. There is plenty to say here about the prime minister of a nation with a state as centralised and an economy as sluggish as Britain’s directing where bollards on side streets should go, but we don’t have that kind of time.
The point is, if this latest anti-green policy is an attempt to claw back public support, it is likely to fail. First, because Sunak risks over-interpreting the close result of a by-election held in a seat cryogenically designed and timed to be painful for Labour, coming weeks before the Ulez is set to be extended.
And second, because up to this point, Sunak has enjoyed a polling lead over his own party, based in part on the idea that he is both more moderate and more competent than the Conservatives as a whole. So why is he suddenly sitting in Margaret Thatcher’s old Rover telling people how much he loves cars? Well, nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have.
But I think it speaks to Sunak himself. The ‘Stanford man‘, as Joe Biden likes to call him, with the £5.5m penthouse apartment in Santa Monica, gives the impression he would rather be running the California of his dreams, filled with ambitious tech entrepreneurs, acres of space and a lust for free markets. Instead, he’s running Britain. I’d be grouchy too.
Whatever you thought of the man and his relationship with the truth, Boris Johnson was the most left-wing Conservative leader since John Major. And though he benefited in 2019 from Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn, it is undoubtedly the case that the position he carved out – pro-Brexit but pro-environment – was electorally attractive. Would it be again? We’ll never know. As for Sunakism, not long to find out.
In the comment pages, Dylan Jones fears Britain is drifting into a slow-motion world where urgency is always an optional extra. Tanya Gold says the Scilly Isles idyll is made possible by people the locals don’t like: the rest of us. While Agnes Dauti, 16, sets out how to make vaping less attractive to teenagers.
And finally, meal deals are about more than sad sandwiches and orange juice that never met a tree in its life. Mike Daw rounds up the best lunch deals in the capital’s flashiest dining rooms.
