"All the subtlety and grace of a clown in a morgue" (Photo by Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

āThe cost of living, too high! Waiting times in the NHS, too long! Illegal migration, far too much!ā This could have been Keir Starmer thundering from the Opposition benches. Except it wasn’t. This was Rishi Sunakās assessment of the government he leads, delivered in his New YearĀ launch speech. Failing on the economy, failing on health, failing on borders. It was scathing stuff. ButĀ it’s not as though the Prime Minister can pretend he and his party are delivering.
āNew Year should be a time of optimism and excitement,” he said. “Yet I know many of you look ahead to 2023 with apprehension.ā Sunak cheerily called for a rejection of pessimism and fatalism, and refused to limit aspirations. Narrated like an adult reading a storybook to a child before bed, the speechās sunny tone felt misjudged. And delivered with such cloying earnestness and saccharine enthusiasm, it had the subtlety and grace of a clown in a morgue.
Optimism is a powerful, unifying force, and Sunak is right to identify it as an important political goal. But there was something missing in his message ā a reason to feel optimistic.Ā Platitudes donāt pay for heating bills or get you seen by a GP faster ā people need concrete, tangible reasons to believe that things are getting better, or at the very least, will do soon. The future of Sunakās party depends on it.
When people are scared, they want realism ā they to be levelled with. āI donāt expect you to like my message, but I hope you will understand and agree with my justifications for it,ā he could have said. But the speech contained no comprehensive policy shift ā no reason for people to buy-in to changes that might improve their lives with commitment and patience. It was just more of the same motherhood and apple pie that has been promised before, but delivered in an even more cheerful manner.
An ill mood grips the country, not just because of frustration at temporary factors like strike disruption or winter pressures on health services ā our political economy is convulsing under chronic polycrisis. The annual NHS winter struggle began last summer, and continues to metastasise through record A&E delays, growing waiting lists and an overstretched ambulance service. Our sea border is, in practice, an open door with a criminal gang empire attached. Inflation stands at a 40-year high. Every train journey now requires strike planning. Nothing seems to be working. I sat with the foreign-born head of a large business recently who asked me, āWhy do the British put up with so much? In France, Italy, or Spain, they would be rioting in the streets at half of this.ā They are right to be perplexed by our passivity to mediocrity and relative national decline. Said to be one of our great and admirable national character strengths, the British stiff upper lip is proving our undoing.
But instead of introspection about economic growth and government competence ā and where it isnāt coming from ā ruling Conservative politicians are oftenĀ wallowing in pessimism and giving up the fight:Ā rising stars such as Dehenna Davison, and established parliamentarians such Sajid Javid and William Wragg have allĀ announced their intention to stand down at the next election. And those who remain can be overheard moaning to journalists about how difficult being in charge is. Sympathy, as they say, is in the dictionary.
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