STEPHEN GLOVER: Rishi Sunak has gone from super logical and big brained Mr Spock to buccaneering Captain Kirk – and I liked what I saw!
Fans of the science fiction epic Star Trek will remember that there are two main characters.
One is the calm, big-brained, super-logical and essentially decent Mr Spock. The other is the courageous, sometimes impulsive and buccaneering Captain Kirk, who articulates the ‘mission’ of his starship, which is ‘to boldly go where no man has gone before’.
For the first year of his prime ministership, Rishi Sunak has scrupulously played the part of Mr Spock. Indeed, he brought his Spock-like attention to detail to the vexed question of HS2 – and concluded that the Birmingham-to-Manchester leg should be scrapped.
or the first year of his prime ministership, Rishi Sunak (pictured) has scrupulously played the part of the calm, big-brained and super-logical Mr Spock, writes Stephen Glover
Powerful
But Rishi’s inner Captain Kirk has been gnawing away – and yesterday in Manchester it burst out in the most extraordinary fashion. In one of many surprisingly powerful passages, the PM declared: ‘Our mission is to fundamentally change our country.’ The word ‘change’ appeared 31 times in his speech.
Is such explicitly revolutionary behaviour normally associated with Conservatives? Not really, but the party faithful lapped it up, momentarily oblivious to the fact that Mr Sunak was effectively writing off 13 years of Tory rule.
In fact, he more or less dismissed the past 30 years, which takes us almost back to the political assassination of Margaret Thatcher. Rishi joined hands with the great Tory leader across the wasted decades, ‘the grocer’s daughter and the pharmacist’s son’, and approvingly quoted her remarks about the perils of not tackling inflation.
This was a bracing, even exhilarating speech in which Rishi rightly asserted that ‘our political system is too focused on short-term advantage, not long-term success’, and joyfully laid into ‘vested interests’.
He questioned whether Sir Keir Starmer is remotely reliable – either in the defence of the realm (given that he campaigned alongside anti-Nato Jeremy Corbyn in two general elections) or in keeping us out of the EU’s stifling grasp.
Rishi sounded like a true Tory when he defended Brexit – not something he often does. Unlike Sir Keir and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, he believes that ‘a man is a man and a woman is a woman. That’s just common sense’.
Speaking as someone who always had a softer spot for Captain Kirk than for Mr Spock, I must say that I liked what I saw. Pictured: Mr Spok from Star Trek
His remarks on race I found particularly moving. ‘Never let anyone tell you that this is a racist country. It is not. My story is a British story. A story about how a family can go from arriving here with little to Downing Street in three generations.’
Mr Sunak asked: ‘What does the Conservative Party offer a family of immigrants? The chance to become Energy Secretary, Business Secretary, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, even the chance to become Prime Minister.’ He’s absolutely right, of course. Labour has a much poorer record on racial diversity.
Needless to say, the rank-and-file loved what the PM said, though no one could pretend that he’s the world’s greatest orator. A new, bolder, more original Rishi Sunak was on show. Speaking as someone who always had a softer spot for Captain Kirk than for Mr Spock, I must say that I liked what I saw.
But we must ask whether he said a single thing, or unveiled even one policy, that makes the re-election of the Tories more likely next year. I’m afraid to say that I don’t think he did.
It was the speech of a Prime Minister – full of lofty ambition and a determination to govern differently – such as one might expect to hear at the beginning of a five-year term of office. In reality, Rishi probably has 12 months, at most, before he has to go to the country.
Such measures as he did announce are going to take many years to come to fruition, assuming that an incoming Labour government doesn’t reverse them, which it might well do.
Rishi’s inner Captain Kirk (right) has been gnawing away – and in Manchester it burst out in the most extraordinary fashion
Mr Sunak was almost certainly right to pull the plug on HS2, though the Tories have been foolish to let the issue dominate their party conference. It has made them look more divided than they are, and devious when claiming that the matter hadn’t been decided, though everyone knew that it had been.
The truth is that HS2 is far more of a debating point in the Westminster village and in editorial columns than it is around the nation’s kitchen tables. Since the London-to-Birmingham leg probably won’t be completed until well into the next decade, the issue is pretty peripheral to most people’s concerns.
Rishi says the £36 billion that would have been spent on the second leg will now be diverted to hundreds of transport improvements in the North, the Midlands and Wales. Although the benefits may take less time to materialise than HS2, they still won’t be visible for many years.
Vision
The same point can be made about Mr Sunak’s other policy announcements. The overhaul of A-levels may, or may not, be a good idea. I’m not sure. In any event, it will take many years, and a lot of argy-bargy, before it is finally accomplished.
READ MORE: Rishi vows to ‘change’ Britain like Thatcher did: ‘Son of pharmacist’ Sunak compares himself to ‘grocer’s daughter’ Maggie as he unveils pre-election policy blitz axing HS2 line, banning smoking, and saying he WILL ‘stop the boats’
I’ve severe reservations about the PM’s proposed ban on young people smoking, since it seems both illiberal and hard to enforce. But this measure will also be hotly debated, possibly for aeons, before it reaches the statute book.
Other changes, such as training more doctors and nurses, had already been announced by the Government, and in any case will also take many years to bear fruit.
Arguably, the policy announcements made by Mr Sunak didn’t match the grandeur of his vision. It was as though Captain Kirk, having roused his crew with talk of exploring distant galaxies, had settled for circling gently around a few local moons.
But even if these measures are more significant than I am suggesting, it can’t be denied that they won’t see the light of day for many years, and therefore won’t have any effect on the outcome of next year’s election.
Nor did Mr Sunak address people’s pressing concerns about uncontrolled immigration. Or rather, he boasted that the number of those crossing the Channel has fallen by 20 per cent compared with 2022, but didn’t touch on legal migration, which last year was running at record levels, and about 13 times the rate of illegal migration. He knows there’s little that can be done to bring down legal migration before the election, so didn’t mention it.
Substantial
Cheering up the troops before they return to their constituencies to fight an election is of course a signal achievement. The general public will have also glimpsed that Rishi is a more imaginative and substantial leader than they may have thought.
But more is needed. What people care about most is the cost of living crisis, which is far more important to them than a combination of HS2, the transformation of A-levels and banning young people from smoking. Inflation is coming down, which is largely due to the Bank of England, but that alone won’t make up for the financial pain many people are suffering.
A significant tax cut will do more to restore the country’s and the Tories’ fortunes than anything else the PM could do. It can’t happen later than April if it is to have an impact before the election. Much as he may decry ‘short-term advantage’, he had better embrace it on this occasion.
Yet to judge by his performance yesterday, there’s more reason than ever to hope that the new, bold, buccaneering Rishi Sunak is on the right track. This is a battle that could still be won.
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