Time may be running out for Sunak but he is still playing the long game

She may have only been in power for 49 days, but in her attempt to rebrand herself as “the only Conservative in the room”, the former prime minister, 48, appears determined not to go down as a mere footnote in history.

Meanwhile, her predecessor Boris Johnson continues to pen his autobiography, described by an ally as “not so much a life story as a treatise on levelling up”.

As Sir Winston Churchill famously put it: “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.”

The question of how Rishi Sunak will be remembered remains unanswered amid all the uncertainty of what the next six months will bring.

Yet despite the Conservatives polling 23 percentage points behind Labour, the 43-year-old Prime Minister appears determined to keep the focus on “long-term decisions for a brighter future”, in the vein of last year’s Tory party conference slogan.

Even if, as the polls suggest, he is not in office come 2025, it’s all about delivering what he himself has described as “meaningful” change “to benefit our children and grandchildren for decades to come”.

The Conservatives may be facing an electoral Armageddon, but ever cheerful Sunak and his equally hopeful team appear to believe it will all be worth it if they “leave Britain in a better place”.

Acting in the “national interest” is currently deemed more important than landing blows on Sir Keir Starmer’s resurgent Labour in what supporters will interpret as mature government – and what critics will see as politically naive idealism.

Yesterday, with this altruistic approach in mind, he announced plans to overhaul the benefits system to ensure people who are fit to work “aren’t left behind”.

The Prime Minister’s vision for a “new welfare settlement for Britain” comes amid an unprecedented rise in inactivity due to long-term sickness. Latest figures show almost a third of working age adults are inactive.

He outlined five reforms which will help to modernise the welfare system “to ensure it is fit for the future”.

It comes after a week which has witnessed a number of “legacy” projects which will ensure that Sunak is not forgotten, even as his youthful portrait gathers dust on the Downing Street staircase.

His proposed smoking ban, which passed its first parliamentary hurdle on Tuesday, would make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born after Jan 1 2009 – realising the Prime

‘The question of how Rishi Sunak will be remembered remains unanswered’

Minister’s dream of creating a “smokefree” generation in the decades to come.

Should the flagship Tobacco and Vaping Bill become law, as expected, regardless of the outcome of the next general election, Sunak will forever be remembered as the man who stopped children smoking.

Could a social media ban for under-16s also be in the offing as part of the Sunak heritage project?

The Government is expected to

unveil plans for tougher age restrictions on apps such as Facebook and WhatsApp, which currently allow children as young as 13 to sign up as members.

As part of the proposed consultation, parents will also be canvassed on banning under-16s from buying smartphones and on whether extra safeguards, enabling parents to monitor and control access to social media sites, should be installed until children reach a certain age.

Will Tanner, Sunak’s deputy chief of staff, is also said to be heavily involved in the proposals, suggesting that they have the support of the PM in principle, despite them potentially putting him on a collision course with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

“As a parent, I am always worried about social media and what my young girls are exposed to,” father of two Sunak said in February.

Being faced with the prospect of a shorter term of office than all of his immediate predecessors bar one has not stopped Sunak from wanting to play the long game.