“Après nous le déluge” was the ominous aphorism suggested by Rishi Sunak’s disastrous election launch, unnecessarily staged in pouring rain, yards from a brand new press conference room inside Number 10. By the time he had finished battling to make himself heard above the Labour anthem “Things Can Only Get Better”, with its menacing associations with 1997, there were puddles on his shoulders. It was not an encouraging start to a general election campaign, nor did it inspire confidence in the team around the Prime Minister.
Rishi Sunak followed this up the next day with a gaffe while visiting a Welsh brewery – provoking the inevitable media jokes about his inability to organise a convivial event on such premises – when he asked Welsh workers, whose national team had failed to qualify for the European Championships, if they were looking forward to the summer’s football.
