We’re in for a bumpy ride

RISHI Sunak’s Cabinet consists of some old, some new, some borrowed and all different shades of blue. And yet there is nothing in the group to excite the electorate, many of the same old faces leaving us underwhelmed by his predictable choices drawn from the shallow pool of talent which currently characterises the complement on the Government backbenches.

Mr Sunak is hoping to claw back the credibility without which the Conservatives are destined to swap places with those who see themselves as the government in waiting. Labour stands for the big state and empowering the substantial group which used to be quaintly considered the working classes. Its attempt to capitalise upon its virtually insurmountable lead in the opinion polls will be characterised as a big spending venture which can lead only to further national impoverishment. That argument will be countered by Downing Street pushing the Tory emphasis upon the small state where low taxation and deregulation rule the roost.

Mervyn King put it very well when he mentioned the mythology behind the narrative foisted upon the national psyche after years of brainwashing from the right wing by pointing out that we cannot have Scandinavian levels of public services with American levels of taxation.

We will hear ad nauseam how the Tory Government will put more money into the pockets of workers via the reduction of taxes to allow people to spend their money as they wish, whereas Labour will say that preservation of proper public services will be of more benefit to those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

Many will be waiting for the Sunak Government to implode as the pressure builds on the occupant of Number 10, his inexperience leaving him vulnerable to the unremitting onslaught from the other side of the despatch box.

Politics being a rough trade, there is some doubt about whether Mr Sunak is enough of a pachyderm to fend off direct attacks upon his lifestyle and Thatcherite policies whereas Sir Keir Starmer has shown that he can stomach the slings and arrows of outrageous hostility.

The next two years should be absorbing, if this PM can last that long. Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.

MEMO to Rishi Sunak: The BBC is 100 years old. So is the 1922 Committee. Is it not time that all copies of the 2019 Tory manifesto were recycled as loo roll? There are shortages in parts of Scotland at the moment, and we haven’t had a good independence referendum since before my grandson was born.

UK democracy? You’re the 57th UK PM, we’re told. The 55th and 56th weren’t up to much. Do you want to be the last?

Norrie Forrest, Kincardine.