The Icarus-like former PM took his party to what is projected to be its worst defeat in history
Few British politicians have risen as high as fast as Rishi Sunak. But it is the speed and severity of his fall for which he is now more likely to be remembered. Having gone from junior minister to prime minister in barely three years, Sunak has left his Conservative party with its worst-ever result. His Icarus-like arc makes him Britain’s third shortest-serving prime minister since the second world war, after Alec Douglas-Home and Liz Truss, in office for just 20 months.
“The most difficult thing for him was that he hadn’t won an election,” said one adviser in Downing Street. The party conference in Manchester in October 2023 was intended to provide a reset, but the big announcement — the cancellation of the HS2 rail link to Manchester — exposed further Tory divisions. The central message was also muddled: Sunak criticised “the 30-year political status quo” then, a month later, brought back former prime minister David Cameron as foreign secretary.
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