Tory MPs had made clear over the weekend that they wanted Mr Sunak, who was best placed to allay City concerns about the Tories’ tax and spending policies, rather than Boris Johnson, who had the best chances of winning the next general election in 2024.
Wise heads such as Sir Jake Berry, the party’s chairman, had told me at the weekend that he thought members should have the final say, noting: “If we believe in democracy, members cannot be denied word on who the next party leader is. is.”
But it was not so. Party MPs could have engineered a runoff between Mr. Sunak and Ms Mordaunt this week (which I think Mr Sunak would have won) to bury the memory of Mr Sunak’s leadership ambition. Johnson.
Instead, MPs chose to appoint Mr Sunak to No 10 overwhelmingly without a say from party members. I think they can regret this. A coronation just ran the risk of creating bitterness among the base.
What will Sunak do as Prime Minister? I recommend listening to his interview with me on the Chopper’s Politics podcast in mid-August, when he doubled down on his commitment to leveling the south of England as well as the north.
He made it clear that he prefers targeted support to tax cuts. And it is not the first time that he had to defend his immense wealth by saying that he “hosted” the people who raised it.
“People who are successful, people who do well by working hard, the Conservative Party needs to stand with them,” he told me.
The new Tory leader is now very open to Labour’s attacks on his personal wealth (he has a heated swimming pool at his Yorkshire home). Labour’s Nadia Whittome articulated one today: