Welcome to the November edition of The Parliament Politics, the magazine for those with a passion for politics.
It sounds like a cliché, but we really have been living through a period of unprecedented change. The death of Her Majesty Queen, bringing to an end the second Elizabethan age, the war in Ukraine and cost of living crisis seemed to have magnifiedthe feelings of change and uncertainly, but nowhere was this more acute than at Westminster.
Liz Truss’s tumultuous premiership was brough to a shuddering halt with her resignation after just 44 days in the role, making her the person to hold the position for the shortest time in UK history.
This means that the Conservative Party, which less than three years ago won an 80-seat majority, is on its’ third leader in as many months and the Country on its third Prime Minister.
Mr Sunak, the youngest person to hold this position is also the first Asian and Hindu to be British PM. He heads a party that is riven with dissent and has a taste for munity. Indeed, incomments he made to the 1922 Committee after his election, we are told he stressed the need for the Party to come together, but his desire for stability could be far from the reality on the ground.
And while this Conservative soap opera played out, including a cameo appearance from the former PM Boris Johnson, the Labour Party held a successful conference and have been working hard to build a reputation for economic competence.
If Labour are successful in parking their tanks on this Tory lawn, it would be a major blow to the new Prime Minister because if he has any hope of winning the next election, he must be more trusted on financial matters – jobs, taxes and running the economy. Sir Keir’s Labour Party already enjoys very significant leads on a whole host of other policy issues including hospitals and schools.
But if these challenges were not enough, Mr Sunak is likely to be dogged by a range of other issues from his own personal wealth, the ability or more likely to inability to deliver a meaningful levelling-up agenda and honouring a major boost to defence spending, taking the percentage of our GDP we spend on our armed forces to three per cent.
Only time will tell if the Prime Minister can turn things round and unite the Conservatives, especially in the face of resurgent Labour and Liberal Democrats – but time is not on his side. In just over two years Mr Sunak and the Conservative Party must face the verdict of the voters and the polls are looking horrible.
As always, we will continue to bring you the latest news on our website along with in-depth analysis and policy discussion from MPs and peers – and we have some great artciles this month.
Finally, if you would like to submit any comment to our magazine or would like to submit an article, please email our team via: editor@parliamentnews.co.uk
Yours sincerely,
Editorial Board