Watching our Prime Minister right now is like watching a prisoner on death row, he's only got his last meal to look forward to. The rest is a void. Civil servants have shut down, and MPs are working in their constituency and getting ready for an election that will be declared in the next few months (or weeks). The policy machines are stopped and ministers have gone home. There is no point in preparing or introducing new legislation, everyone knows that it's going nowhere. There is, of course, a bit of makework, and some ministers, especially those who know that they are almost done, are enjoying the last few bits.
Before Christmas, I had dinner with two very old friends both Tory MPs. One, who won his seat by the skin of his teeth at the last election knows that he's done. He told us that he is polling third. He was re-selected by default no one wanted to run against him for the Tory ticket. He's a ridiculously smart fellow, got a first, and postgrad degree in the US. He's gone, he already sold his house, and his flat in London, and bought a new place abroad. He was forthright, saying that because of his role in government, he would end up being a talking head. He said, "I have better things to do with my life than that". The other was elected in a Tory stronghold, his family has deep ties to the county. He cannot quit now, it would damage his family's reputation. He will sit in the opposition for a few years. He too was a junior minister (there are 60). As he said, the day I leave politics I know exactly what I will do!
The two are my main source of information about the travail of the Tories, I only ever write about it, rarely when it has become public. We discussed my decision to vote Labour, in the next general election. I'm not sure it will make much of a difference in my case my Tory MP got over 60% of the vote the last time around.
Both have spent the past 15 years in politics, and both are thoroughly exhausted from the hunt, one is getting out ideally before the summer, at worst before November (The odds are end of May apparently). The issue for Sunak is that even his cabinet wants this over with. Their electoral machines are ready to go. We shall see!
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