Rishi Sunak ‘operating the clock’ to November election as profession ‘will likely be over’
Rishi Sunak is “running the clock” down to November to “get two years in the bank” as his political career will be over if the Tories lose the general election, a polling expert has said.
Professor Sir John Curtice predicted that polling day will be November 14 and said the Prime Minister could be holding off naming a date for the sake of his own legacy. Speaking to the Institute for Government thinktank, he argued that Mr Sunak’s “political career is over” if the Tories lose and he “might as well go back and make some more money in California or enjoy his swimming pool”.
“I have long been of the view that the election with be on November 14,” Prof Curtice said. “I take the view that if the Conservatives lose, his [Mr Sunak’s] political career is over. He has no base in the party and he might as well go back and make some more money in California or enjoy his swimming pool because his political career will be over.
“So long as he can stop his party trying to throw him out, he’s got two years in the bank by going to November.” He said the wait would also allow the Tories to pass legislation to outlaw smoking, which would give him a political legacy.
He added: “All the arguments about, ‘well maybe the Tories will lose a little bit less here, then or whenever’. It’s irrelevant to him. Unless all of a sudden the Conservative Party is in a position where he might be able to carry on in office, he has every incentive of just running the clock on, maximising his term in office and just enjoying the job while he’s got it because he probably doesn’t have it thereafter.”
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Mr Sunak continues to chicken out of naming a date for the general election, which must be held by January 2025. He has suggested it will be in the “second half of the year” but he has repeatedly refused to rule out holding it in July.
It comes as the Tories slumped to lower approval levels than under disaster PM Liz Truss. A YouGov poll for the Times put Mr Sunak’s party on just 18%, the Conservatives’ lowest vote share this Parliament. This compares to 19% under Liz Truss in 2022.
Right-wingers Reform UK are snapping at their heels on 15%, while Labour are storming ahead on 44%, the survey found. Some 34% said Keir Starmer would make the best PM, compared to 18% who support Mr Sunak – his joint lowest score.
:: YouGov polled 2,010 UK adults between April 30 and May 1.
