This is Iain Martin’s weekly newsletter, exclusively for Reaction subscribers.
It was always likely that Rishi Sunak’s precise and pernickety attitude to the use of his time would at some point cause him and his party serious problems.
The Prime Minister – in office for a few weeks more – is a creature of the modern City, a Goldman Sachs trained, pitch deck presenting, spreadsheet obsessed kind of guy who works very long hours and measures out his time to be as efficient as possible.
Whitehall was awash with these stories. This was an inexperienced Prime Minister who did not like to be overloaded, who wanted to concentrate on problem-solving in his study, and who once he had decided on a course of action was very difficult to divert. Stubborn even, and even stubborn when told by advisers not to go out into the rain without an umbrella when he launched the election.
