Sunak steadies ship and can power ahead

Can it really be just four days since liz truss was in Downing street?

Only a week since Boris Johnson was returning from the Caribbean in apparent preparation for a tory leadership bid?

A mere four days since rishi sunak ‘kissed hands’ with King Charles iii to become the third Prime Minister in the space of seven weeks?

It’s as though a whole political epoch has been condensed into one manic spasm. already Miss truss feels like a sepia-tinted image and Mr sunak an experienced hand.

This time last week the Conservative party resembled a ship adrift in the eye of a howling storm.

Today the battered old tub is on a distinctly more even keel. not exactly surging through the waves, but saved from Davy Jones’s locker – for now at least.

The election (some would say coronation) of Mr sunak has restored a sense of calm in these fractious, unquiet times.

And it’s not just the party that’s breathing a collective sigh of relief but the whole country. the markets have stabilised. the polls are beginning to turn.

While there is certainly no cause for complacency, Mr sunak’s arrival has steadied the ship. the question now is: Where does it go from here?

In a confident start, Mr sunak identified the manifold problems facing the country.

An economy still reeling from Covid. Borrowing running out of control. a public sector in desperate need of reform. NHS waiting lists at record levels.

He has warned of ‘difficult decisions to come’ as he walks a tightrope between fiscal responsibility and the incessant clamour for more public spending.

We will see next week whether he strikes the right balance.

Mr sunak will have a brief honeymoon period. one poll yesterday showed he is already more trusted than labour’s sir Keir starmer on the economy and neck-andneck on who would make the better PM.

However, the tories will not win the next election by default. they must convince the public they can do better than labour – not that they couldn’t possibly do worse.

Mr sunak comes into this job on a wave of goodwill. the obstacles ahead are daunting, but not insurmountable. With a listening ear and a steady hand on the tiller, he can yet steer the ship of state through the squalls and reefs that lie ahead.