Robert Hutton: In which I attempt to answer the Great Question Of The Election: how is Rishi Sunak so bad at this? thecritic.co.uk/the-rise-and...

In which I attempt to answer the Great Question Of The Election: how is Rishi Sunak so bad at this? thecritic.co.uk/the-rise-and...

The rise and fall of Rishi | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazinethecritic.co.uk How is Rishi Sunak so bad at this? Having posed the question some months ago, it’s time to have a crack at answering it. The election campaign has left little dispute about his lack of political nous…

Excellent stuff. I think there are some privileged people (Rory Stewart?) who were able to process that the world did not owe them a living and there was something to learn from others’ experience. Sunak seems to lack the basic curiosity and empathy that step would take.

The difference between Stewart and Sunak is the difference between the landed gentry and the upper middle class. The former for all their faults tend to genuinely believe that wealth should be paid for in service to the country; the latter tend to have no motivation beyond a sense of entitlement.

It's the difference also between Cameron and Johnson. Cameron, although a moron, thought that being born to rule meant that one should sort of... rule. Johnson, although not a moron, saw ruling as a path to wealth.

I think we can dispense with any hard and fast rules where Johnson is concerned!

I always think of Rory enthusiastically learning the tea ceremonies of multiple indigenous tribes and writing them down in a tattered notebook while Sunak would be trying to sign the villagers up for duff wealth management packages on his iPad.

Curiosity and empathy are something Stewart has in spades. Think you've hit the nail on the head there.

Oh how the puny have fallen.

"Look on my works ye mighty, and ... roll your eyes."

For years to come, any proposal to parachute bright, plausible young candidates into ultra-safe seats should be instantly nuked by the invocation of the words "Rishi Sunak".

From the outside looking in: He always was bad at this.

But the press were happy to carry him. And Johnson.

British press is only not the worst in the world because the US press exists.

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