Five things we learnt from Sunak’s liaison committee grilling

‘Nothing has changed’ – the words of Theresa May could have been tattooed on Rishi Sunak’s forehead this afternoon. Appearing before the liaison committee for the first time, the new Prime Minister sought to convey an impression of authority. He deliberately tried to downplay issues of potential conflict like a second independence referendum and rigidly stuck to the government line on strikes and spending restraint.

Sunak made much of his inexperience – dropping in several references to only having held the premiership for seven weeks – and ducking a question from Joanna Cherry on leaving the European Convention on Human Rights by saying he ‘wasn’t in government’ at the time that Suella Braverman suggested the government might have to withdraw. It was a stark contrast from the last time this committee met back in July, when Boris Johnson made his last, chaotic appearance in the final hours of his doomed regime.