Rishi Sunak is running out of time to get control of his party

Editorial: Unless the PM can get a grip on the behaviour of senior Tories, what might have been his last big chance to assert some semblance of authority on party – and indeed on country – will quickly turn into yet another very public jostling for position

If Sunak allows Conservatives to return, over the coming days, to the dreary bloodsports of which they are now so overly accustomed, then he has no chance (BBC/AFP/Getty)

This week’s damning Institute for Fiscal Studies report, which states that the 2019 parliament has been the most tax-raising parliament on record, and is likely to end with taxes rising to a huge 37 per cent of national income, has predictably caused distress among Tories, over which Rishi Sunak must quickly take control.

That it should be a Conservative government, not a Labour one, that has presided over such dramatic tax increases makes clear the enormous challenges the government has faced. The need for such widespread tax rises is undoubtedly partly the consequence of austerity and of Brexit, but there are other huge factors that have been entirely beyond the government’s control.

In other words, taxes that have only been raised out of extreme reluctance cannot simply be cut again just to placate Tory MPs who are opposed to high taxes as a point of principle.