Inside Politics: Unite or die

Sunak takes over as PM and pleads to his party for unity, writes Matt Mathers

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Hello there, I’m Matt Mathers and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

Rishi Sunak takes over as PM with an absolutely shocking in tray. If only somebody had warned Liz Truss and the Tory Party what would have happened if she pressed ahead with her unfunded tax cuts.

Inside the bubble

Commons action gets under with BEIS questions at 11.30am, followed by a ten minute rule bill from Tory MP Craig Mackinlay on the labeling of prescription drugs. Then the main business will be the second reading of the Retained EU Law bill, which will give ministers the power to rewrite and revoke any remaining bits of EU law on the statute book.

Daily briefing

Unite or die

Funny old world, isn’t it? New prime minister Rishi Sunak gets to inherit the economic mess created by his predecessor – the one he predicted would happen less than two months ago during his first, unsuccessful tilt at the top job. It was those prescient and almost word for word warnings – as well as his reputation for being able to do the sums – that ultimately led Conservative MPs to conclude that he was best placed to lead their party and take over in No 10 Downing Street during a cost of living crisis. It is a shame for the millions of people set to pay higher mortgage costs that his party couldn’t get it right the first time.

While 200 MPs voted for Sunak in the contest, there is not a huge amount of love for the former chancellor in some sections of the Tory Party, and certainly not the same level of support among MPs as there was for Boris Johnson in his pomp. MPs were left with a choice between Sunak and Mordaunt, a relatively inexperienced minister who has not held one of the top jobs, after Johnson pulled out. They chose Sunak. Labour reckons he could be out within six months.

Sunak, the first ever Hindu PM, will visit King Charles later today where he will be asked to form a government. Once in office he faces two big challenges: one on policy the other political. Sunak is tasked with trying to shore up an economy sliding towards recession and will have to make big calls on potential tax rises and cuts to public spending, if he sticks to the plans set out by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, earlier this month as he tried to stem the bleeding from Liz Truss’s mini-Budget.

He will also have to try to bring together the warring factions on his backbenches, divided into various camps over the past few years following the Brexit vote and now two brutal leadership contests. The European Research Group has already fired a warning shot across Sunak’s bows, telling him their support is dependent on him sticking to the government’s position on Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol, while some of the Johnson loyalists have already started calling for a general election. Sunak, who acknowledged these divisions in his post-victory addresses yesterday by calling for unity, will attempt to heal them by appointing a broad church cabinet. His first address to the nation is expected at around 11.35am.

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Stead the economy

The financial markets have welcomed the news that Rishi Sunak will become the new prime minister – but business leaders called on him to end recent “political and economic uncertainty”.

The uncertainty was caused by his predecessor Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, which she sacked former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng over before she eventually resigned herself after just 45 days in Downing Street.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) called on the former chancellor to work on steadying the economy. It said that firms need more certainty on energy support, finding workers, and boosting exports.

BCC director general Shevaun Haviland said: “The political and economic uncertainty of the past few months has been hugely damaging to British business confidence and must now come to an end. “The new prime minister must be a steady hand on the tiller to see the economy through the challenging conditions ahead.”

On the record

Sunak pleads for unity.

“Colleagues, we have got an economic crisis and a political crisis. The public will hold us accountable for it - unless we fix it now. And we can. We’ve got time before the next election. We’ve got the talent, the energy and the ideas. But we get one shot, no second chances. This is an existential moment. [We must] unite around a clear economic plan and a vision of a better Britain.”

From the Twitterati

Tory peer Zac Goldsmith says a general election is ‘morally unavoidable’.

“I don’t see how we can have a 3rd new Prime Minister - & a policy programme that is miles away from the original manifesto - without going to the country. Conservative MPs understandably won’t want to and are legally not obliged to, but it will be morally unavoidable.”

Essential reading

• John Rentoul, The Independent: Welcome, PM Sunak – the last best option to take over from Truss
• Tom Peck, The Independent: Yes, Rishi Sunak is a record-breaker, He’s the first PM to lose a leadership contest and be in charge a month later
• Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian: It’s the beginning of the Sunak era – and the end of Britain’s Brexitist delusions
• Tom McTague, The Atlantic: Boris Johnson is still afloat

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