Rishi Sunak is whacking Keir Starmer all over the park and revived jaded Tory appetite for battle
“RISHI is doing brilliantly,” a senior Tory MP told me last night. “He’s knocking Keir Starmer all over the park.
“Who knows, we might be heading for an October General Election. Why wait until we run out of time?”
Considering the turmoil of recent months, this would be a remarkably upbeat assessment of Tory fortunes by any rent-a-quote Government lackey.
But it is especially telling, coming from one of the 22 diehard Brexit rebels who defied the whips and voted against the PM last week.
The overwhelming Commons backing for the PM’s EU deal on Northern Ireland was “a sensational victory”, added this ex-Cabinet minister.
Tory tails may not be up, but they are wagging.
For the first time in two years there is a tantalising whiff of potential victory in the air.
By contrast, said this MP, Keir Starmer failed a crucial test as Leader of the Opposition last week.
“It was an open goal.
“If Starmer had voted No, Rishi would have lost . . . a catastrophic blow for a Government with a large majority close to an election.
“Instead, he handed Rishi a fantastic victory.”
For all the rebels’ disappointment, there is a wry admission among his pro-BoJo critics that this Prime Minister is getting it right.
From Brexit and Rwanda to Nicola Sturgeon’s trans fiasco and the imminent collapse of inflation, Rishi Sunak is visibly hitting sixes.
Looming town hall elections are expected to go well.
The UK economy is stable while the EU — especially its banking system and the European single currency — is wobbling all over the shop.
London may be shabby but Paris is burning.
One poll slashes Labour’s lead from 20 to ten per cent, way below what Starmer needs for outright victory.
Rishi has revived the jaded Tory appetite for battle.
More to the point, Starmer is floundering.
We are not back to the point two years ago when MPs were openly plotting to dump him.
But Starmer’s failure to grab voters’ attention is once more an issue.
A Times Radio survey of former Labour, Tory and Lib Dem voters summed up his defining qualities as “wooden”, “hot air”, “backstabber”.
“All he does is complain,” said one.
Rishi, by contrast is “competent” and “charismatic”.
Even being Westminster’s richest MP does not count against him.
Starmer is seen as a slippery chancer who will not give straight answers to straight questions.
Why won’t he say if a woman can have a penis?
Why has he opposed every attempt to curb illegal immigration?
Why did he block the deportation of Jamaican criminals?
Starmer also risks charges of hypocrisy after slamming “unfair” Tory plans for open-ended pensions while secretly taking a near-identical perk for himself as an ex-State prosecutor.
Even Labour MPs wonder why he campaigned for anti-Semitic leftie Jeremy Corbyn to be PM while other shadow ministers quit in disgust.
They worry over the furtive appointment of Downing Street official Sue Gray as his chief of staff — starting talks at reportedly the same time she was advising the committee probing Boris Johnson on Partygate.
The charge sheet against the ex-Director of Public Prosecutions, including his bid to put dozens of innocent Sun journalists behind bars, has been blurred by recent Tory wars.
Now, with an election looming and Rishi Sunak calming troubled waters, voters are taking time to look closer.
Rishi is winning back Tory waverers — especially in former Labour Red Wall seats which Starmer must reclaim for any hope of victory.
The Conservative Party is quietly hoping to deploy its own thermobaric political device — the Blond Bombshell, capable of destroying all Labour support while leaving Tory voters standing.
Can Boris Johnson bring himself to forgive and, like all good men, come to the aid of the party?
I suspect he will.
Such magnanimity would instantly restore BoJo’s place in the fractured affections of the party he once led to victory.
He would win the gratitude of MPs who might otherwise face extinction.
And it would put the chance of a winnable snap autumn election into play.