Original article by Ruby Lott-Lavigna republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.
Listening to the PM in Manchester, you’d be forgiven for thinking a different party has been running the country
Moments before Rishi Sunak took to the stage at the Conservative Party Conference, a video flashed on a screen. Images of fields, children, roads and vaccines appeared above the heads of the hundreds waiting for the PM’s speech. “Change is…” the words read. “Change is…the Conservatives.”
In his address in Manchester, the prime minister told his party: “It is time for a change.” He confirmed his intention to scrap HS2, Europe’s largest infrastructure project, claiming “the right thing to do when the facts change, is to have the courage to change.” And speaking about his decision to U-turn on manifesto net zero pledges, he added: “Change is difficult, particularly for those who disagree.”
Altogether, Sunak used the word change 30 times. You would be forgiven for thinking another party has been in power for the last 13 years.
The PM, who also served as chancellor for two and a half years, and before that was a senior minister in the Treasury, seems to be running a re-election strategy on the potential amnesia of the country.
This is someone who governs a party focused on conserving, asking voters to believe that another term of Conservative rule will change what has been a reality for the last 13: rising homelessness, a cost of living crisis, crippling rents, spiralling mortgage rates, attacks on minority communities, months of waiting for essential NHS treatment, and a system that puts corporate interest over workers.
While hoping you’ll forget his impact, the speech also hit some key Tory attack lines. Sunak demonised trans people, in an attempt to curry favour through division, and to outsource blame from those in power to those with none. He attempted to rewrite his own history, painting himself as someone with humble beginnings, rather than as someone who attended a £60,000 a year private school. He also bashed striking workers, pretending to care about a National Health Service he’s admitted to not using.
And then there’s everything that was left out. Housing, arguably one of the most important long-term strategies any government needs to form, was mostly absent from the speech. Sunak briefly mentioned housebuilding, which would have been helpful if he hadn’t ditched housebuilding targets in April. Otherwise, the biggest issue facing most young voters was ignored. Rents are rising at their fastest rate since records began, and no-fault evictions, which were meant to be banned under the delayed Renters Reform Bill, are still a leading cause of homelessness. The absence was deafening.
Ultimately, these contradictory threads of Sunak’s speech could cause his downfall. He offers no solution, just buzzwords. It speaks to an underestimation of the British people, to think that you can tell them you care about long-term decisions while scrapping long-term projects. He even deployed his wife, Akshata Murthy, to introduce him with a gushing speech, but refuses to speak about his family when challenged on things like their non-dom status.
Without a coherent pledge, voters may well feel unsure. Sitting in the hall and listening to him deliver his speech, there was a quiet sense of confusion.
It’s easy for Sunak to forget that we’re in a cost of living crisis. He is, after all, the richest Prime Minister we’ve ever had and is wealthy enough to buy himself out of problems. He sends his children to private schools, uses private healthcare to avoid waiting lists, and flies in a helicopter to avoid train cancellations.
Unfortunately for him, most of the country can’t forget.
Original article by Ruby Lott-Lavigna republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.