IF you’re a political anorak like me, following it as some people follow other sports, then you cannot fail to have been enjoying the last few weeks.
I know politics is a serious business, affecting the lives of millions, that politicians carry a huge responsibility, and that it’s irresponsible not to vote. But that doesn’t stop it being fun to watch sometimes.
And the recent tribulations of the Government have been like Wimbledon, the FA Cup final and the Six Nations rugby tournament rolled into one.
Liz Truss, who will be remembered as one of Britain’s great comedy characters, quoted Peter Mandelson by declaring: “I’m a fighter not a quitter.”
And then she quit.
It soon became clear that Conservative FC’s former manager was trying to make a comeback. The shortest-serving and worst prime minister of all time could have been succeeded by her predecessor, the second worst.
Indeed according to his henchman Dominic Cummings, this was always Boris Johnson’s plan. Mr Cummings said in July that Liz Truss was widely expected to fail, allowing Johnson to ride to the rescue again.
Some seemed to want him back, but not enough Tory MPs were prepared to allow it. And perhaps we’re better off without a prime minister who lied, broke rules supposed to protect lives, and said at the start of Covid: “Let the bodies pile high.”
The Conservatives’ former star striker Rishi Sunak, who had briefly been relegated to the substitutes’ back benches, is now back managing the team. And he is widely seen as a safe pair of hands, which I suppose in football terms would make him a goalkeeper.
The point is often made that he is our first non-white prime minister. In 1979 much was made of the fact that Margaret Thatcher was the first woman in the job, but by the time Theresa May took over in 2016 it was hardly mentioned. Perhaps he will have a similar normalising effect.
Some have been questioning his decisions. While he was chancellor, and at his most popular, he was behind the short-lived “eat out to help out” scheme, which many believe only helped out the virus.
In order to appease the players furthest to the right of the field, he put Suella Braverman back in as home secretary, less than a week after she had been fired for security breaches that broke the ministerial code. It seems she only had to spend six days in the sin bin.
He was caught on camera in Tunbridge Wells boasting about redirecting funding from deprived areas in the north to wealthier southern ones.
And his relationship with money may prove a thorn in his side.
Most new prime ministers pose for a photograph outside their new home with their spouse and children. But when Mr Sunak posed there he was alone – his wife Akshata Murty conspicuous by her absence.
He may want to keep her in the background because he came in for harsh criticism earlier this year over his wife’s “non-domiciled” status, which excluded her from paying tax on her earnings from outside the UK. She has since agreed to pay them.
She can well afford to, as Mr and Mrs Sunak are the richest ever occupants of Downing Street. They are said to have a combined wealth of £730million, far more than our brand new monarch King Charles III, who has around £388million.
One of their two London homes, in Kensington, is estimated to be worth £7million.
He also has a property in his constituency of Richmond in north Yorkshire, set in 12 acres. He is reportedly building a private swimming pool there – at the time when Richmond’s public swimming pool is facing closure due to lack of funding.
Then there’s the penthouse in California. And he won’t find it hard to heat any of them.
This is why his vast wealth matters. The cost of living crisis which Liz Truss managed to make much worse is leading many to have to choose to “heat or eat”.
Thousands are living in fear of the coming winter.
I guess that Mr Sunak is a smart man – and I don’t just mean his clothes, with suits said to cost £3,500 and Prada shoes costing £490.
I meant that he’s probably very intelligent. But some will wonder how a multi-millionaire can really imagine the struggles of ordinary working people, when they have never faced any of their problems.
He has warned of tough decisions that lie ahead, tough choices to be made. But how tough will they be for him?
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