What I got wrong (and right) in 2023

At the end of another turbulent 12 months in British politics, John Rentoul looks back at the predictions and forecasts he made throughout the year, and doubles down on why he believes we may soon have a hung parliament

A ‘super-rational but politically inept’ Rishi Sunak promised to ‘stop the boats’, not reduce them (PA)

This year, I made the mistake of assuming that people would be grateful not to have destructive fantasists in charge of the country. If they were, that gratitude was outweighed by the feeling that the party that had allowed destructive fantasists to be in charge, even for only seven weeks, could not be trusted.

So I was slow to realise how much damage the Liz Truss interregnum had done to the Conservatives.

Going back over my articles this year in the hope of learning from my mistakes, I tended to assume that Rishi Sunak would improve Tory fortunes because he offered basic competence and stability. I really ought to know better: this is not how politics works.