A record number of cabinet ministers gone. A wipeout in Wales. Only 22 per cent of the vote, with Reform and the Liberal Democrats snapping at the Conservatives’ heels. A generation of Tory talent mowed down by an unearned Labour landslide. Rishi Sunak is the only one of the last four Tory leaders whose seat is still Conservative.
The Tory party is looking for someone to blame for its election wipeout. Members might currently be staggering across the battlefield, shellshocked and stunned. But the Conservative party loves nothing more than an uncivil war of finger-pointing and blame-shifting. Each tribe and family will have their own explanation for the defeat. Each will be as unwilling as all the others to accept they might share the blame.
Sunak should do us the courtesy of sticking around
But one thing they can agree on is the fate of the man who – for a few hours at least – remains our Prime Minister. It was Rishi Sunak who chose to call the election before Conservative Campaign Headquarters was ready. It was the PM who decided to launch his campaign in the rain, and somehow let that be the high point. After the hopelessness of the last six weeks, it’s a shock that the result isn’t worse. Sunak will go down as a historic failure.
At the declaration of his result, Sunak said he had already phoned Keir Starmer – as much an American import as the fondness for ‘supermajorities’ – and would return to London to provide more information on his future. Every Conservative expects him to announce his immediate resignation as party leader. We want to see him gone. He himself must rather be in Santa Monica than soggy Westminster.
Yet Sunak still has a duty to the Conservatives. If he resigns as party leader today, he will remain in post until a successor is elected under the party’s current rulebook. We have no formal deputy leader. Plus, an Opposition will still be required. A shadow cabinet must be formed. Hot footing to California would not only confirm his critics’ worst suspicions, but leave the party in even worse chaos.
It would be a dereliction of duty. Sunak got the Conservatives into this mess. He has a role in helping us out of it. His example should be Michael Howard, who stayed on as leader for months after 2005 to allow a longer leadership election, and a proper review of the party’s rules. Sunak can preside over a similar post-mortem. Why did CCHQ backfire? Why are we so hated? And how can we win again?
A leadership election fought in the immediate aftermath of a bruising defeat – like that of 1997 – is unlikely to have the time and space for a dispassionate analysis of the party’s problems. Sunak should promise an investigation into the nature of the defeat by a senior party figure. Their job must be myriad: to look at the party machine, voter base, and objectives, and be honest t if they are not fit for purpose.
Only Sunak has the authority to do this. If he were simply to quit, and demand the party board finds someone else, he’d leave a vacuum. Nigel Farage would chuckle as different centres of gravity competed. Without a permanent 1922 committee chairman, we would lack an authority figure. The premium would be on who could shout the loudest, not being honest about the last fourteen years.
Even before the party can hope to challenge for government again, it has to be shepherded through the next few months. Donors have to be convinced that it isn’t moribund. Party conference has to be turned into something more than a wake. Apologies need to be made to the hundreds of good Conservatives who lost last night through no fault of their own. Someone must carry that burden. It should be Sunak.
You break it, you own it. A leadership election culminating in October’s conference, or using the annual jamboree as a beauty pageant for the candidates, seems like the wisest course of action. For bringing the Tories to their knees, Sunak should do us the courtesy of sticking around. He says he wants to remain in Richmond for years. I hope he does, if only so he can be remembered for more than this loss.
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