In England, there is no consensus regarding the attribution of the famous phrase from “A week in politics is a world.” Some believe it was first uttered by Labour’s Harold Wilson during the pound sterling crisis of 1964. Others point to liberal Joseph Chamberlain’s statement in 1886. What is clear, to both, is that it never really caught on. sense. last year. In just two months, three different prime ministers have passed through Downing Street.

Activities in the Conservative Party are very entertaining. In October 2022, Liz Truss, a representative of the most violent wing, made her debut as a leader at the formation’s annual conference. He has taken over from Boris Johnson, who was forced to resign by his own ranks. But after the pound fell drastically due to the massive tax cuts she made the centerpiece of her mandate, Truss was also forced to resign before even two months in office. And that’s when – after a new primary election process, very different to a general election – Rishi Sunak arrived.

The person who is the head of the Finance Department He faces his first Conservative Party conference as leader this Sunday. And it could also be the last. He has the difficult task of raising morale among rank and file and convincing voters that he is the prime minister they need. But things are becoming very complicated as the opposition Labor Party has gained more than 20 points in opinion polls ahead of a general election due in 2024. The Conservative Party has demonstrated an impressive capacity for reform. But after more than thirteen years in power, everything points to changing times.

“This has been an extraordinary year for British politics. “We are almost a year away from what we could euphemistically call ‘the event that led to me becoming Prime Minister,’” Sunak joked last Thursday at a Westminster correspondents’ dinner where, once again, he demonstrated that his skills are not actually his. . extraordinary charisma. Aware of this, he prefers to present himself to citizens as a moderate and hardworking man willing to talk through achievements. However, not many people can celebrate it.

Moreover, what has become his trademark in recent weeks has been flagrant deviation, ignoring conservative promises made by his predecessors, and claiming that they are impossible to fulfill because they are unrealistic. That action package weakening the UK’s environmental commitments achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 – such as delaying the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars by five years, until 2035 – is the most controversial. Boris Johnson’s claim that we can achieve net zero emissions and at the same time enrich the country, without any negative impact on living standards, is another example of his populism. But now blaming previous executives where he himself served as minister may not be the best strategy.

Another great project that Sunak is also undertaking that can be withdrawn is the high-speed train – HS2- to connect the British capital with the main cities of the north of England. The high costs, much higher than initially estimated, went against the orthodoxy of those in charge at the Treasury.

The problem is the cancellation of Europe’s largest infrastructure project leaving his promise to end the gap between the north and south of England without credibility, the famous ‘Level Up’. And considering the Conservative Party conference is being held in Manchester, things are even bigger. In the north of England there are also major districts ‘Red Wall’ which the Conservatives captured from Labor in 2019 and are now fighting to keep.

Indisputable evidence of the weakness of Sunak’s leadership is that talks about his possible replacement have already begun. He experienced this firsthand when his name continued to be heard in the final moments of Johnson’s term. Now the focus is on the Minister of Home Affairs, Suella Bravermana favorite of hard-line right-wingers, who delighted in his latest speech defending his fear of being discriminated against “for being gay or a woman” should not be used as a “condition for obtaining asylum” based on the UN Refugee Convention.

Aware that immigration was a priority issue for conservative voters, Braverman made a bold decision. Moreover, it raises the possibility of ignoring the European Convention on Human Rights as a clear warning to the Strasbourg court that it should not stand in the way of its controversial plans to deport those coming via irregular routes to Rwanda. AND His prominence makes Sunak smaller. In short, a week is the world of politics and this week in particular could be eternal for the current tenant of Number 10.