After the local election rout, will the panicked Tory herd now stampede over Rishi Sunak? | Andrew Rawnsley
The mayoral elections demonstrated that there is a way to win for a Conservative. This is to make out that you have nothing to do with the Tories. Of the metro mayorships that were up for grabs, just one has been bagged for the Conservatives. The re-election of Ben Houchen in Tees Valley is being used as a human shield by Rishi Sunak to fend off any attempt to depose him from Downing Street. He’s relying on this sole glimmer of cheer for his party to convince it that a disastrous general election defeat is not inevitable and to blunt the daggers of those in his own party who want him gone. Yet Downing Street can’t credibly claim this rare win as a vote of confidence in Mr Sunak and his government when the Tees mayor put a million miles between himself and Number 10. He ran, not as a Tory, but as “Ben”. His campaign literature treated the prime minister as a non-person and he even “forgot” to wear a blue rosette at his …
