What should Sunak do now?

Sit tight and try to give the electorate what they think they want. Difficult to tell exactly what the local elections mean except people are tired of what we’ve got and this could just be a warning message or something far more significant. Praise and support it isn’t.

NanaDana

MayBee70

NanaDana

Sunak, Starmer, Davey... who knows what any of these bland, uninspiring figures will do next? Whatever they do, not one of them has convinced me that they have the ability to lead us back to prosperity. I'm pushing 80 now, and I honestly can't remember the last time we had such an impotent, ineffective and visionless bunch of politicians in "the Mother of Parliaments". Our democracy used to be something we could rightly be proud of, and we had true status and respect on the world stage. Just look at us now, adrift in a sea of troubles, widely disrespected abroad, with no capable hand at the wheel, and no prospect of even a new hand doing any better. You may understandably think that whoever takes over next time around couldn't possibly do any worse, but I wish I could be that confident. Depressing times, and what's worse, many people don't even seem to care. 35% appears to be about the average, apathetic turnout for this latest poll. OK, historically that may rise to 60 to 65% in a G.E., but it's still unimpressive. Maybe we deserve what we get...

Out of interest you tell me which MP’s, PM’s you have found inspiring. And, isn’t it about more than prosperity? Isn’t the way we treat people just as important?

Of course the way we treat people is of primary importance, but the practicality of delivering that appropriate, beneficial treatment is inextricably linked to prosperity. As for naming my choice of inspiring politicians, I quickly came up with a list of a dozen, some dating back to the 60's. The majority in one party, but also a sprinkling of others from 3 other parties. On that basis, on reflection I'll remain a wee bit coy about my choice, as I don't want to advertise my particular political preference on social media... that's strictly between me and the polling booth. My allegiance has also changed backwards and forwards over the years, and has always been more influenced by who I thought would best serve our needs at the time, rather than by party political dogma. Suffice to say I wish that some of those past politicians were still in harness, as they seemed to be able to deliver, and had integrity.

Well, if you’re not prepared to say which politicians you do admire it’s a bit unfair to say how bland Sunak, Starmer and Davey are. Imo. Even though I’m a Labour voter I’d still be happy to say which Conservative MP’s I admire although I have to admit that most of them have, on principle, left the party. Eg Dominic Grieve, Anna Soubry, Ken Clark,Tobias Elwood. Then again Grieve probably falls under your definition of bland. To me he is upstanding and honourable.

34.5% here.
No change in seats at all except nuances as Tories haven't had a look in, for x? years so its a shared Lab-Lib-Dem council cil

Thanking his lucky stars its the coronation to take people's minds off everything!

He will tough it out and continue on the same line and hope it gets better because he has no alternative. It’s 18 months until the next election, he can only improve the Tory image, predictions based on local elections are usually not accurate. Don’t write him off , Starmer wont.

Agreed.

“Sweeteners will be offered” didn’t work for Corbyn, he was offering absolutely everything if people voted for him and it went completely the other way and they lost out big time.

I’ve just read that Labour is now the largest party in local government, surpassing the Tories for the first time since 2002. I think we can safely say the Corbyn era has passed.

Sunak needs to put off the next GE for as long as possible to have any chance of recovering in the polls. But the recent local voting shows Starmer having the biggest Party in the Commons but no overall majority so Sunak may be able to close the gap somewhat. Perhaps the Tories will tempt the Lib Dems into coalition again or Labour will do a deal with the SNP. Of course they all deny such moves until they happen.

The PM needs to regroup, look at party policies and listen to all sides of the electorate.

The Conservatives may not win the next GE, but I do not think they should be written off entirely.

I don’t think Labour did that well considering the dire state that the country is in. The real winners were the Lib Dem’s and Greens, as far as I can see.

The best that Labour can hope for in a GE. is a small majority and a coalition if Labour doesn’t change tack on the economy, public services and Europe.
Starmer is a Tory-lite uninspiring leader, and I am a Labour voter.

It’s my instinct that many more would vote Green if they thought their vote would count.

MayBee70

The strange thing about Sunak is that his politics are that of the far right but because he’s such a mild mannered sort of person the electorate tend to think of him as right of centre. They also tend to forget that he was happy to go along with everything that Johnson did until he realised that he was supporting a politician that was on his way out and then helped to bring about his downfall. Not imo out of decency but to save his own skin and further his own career.

Far right, how ridiculous.

Freya5

MayBee70

The strange thing about Sunak is that his politics are that of the far right but because he’s such a mild mannered sort of person the electorate tend to think of him as right of centre. They also tend to forget that he was happy to go along with everything that Johnson did until he realised that he was supporting a politician that was on his way out and then helped to bring about his downfall. Not imo out of decency but to save his own skin and further his own career.

Far right, how ridiculous.

Mussolini was Far Right. Not seen any of those traits in Sunak.

The voter is it seems tacking to the left of centre and yet there are calls in the Tory party for Sunak to go further right, which doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense

I keep reading comments in papers that the Conservative Party as it stands now is not conservative. That may be why there are calls for Sunak to shift right even if one doesn't agree with those comments.

I've no idea what he'll do now. Does he even know himself? Time will tell.

Baggs

*The voter is it seems tacking to the left of centre and yet there are calls in the Tory party for Sunak to go further right, which doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense*

I keep reading comments in papers that the Conservative Party as it stands now is not conservative. That may be why there are calls for Sunak to shift right even if one doesn't agree with those comments.

I've no idea what he'll do now. Does he even know himself? Time will tell.

Weirdly I keep reading the exact opposite.

That the Tory party has gone so far right, it bears no resemblance to the party in the past decades

Weirdly I keep reading the exact opposite. That the Tory party has gone so far right, it bears no resemblance to the party in the past decades

Haha! Which kind of suggests it's stuck in its usual quagmire.

Freya5

Freya5

MayBee70

The strange thing about Sunak is that his politics are that of the far right but because he’s such a mild mannered sort of person the electorate tend to think of him as right of centre. They also tend to forget that he was happy to go along with everything that Johnson did until he realised that he was supporting a politician that was on his way out and then helped to bring about his downfall. Not imo out of decency but to save his own skin and further his own career.

Far right, how ridiculous.

Mussolini was Far Right. Not seen any of those traits in Sunak.

I regard Rwanda as a far right policy…

Whitewavemark2

Baggs

The voter is it seems tacking to the left of centre and yet there are calls in the Tory party for Sunak to go further right, which doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense

I keep reading comments in papers that the Conservative Party as it stands now is not conservative. That may be why there are calls for Sunak to shift right even if one doesn't agree with those comments.

I've no idea what he'll do now. Does he even know himself? Time will tell.

Weirdly I keep reading the exact opposite.

That the Tory party has gone so far right, it bears no resemblance to the party in the past decades

I suppose it depends on which papers you read. The Mail, the Telegraph and the Sun have some quite different ideas about the political spectrum from the Mirror, the Guardian or the i...

I see comments on twitter about Sunak being 'socialist' and not truly tory.

I've seen both sides in the Times, maiz.

Maybe you should bring in compulsory voting like we have here? Guess you couldn’t ,though, because the perpetually offended would say it was against their civil rights !

What Sunak SHOULD do now is heed the clear will of the people, uphold the democratic process and call a general election. Of course, what he WILL do is just the opposite. He’ll ignore the voice of the people and carry on (undemocratically) withholding our right to vote until the very last minute. Call an election Sunak - let us, the people in a democracy, have our say.

BlueBelle

Retire and sit in his counting house counting out his and his wife’s money

Agree, and call a General Election - but he won't, he will be just hanging on a thread I hope when that happens ...

Sunak, just do what you’re doing.

Allsorts

Sunak, just do what you’re doing.

I agree, that’s the guarantee of the Tories not being re-elected.

He'll probably be reflecting on the causes of Tory losses: the lying Buffoon, Truss, Kwarteng and a host of Tory MPs mired in scandals of various kinds. Cleaning up his Party by sacking some of the worst examples would be a good start.