Prime ministers invariably grow paranoid about any cabinet colleague who is talked up as an heir apparentIs there room at the top of Conservative politics for two people known by their first names? In the immediate aftermath of their election victory, this government was the Boris show. It was all about the Tory hero who had won their best parliamentary majority since the mid-1980s. Now it is the Boris & Rishi show. The prime minister has to share the limelight with the much younger guy he accelerated into the chancellorship just four months ago. Sitting on the Commons frontbench while the golden boy had his latest day in the sun, the prime ministers leg jiggled uncontrollably as he chuntered absolutely right.He has to live with it for the moment because Rishi Sunak is the one senior minister whom Tory MPs regard as unsackable. The chancellor is the only member of an otherwise floundering government who is widely judged to have had a good coronavirus crisis. Theres no doubt about it, says one former cabinet minister, Boriss star is falling and Rishis star is rising. His approval ratings easily best the prime minister and anyone else in the cabinet. The bookies and a lot of MPs have him as their favourite to be the next Tory leader. Continue reading...
