Rishi Sunak launches bid to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative leader – live
Boris #Boris
Rishi Sunak’s launch video is slick and extremely professional. (It is also not the sort of thing that has been knocked together in a rush, since Sunak resigned on Tuesday night.) The former chancellor has spent a lot of time in the US, where the political consultancy industry is much more advanced than in the UK, and the video has all the hallmarks of a top-notch production based on the best advice money can by.
The technical quality is very good. It starts with Sunak telling a story, and it is a tale of his immigrant family background, and hard work, success and family. “Family is everying to me, and my family gave my opportunities they could only dream of,” he says, in a formula that frames his privileged upbringing (he went to Winchester, one of the most elite private schools in the country), in the context of upwards mobility. From there it is one to love of country and the values that Sunak says are “non-negotiable” for him – “patriotism, fairness and hard work”. It ends with Sunak saying “we’ve had enough of division”, and how he wants to bring people together because “that’s the only way to succeed”. You could run an ad like this for almost any centrist candidate in a western democracy, and it would probably work. These are messages with a wide appeal.
There is no policy in the video, and little that is specific. But – unsurprisingly – Sunak does focus on his record as chancellor, saying he “ran the toughest department in government during the toughest times when we faced the nightmare of Covid”. It is hard to dispute this, and this will be at the heart of the campaign.
More intriguingly, Sunak also hints at the approach he will take to spending arguments in the contest.
The decisions we make today will decide whether the next generation of British people will also have the chance of a better future.
Do we confront this moment with honesty, seriousness and determination? Or do we tell ourselves comforting fairy tales that might make us feel better in the moment, but will leave our children worse off tomorrow? Someone has to grip this moment and make the right decisions.
Although “comforting fairly tale” might be seen by some as a good description of Brexit (which Sunak supported), he is talking here about government debt, his belief that too much borrowing is irresponsible, that tax cuts have to be paid for, and that some of this Tory colleague are wrong to believe that tax cuts will pay for themselves (a point he made explicitly in his Mais lecture).
One curious feature of the video is that it is address to the public at large. But the public at large will not get a vote on who becomes the next Tory leader. It is a decision for Conservative MPs, and 100,000 or so party members.
That is all from me for today. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is taking over now.
