I’m quietly confident when I say that the appointment of Richie Sunak as the UK’s new Prime Minister is in no part down to me. As it happened, there was no need for me to write to my MP asking that she relent from supporting Boris Johnson as he withdrew from the contest before the final straight. Was it that, after further consideration, he realised it was not the right thing for the country and stepped back. That is the official line from his camp although all independent reckoning suggested he was a long way short of the necessary level of support. I fear that he will try his hand again in future as Sunak is on a stickier wicket than when Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair in 2007 and I hope that tory blowhards will remember that Johnson has still not managed a good show of public integrity (he strikes me more as one trying to keep his powder dry for a future plot).
Mr Sunak has a difficult patch ahead of him and I hope we see him both continuing to do his homework and developing a conspicuous compassion for the people of our presently united nations (unsolicited tip for him: make calling Nicola Sturgeon and the leaders of the other two home nations a priority). I also hope that Liz Truss is breaking free from those who pushed her into a role she wasn’t ready for (and from any delusions in her own mind) and that she will find people around her who can help through what I expect would be a difficult patch of her own. Mind you, she probably also needs to update her social media presence to note that she is no longer Prime Minister.