# Rishi Sunak tries to lead the UK **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 24, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706 "2022-10-24T13:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/622 "2024-01-31T18:11:28Z")
Me-OW! ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/623 "2024-01-31T18:19:51Z")
That’s likely as sensible a statement as a lot of what comes out of No. 10. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/624 "2024-01-31T19:07:54Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > [Kemi Badenoch is member of ‘Evil Plotters’ Tory WhatsApp group | Kemi Badenoch | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/29/kemi-badenoch-member-evil-plotters-tory-whatsapp-group) Never has this tweet been more relevant: > ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/625 "2024-02-07T11:47:54Z")
And yet another Tory splinter/pressure group launches (sort of). At least this time Truss doesn’t seem to have [got lost on the way out](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/liz-truss-gets-lost-trying-27481000). > **[Truss’s PopCon group splinters on launch but attacks Sunak’s policies](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/06/popular-conservatism-has-splintered-but-is-united-in-criticism-of-sunaks-policies)** > > Just two of four MPs billed to speak present as launch event amounts to evisceration of PM’s government ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/626 "2024-02-16T08:03:42Z")
> **[Wellingborough and Kingswood by-elections: Labour scores double victory over...](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68313421)** > > The party overturns big majorities to win former Conservative seats of Wellingborough and Kingswood. > **[John Curtice: By-election results leave Tories with mountain to climb](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68305798)** > > Polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice says the party will be worried by the scale of its defeats by Labour. What exactly are the Tories doing to turn things around? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/627 "2024-02-16T08:37:18Z")
heh this might be relevant… apparently great britain needs to be made great again : (link takes you to story) > [@According to this article the uk is going to hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-this-article-the-uk-is-going-to-hell/997630/4): > > [MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/for-the-first-time-in-my-life-i-m-now-beginning-to-think-britain-is-finished/ar-BB1ihC2l?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=bab9abb9f78f43ff869a3efb1c9e9bcb&ei=14) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/628 "2024-02-16T08:57:59Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > What exactly are the Tories doing to turn things around? Cutting taxes and more austerity, apparently… > **[Jeremy Hunt considers reducing spending to fund tax cuts](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68303653)** > > Jeremy Hunt is looking at cutting billions in public spending to fund tax cuts in his Spring Budget. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/629 "2024-02-16T11:24:01Z")
Good news: the Tories got a deserved and expected kicking, further demonstration of how unwelcome they are in government. Bad news, the Tories got a deserved and expected kicking, further demonstration of how unwelcome they are in government, and consequently the chances of an early general election, which were already slim, just got a whole lot more emaciated and we’re stuck with these useless clowns till something like November. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/630 "2024-02-16T11:28:13Z")
Apparently (and we can but dream), if the swings were the same at the general election, the tories would go from 349 seats to just… FOUR. Making them just about Plaid Cymru, and a quarter the size of the current libdems. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/631 "2024-02-16T11:30:38Z")
Isn’t it pretty to think so? I guess this is the riposte to my bad news above; good news, by hanging on to November in the teeth of almost universal loathing, the Tories ensure that when the election does happen the nation will turn out to annihilate them. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/632 "2024-02-16T11:43:02Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > the tories would go from 349 seats to just… FOUR. So Rishi Sunak may join former Canadian PM Kim Campbell in a very exclusive club? Fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/633 "2024-02-16T12:24:05Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > the tories would go from 349 seats to just… FOUR Unspoken here, of course, is the detail about which other parties might benefit from such a hypothetical collapse: Labour supermajority? The Lib Dems building on recent local successes and resurrecting themselves at the national level? Elevation of the angry conservative fringe as Tory voters flee to the right instead of the center? (Er, excuse me, centre.) It’s pleasant to imagine the Tories suffering a catastrophic wipeout, but the _form_ of the wipeout remains to be clarified. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/634 "2024-02-16T12:29:23Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Labour supermajority? The Lib Dems building on recent local successes and resurrecting themselves at the national level? Elevation of the angry conservative fringe as Tory voters flee to the right instead of the center? (Er, excuse me, centre.) Suspect it will be a combo of all of the above. And some complete fascist lunatic will become Tory leader. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/635 "2024-02-16T12:33:14Z")
Worse than the lunatics already running the show? Shudder. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/636 "2024-02-16T12:38:31Z")
Quite. My entirely inexpert guess is that there will be not so much a massive swing of voters from the Tories to Labour as a lot of Tories staying at home, some switching to the Faragistes, and some switching to the LibDems as well as Labour. On balance, that would favour Labour with a substantial majority and the LibDems with a fair few more seats where they are the perceived leading alternative to the Tories; the Faragistes will have an increased share of the vote but it would probably not give them much in the way of seats, if any at all. Labour will likely pick up a useful number of seats from the SNP, but may do less well in some places with substantial Muslim and other groups wanting a stronger line on Gaza. But don’t forget the “shy Tory” phenomenon, where what people tell the opinion polls is not what they do in the polling booth. That will be conditioned by what the Budget contains, and whether those voters are more concerned about the decline in public services than about taxes. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/637 "2024-02-16T12:55:52Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Worse than the lunatics already running the show? Shudder. Oh yes, there’s plenty waiting in the wings. Wholly unelectable outside of Tory Party Members of course (touches all wood in sight). I still have nightmares after seeing Farage dancing with Priti Patel at the Tory Party conference. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/638 "2024-02-16T13:53:41Z")
Hoping Sunak loses whenever they hold their election. Biden wins, Sunak’s opponent wins = Happy Mahaloth Will the UK election be in November like the US one? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/639 "2024-02-16T14:17:48Z")
That’s the question. I believe the conventional wisdom is that these results, and the latest glum economic news (UK slipping into technical recession), make it unlikely Sunak will want to call an early election, though it was fairly obvious that they were working towards a Budget (due in March) with some giveaway tax goodies (and any nasty expenditure cuts kicked down the road until after the election). He doesn’t have to call an election until November/December, or even early January at a pinch. They might still feel tempted to cut and run early though, especially if the various disaffected MPs start making more trouble for Sunak’s leadership. You could hardly blame him for contemplating a quiet afterlife looking after his money. And a spring/summer election is much more convenient for electioneering and getting voters out to vote, weather-wise. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/640 "2024-02-16T16:13:28Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > And some complete fascist lunatic will become Tory leader. The flatulent hate-gonk didn’t count? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706/641 "2024-02-16T16:54:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Will the UK election be in November like the US one? That’s the best guestimate at the moment. Sunak can call an election anytime from now until January. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rishi-sunak-tries-to-lead-the-uk/973706.md?page=33)