In a very short time Rishi Sunak has stabilised the government, launched a new economic strategy and restored national credibility on the world stage. He has achieved much, but there is much more to do. A general election may well be two years away, but the campaign is well underway. A government that needed stability now needs a credible path to winning.
A credible route to a general election win matters. It matters for both the Conservative and Labour Parties. It matters not for the merely self-serving reason for winning or retaining power but because it is how a leader and party accrue political strength and authority. The fight now, in the run-up, to the election between Rishi Sunak and Kier Starmer is all about who is winning and holding political authority. Simply holding an office, as Liz Truss found, is no guarantee of being able to exercise its powers in anything but the most formal sense.
