Rishi Sunak has issued what appears to be a fairly radical attack on the British political system, which he said “doesn’t work the way it should.”
In his Tory conference speech on Wednesday, October 4th, the prime minister pledged to do away with the “short-term” focus that he described as having blighted the last 30 years of Conservative and Labour leadership. Sunak concluded that by turning away from this failed approach, Britain, under his continued watch, can expect a “brighter future.”
He said:
What I have learnt is that there is an undeniable sense that politics just doesn’t work the way it should. The feeling that Westminster is a broken system. … It isn’t anger; it’s an exhaustion with politics. In particular, politicians saying things and then nothing ever changing. And you know what? People are right. Politics doesn’t work the way it should.
We’ve had 30 years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one; 30 years of vested interests standing in the way of change; 30 years of rhetorical ambition which achieves little more than a short-term headline. And why? Because our political system is too focused on short-term advantage, not long-term success. Politicians spend more time campaigning for change than actually delivering it.
It doesn’t have to be this way. I won’t be this way. Conference, our mission is to fundamentally change our country.
The criticism is strong, and so too, Sunak added, are the consequences should the Tories fail to grasp these underlying issues: “Ever more of our time will be spent debating the side issues and symptoms rather than the deeper, more structural challenges we face.”
His critique of headline-seeking rhetoric was tarnished somewhat by his own repetition of some classic Tory tropes, such as the dangers of Labour under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was suspended from the party at the turn of the decade, and the brilliance of Margaret Thatcher, talk about whom was common, though not exactly popular, at this year’s National Conservatism conference.
But the prime minister is confident he is already leading differently from his predecessors, as evidenced by his shift on the contentious HS2 infrastructure project and his (partial shift on the route to carbon net zero.
These changes, as well as his pledge to prioritise education in all future policy agendas, encouraged Sunak to insist that, despite 13 years of Tory rule having passed, “it is time for a change, and we are it.”
